IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-64449-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Global loss of mountain vegetated landscapes and its impact on biodiversity conservation

Author

Listed:
  • Chao Yang

    (Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University)

  • Haiying Xu

    (Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University)

  • Qingquan Li

    (Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University
    Guangdong Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy (SZ))

  • Xuqing Wang

    (China Geological Survey)

  • Bohui Tang

    (Kunming University of Science and Technology)

  • Junyi Chen

    (Kunming University of Science and Technology)

  • Wei Tu

    (Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University)

  • Yinghui Zhang

    (Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University)

  • Tiezhu Shi

    (Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University)

  • Min Chen

    (Nanjing Normal University
    Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application
    International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals)

  • Wei Ma

    (Chongqing Jiaotong University)

  • Huizeng Liu

    (Institute for Advanced Study & Shenzhen University
    Shenzhen University)

  • Jonathan M. Chase

    (German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig
    Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg)

Abstract

Accelerating human encroachment and natural disasters are causing substantial loss of mountain vegetated landscapes, threatening biodiversity conservation and ecosystem sustainability. The global-scale quantification of the magnitude, variability and drivers of the loss of mountain vegetated landscapes, and its impact on biodiversity conservation, however, has been lacking. Here, we combine global datasets on mountain boundaries, land use, natural disasters, and protected and biodiversity hotspots together with large-scale earth observation data to quantify global mountain vegetated landscape loss, as well as its variation and potential drivers from 2000 to 2020. Overall, we find widespread but uneven mountain vegetated landscape loss across the globe, of which ∼89% can be attributed to human expansion, primarily agriculture, with small contributions of human settlement growth and mining. About ∼11% of mountain vegetated landscape loss can be attributed to natural disasters, primarily through drought. We also observe that ~56% of global mountain vegetated landscape loss occurred within protected areas and in areas with high richness of threatened mountain-occurring species, indicating the urgency of improving protection in these areas of loss. Our results can help formulate conservation strategies and contribute to sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Chao Yang & Haiying Xu & Qingquan Li & Xuqing Wang & Bohui Tang & Junyi Chen & Wei Tu & Yinghui Zhang & Tiezhu Shi & Min Chen & Wei Ma & Huizeng Liu & Jonathan M. Chase, 2025. "Global loss of mountain vegetated landscapes and its impact on biodiversity conservation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64449-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64449-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64449-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-64449-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dalia Kirschbaum & Robert Adler & Yang Hong & Stephanie Hill & Arthur Lerner-Lam, 2010. "A global landslide catalog for hazard applications: method, results, and limitations," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 52(3), pages 561-575, March.
    2. Chonggang Xu & Nate G. McDowell & Rosie A. Fisher & Liang Wei & Sanna Sevanto & Bradley O. Christoffersen & Ensheng Weng & Richard S. Middleton, 2019. "Increasing impacts of extreme droughts on vegetation productivity under climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(12), pages 948-953, December.
    3. Matthew G. Betts & Christopher Wolf & William J. Ripple & Ben Phalan & Kimberley A. Millers & Adam Duarte & Stuart H. M. Butchart & Taal Levi, 2017. "Global forest loss disproportionately erodes biodiversity in intact landscapes," Nature, Nature, vol. 547(7664), pages 441-444, July.
    4. Jasper van Vliet, 2019. "Direct and indirect loss of natural area from urban expansion," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(8), pages 755-763, August.
    5. Brendan Choat & Timothy J. Brodribb & Craig R. Brodersen & Remko A. Duursma & Rosana López & Belinda E. Medlyn, 2018. "Triggers of tree mortality under drought," Nature, Nature, vol. 558(7711), pages 531-539, June.
