U.S. imperiled species are most vulnerable to habitat loss on private lands

摘要: To stem the ongoing loss of biodiversity, there is an urgent need to distinguish effective and ineffective approaches protecting species their habitats. Conservation laws may be strong on paper but in practice, or vary effectiveness across different contexts, such as land ownership management settings. Using Google Earth Engine 30 years Landsat satellite images, we quantify annual habitat change for 24 U.S. Endangered Species List IUCN Red categories ownership, federal, state, private. We show that imperiled lost very little federal lands (3.6%), while losses non-protected private (8.1%) were twice great. Patterns suggest listing under Act was one mechanism limiting loss, law most lands. These results emphasize importance species, also highlight improve protection long-term conservation.