William F. LauranceD. Carolina UsecheJulio RendeiroMargareta KalkaCorey J.A. BradshawSean P. SloanSusan G. LauranceMason CampbellKate AbernethyPatricia AlvarezVictor Arroyo-RodriguezPeter AshtonJulieta Benítez-MalvidoAllard BlomKadiri S. BoboCharles H. CannonMin CaoRichard CarrollColin ChapmanRosamond CoatesMarina CordsFinn DanielsenBart De DijnEric DinersteinMaureen A. DonnellyDavid EdwardsFelicity EdwardsNina FarwigPeter FashingPierre Michel ForgetMercedes FosterGeorge GaleDavid HarrisRhett HarrisonJohn HartSarah KarpantyW. John KressJagdish KrishnaswamyWillis LogsdonJon LovettWilliam MagnussonFiona MaiselsAndrew R. MarshallDeedra McClearnDivya MudappaMartin R. NielsenRichard PearsonNigel PitmanJan Van Der PloegAndrew PlumptreJohn PoulsenMauricio QuesadaHugo RaineyDouglas RobinsonChristiane RoetgersFrancesco RoveroFrederick ScatenaChristian SchulzeDouglas SheilThomas StruhsakerJohn TerborghDuncan ThomasRobert TimmJ. Nicolas Urbina-CardonaKarthikeyan VasudevanS. Joseph WrightJuan Carlos Arias-G.Luzmila ArroyoMark AshtonPhilippe AuzelDennis BabaasaFred BabweteeraPatrick BakerOlaf BankiMargot BassInogwabini Bila-IsiaStephen BlakeWarren BrockelmanNicholas BrokawCarsten A. BrühlSarayudh BunyavejchewinJung Tai ChaoJerome ChaveRavi ChellamConnie J. ClarkJosé ClavijoRobert CongdonRichard CorlettH. S. DattarajaChittaranjan DaveGlyn DaviesBeatriz De Mello BeisiegelRosa De Nazaré Paes Da SilvaAnthony Di FioreArvin DiesmosRodolfo DirzoDiane Doran-SheehyMitchell EatonJames Cook University, AustraliaSmithsonian Tropical Research InstituteUniversity of AdelaideUniversity of StirlingDuke UniversityUniversidad Nacional Autonoma de MexicoRoyal Botanic Gardens, KewWorld Wildlife FundUniversity of DschangXishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden Chinese Academy of SciencesMcGill UniversityColumbia University in the City of New YorkNordic Foundation for Development and EcologyBart de Dijn Environmental ConsultancyFlorida International UniversityUniversitat MarburgCalifornia State University FullertonMuséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)United States Geological SurveyKing Mongkuts University of Technology ThonburiRoyal Botanic Garden EdinburghTshuapa-Lomami-Lualaba ProjectVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State UniversitySmithsonian National Museum of Natural HistoryAshoka Trust for Research in EcologyandtheEnvironment (ATREE)University of TwenteInstituto Nacional de Pesquisas Da AmazoniaWildlife Conservation SocietyUniversity of YorkLa Selva Biological StationNature Conservation FoundationKobenhavns UniversitetLeiden UniversityWildlife Conservation Society UgandaWoods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionOregon State UniversityMuseo delle ScienzeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversitat WienBwindi Impenetrable National ParkUniversity of Kansas LawrencePontificia Universidad JaverianaWildlife Institute of IndiaUnidad de Parques Nacionales Naturales de ColombiaMuseo Historia Nat. Noel Kempff M.Yale UniversityInstitute of Tropical Forest ConservationBudongo Conservation Field StationMonash UniversityUtrecht UniversityFinding SpeciesUniversity of KentMahidol UniversityUniversity of Puerto RicoUniversitat Koblenz-LandauNational Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, ThailandTaiwan Forestry Research InstituteUniversite Paul Sabatier Toulouse IIIWildlife Conservation SocietyUniversidad Central de VenezuelaNational University of SingaporeIndian Institute of Science, BangaloreWorld Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação de BiodiversidadeO Conselho Regional de EngenharaUniversity of Texas at AustinNational Museum of the PhilippinesStanford UniversityStony Brook UniversityUniversity of Colorado at BoulderWildlife Conservation SocietyUniversity of CalgaryMax Planck Institute for Evolutionary AnthropologyMontclair State UniversityUniversity of California, San DiegoField Museum of Natural HistoryUniversitat de BarcelonaKenya Institute for Public Policy Research and AnalysisMissouri Botanical GardenUniversity of LeedsWild Chimpanzee FoundationDinghushan Biosphere ReserveTunghai UniversityClemson UniversityOsaka City