Fig. 1: Conceptual figure of the impact of different anthropogenic changes on species diversity and species density.
From: Biodiversity time series are biased towards increasing species richness in changing environments
Yellow lines indicate species experiencing population declines up to extinction while blue ones indicate species experiencing increases in density. a, The case of a negative impact (for example, increase in pesticides, habitat fragmentation) resulting in a lower equilibrium richness, which can take some time to establish as declining populations persist (extinction debt). b, A clear positive impact (for example, enlargement of habitat size through restauration) that leads to a higher equilibrium richness, which might take time to establish as gained populations need some time to colonize (immigration credit). c, A steady change: even though as many species decline (that is, ‘losers’) as colonize (that is, ‘winners’), the observed richness increases if new species arrive earlier than species go extinct. This increase does not disappear, as any new time segment added leads again to earlier colonizations than extinctions, with no new equilibrium being reached. EXT, extinction; COL, colonization.
