Southeast Asian biodiversity: an impending disaster

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2004.09.006

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Volume 19, Issue 12, December 2004, Pages 654-660

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2004.09.006 Get rights and content

Southeast Asia has the highest relative rate of deforestation of any major tropical region, and could lose three quarters of its original forests by 2100 and up to 42% of its biodiversity. Here, we report on the current state of its biota and highlight the primary drivers of the threat of extinction now faced by much of the unique and rich fauna and flora of the region. Furthermore, the known impacts on the biodiversity of Southeast Asia are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg, owing to the paucity of research data. The looming Southeast Asian biodiversity disaster demands immediate and definitive actions, yet such measures continue to be constrained by socioeconomic factors, including poverty and lack of infrastructure. Any realistic solution will need to involve a multidisciplinary strategy, including political, socioeconomic and scientific input, in which all major stakeholders (government, non-government, national and international organizations) must participate.

Section snippets

The unique geological history and biodiversity of Southeast Asia

In a study reported in 2000, Myers et al. identified 25 ‘biodiversity hotspots’ in the world as those areas containing high concentrations of endemic species and undergoing immense habitat loss (Figure 1) [4]. Southeast Asia overlaps with four of these hotspots, each of which has a unique geological history that has contributed to its rich and often unique biota [5]. During the Pleistocene glacial episodes, some temperate species from northern Asia expanded their ranges southwards into

The current state of biodiversity

Three plant and eight animal species have been listed as ‘extinct’ in Southeast Asia by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) [12]. Because Southeast Asia has a fairly recent history of large-scale deforestation (i.e. over the past two centuries), many of the native species of the region, such as rare long-lived trees, might be persisting as ‘living dead’ and are doomed to extinction owing to isolation caused by the fragmentation of habitats [3].

Drivers of biodiversity threat

Here, we discuss the drivers of biodiversity loss and endangerment in Southeast Asia, which might act either alone or in concert.

Conservation challenges

The outlook for the biodiversity of Southeast Asia appears bleak, owing to several key social, scientific and logistical conservation challenges faced by the region. The major challenges in mitigating the imminent threats to its biodiversity are primarily socioeconomic in origin, including population growth, poverty, chronic shortage of conservation resources (both expertise and funding) and corrupt national institutions. As regional societies strive to match the living standards of developed

Conclusion

Massive anthropogenic habitat modifications, forest fires and the overexploitation of wildlife in Southeast Asia are clear-and-present dangers to its biodiversity. In spite of the pessimistic outlook, there are ways to conserve at least some of the regional natural resources. Given that many of the drivers of biodiversity loss (e.g. international demand for rain forest timber and elevated global CO₂ levels) are issues that transcend national boundaries, any realistic solution will need to

Acknowledgements

We thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments about the article. We also thank Tom Brooks for help. This study was supported by the National University of Singapore (R-154–000–210–112).

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Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Southeast Asian biodiversity: an impending disaster

Section snippets

The unique geological history and biodiversity of Southeast Asia

The current state of biodiversity

Drivers of biodiversity threat

Conservation challenges

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Biol. Conserv.

Chemosphere

For. Ecol. Manage.

Trends Ecol. Evol.

Determination of deforestation rates of the world's humid tropical forests

Science

Catastrophic extinctions follow deforestation in Singapore

Nature

Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities

Nature

Hotspots: Earth's Biologically Richest and Most Endangered Terrestrial Ecoregions

Quaternary environments and the evolution of primates in East Asia, with notes on two new specimens of fossil Cercopithecidae from China

Folia Primatol.

Biogeographic history of the Javan leopard Panthera pardus based on a craniometric analysis

J. Mammal.

Quaternary rainforest refugia in south-east Asia: using termites (Isoptera) as indicators

Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

Reconstruction of eastern Gondwanaland

Nature

Molecular phylogeny of the endemic Philippine rodent Apomys (Muridae) and the dynamics of diversification in an oceanic archipelago

Biol. J. Linn. Soc.

Impact of El Niño and logging on canopy tree recruitment in Borneo

Science

Global biodiversity scenarios for the year 2100

Science

Threat from deforestation to montane and lowland birds and mammals in insular South-east Asia

J. Anim. Ecol.

Habitat loss and extinction in the hotspots of biodiversity

Conserv. Biol.

Deforestation predicts the number of threatened birds in insular Southeast Asia

Conserv. Biol.

Tropical Rain Forests

Tree biodiversity in protected and logged Bornean tropical rain forests and its measurement by satellite remote sensing

J. Biogeogr.

Mineral nutrient status of coastal hill dipterocarp forest and adinandra belukar in Singapore: analysis of soil, leaves and litter

J. Trop. Ecol.

Tree species richness in primary and old secondary tropical forest in Singapore

Biodiv. Conserv.

A regional perspective on the effects of human disturbance on the termites of Sundaland

Biodiv. Conserv.

Dung beetles as indicators of change in the forests of northern Borneo

J. Appl. Ecol.

Size does matter: effects of tropical rainforest fragmentation on the leaf litter ant community in Sabah, Malaysia

Biodiv. Conserv.

Bee diversity along a disturbance gradient in tropical lowland forests of south-east Asia

J. Appl. Ecol.

From forest to farmland: diversity of geometrid moths along two habitat gradients on Borneo

J. Trop. Ecol.

A comparison of bird communities of two fragmented and two continuous Southeast Asian rainforests

Biodiv. Conserv.

The role of traditional agroforests in the conservation of rain and forest bird diversity in Sumatra

Conserv. Biol.

Causal factors underlying the dramatic decline of the Sumatran orang-utan

Oryx

Mousedeer densities in a tropical rainforest: the impact of selective logging

J. Appl. Ecol.