UniversityInstituto FlorestalBotanical Research Institute of TexasSouth China Botanical GardenAnglia Ruskin UniversityFundación para la Conservación del Bosque ChiquitanoUniversitat UlmMbarara University of Science and TechnologyConservation InternationalSociety of Subtropical EcologyRoyal HaskoningDHVBoston UniversityCentre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques AbidjanUniversidade Estadual de LondrinaUniversity of AlabamaParque Estadual Horto FlorestalRoyal Society for the Protection of BirdsNational Taiwan UniversityJulius-Maximilians-Universitat WurzburgOrganization for Tropical StudiesUSDA International Institute of Tropical ForestryMakerere UniversityGreen Capacity, Inc.Museu Paraense Emilio GoeldiOhio State UniversityWildlife Conservation SocietyUniversidade Federal do ParaLukuru Wildlife Research FoundationAarhus UniversitetNagoya UniversityUniversity of WaterlooKent State UniversityInstitute of Entomology, Biology Centre of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech RepublicUniversity of Washington, SeattlePNG Institute of Biological ResearchAnton de Kom Universiteit van SurinamePondicherry UniversityFundação FlorestalResearch Centre for BiologyThe University of GeorgiaStrix Wildlife ConsultancySouthern Illinois University at CarbondaleZoological Society of MilwaukeeDanum Valley Field CentreUniversity of OxfordSan Diego State UniversityMuseum fur NaturkundeCity University of New YorkNational Institutes for the Humanities, Research Institute for Humanity and NatureHochschule Karlsruhe - Technik und WirtschaftNational Zoological ParkGola Forest ProgrammeWake Forest UniversityUniversity of California, Los AngelesUniversity of Southern CaliforniaInstitute of Applied EthnobotanyTexas A and M UniversityUniversitat GottingenWildlife Conservation SocietyCentre for Cellular and Molecular Biology indiaPaluma Environmental Education CentreEmpresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria - EmbrapaTreasure Valley Math and Science CenterRice UniversityResources Himalaya FoundationGunung Palung National Park2018-06-112018-06-112012-09-13Nature. Vol.489, No.7415 (2012), 290-29314764687002808362-s2.0-84866154510https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/15241The rapid disruption of tropical forests probably imperils global biodiversity more than any other contemporary phenomenon. With deforestation advancing quickly, protected areas are increasingly becoming final refuges for threatened species and natural ecosystem processes. However, many protected areas in the tropics are themselves vulnerable to human encroachment and other environmental stresses. As pressures mount, it is vital to know whether existing reserves can sustain their biodiversity. A critical constraint in addressing this question has been that data describing a broad array of biodiversity groups have been unavailable for a sufficiently large and representative sample of reserves. Here we present a uniquely comprehensive data set on changes over the past 20 to 30 years in 31 functional groups of species and 21 potential drivers of environmental change, for 60 protected areas stratified across the worlds major tropical regions. Our analysis reveals great variation in reserve health: about half of all reserves have been effective or performed passably, but the rest are experiencing an erosion of biodiversity that is often alarmingly widespread taxonomically and functionally. Habitat disruption, hunting and forest-product exploitation were the strongest predictors of declining reserve health. Crucially, environmental changes immediately outside reserves seemed nearly as important as those inside in determining their ecological fate, with changes inside reserves strongly mirroring those occurring around them. These findings suggest that tropical protected areas are often intimately linked ecologically to their surrounding habitats, and that a failure to stem broad-scale loss and degradation of such habitats could sharply increase the likelihood of serious biodiversity declines. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.Mahidol UniversityMultidisciplinaryArticleSCOPUS10.1038/nature11318