    6. Daniel Viviroli & Matti Kummu & Michel Meybeck & Marko Kallio & Yoshihide Wada, 2020. "Increasing dependence of lowland populations on mountain water resources," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(11), pages 917-928, November.
    7. Ian Bateman & Andrew Balmford, 2023. "Current conservation policies risk accelerating biodiversity loss," Nature, Nature, vol. 618(7966), pages 671-674, June.
    8. Matteo Coronese & Francesco Lamperti & Klaus Keller & Francesca Chiaromonte & Andrea Roventini, 2019. "Evidence for sharp increase in the economic damages of extreme natural disasters," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(43), pages 21450-21455, October.
    9. Franz Schug & Avi Bar-Massada & Amanda R. Carlson & Heather Cox & Todd J. Hawbaker & David Helmers & Patrick Hostert & Dominik Kaim & Neda K. Kasraee & Sebastián Martinuzzi & Miranda H. Mockrin & Kira, 2023. "The global wildland–urban interface," Nature, Nature, vol. 621(7977), pages 94-99, September.
    10. B. Tellman & J. A. Sullivan & C. Kuhn & A. J. Kettner & C. S. Doyle & G. R. Brakenridge & T. A. Erickson & D. A. Slayback, 2021. "Satellite imaging reveals increased proportion of population exposed to floods," Nature, Nature, vol. 596(7870), pages 80-86, August.
    11. Solomon H. Gebrechorkos & Justin Sheffield & Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano & Chris Funk & Diego G. Miralles & Jian Peng & Ellen Dyer & Joshua Talib & Hylke E. Beck & Michael B. Singer & Simon J. Dadson, 2025. "Warming accelerates global drought severity," Nature, Nature, vol. 642(8068), pages 628-635, June.
    12. Marcell K. Peters & Andreas Hemp & Tim Appelhans & Joscha N. Becker & Christina Behler & Alice Classen & Florian Detsch & Andreas Ensslin & Stefan W. Ferger & Sara B. Frederiksen & Friederike Gebert &, 2019. "Climate–land-use interactions shape tropical mountain biodiversity and ecosystem functions," Nature, Nature, vol. 568(7750), pages 88-92, April.
    13. Liqing Peng & Timothy D. Searchinger & Jessica Zionts & Richard Waite, 2023. "The carbon costs of global wood harvests," Nature, Nature, vol. 620(7972), pages 110-115, August.
    14. Peiyue Li & Hui Qian & Jianhua Wu, 2014. "Environment: Accelerate research on land creation," Nature, Nature, vol. 510(7503), pages 29-31, June.
    15. Xiaoxin Zhang & Martin Brandt & Xiaowei Tong & Philippe Ciais & Yuemin Yue & Xiangming Xiao & Wenmin Zhang & Kelin Wang & Rasmus Fensholt, 2022. "A large but transient carbon sink from urbanization and rural depopulation in China," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(4), pages 321-328, April.
    16. Jos Barlow & Gareth D. Lennox & Joice Ferreira & Erika Berenguer & Alexander C. Lees & Ralph Mac Nally & James R. Thomson & Silvio Frosini de Barros Ferraz & Julio Louzada & Victor Hugo Fonseca Olivei, 2016. "Anthropogenic disturbance in tropical forests can double biodiversity loss from deforestation," Nature, Nature, vol. 535(7610), pages 144-147, July.
    17. Chi Chen & Taejin Park & Xuhui Wang & Shilong Piao & Baodong Xu & Rajiv K. Chaturvedi & Richard Fuchs & Victor Brovkin & Philippe Ciais & Rasmus Fensholt & Hans Tømmervik & Govindasamy Bala & Zaichun , 2019. "China and India lead in greening of the world through land-use management," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 2(2), pages 122-129, February.
    18. Yu Feng & Alan D. Ziegler & Paul R. Elsen & Yang Liu & Xinyue He & Dominick V. Spracklen & Joseph Holden & Xin Jiang & Chunmiao Zheng & Zhenzhong Zeng, 2021. "Upward expansion and acceleration of forest clearance in the mountains of Southeast Asia," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(10), pages 892-899, October.
    19. Qiang Ren & Chunyang He & Qingxu Huang & Peijun Shi & Da Zhang & Burak Güneralp, 2022. "Impacts of urban expansion on natural habitats in global drylands," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 5(10), pages 869-878, October.
    20. Chao Yang & Huizeng Liu & Qingquan Li & Xuqing Wang & Wei Ma & Cuiling Liu & Xu Fang & Yuzhi Tang & Tiezhu Shi & Qibiao Wang & Yue Xu & Jie Zhang & Xuecao Li & Gang Xu & Junyi Chen & Mo Su & Shuying W, 2022. "Human expansion into Asian highlands in the 21st Century and its effects," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. CHEN, Running & PENG, Yisong & REN, Qiang & WU, Jiayu, 2025. "Optimizing global protected areas to address future land use threats to biodiversity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Jun Ma & Jiawei Li & Wanben Wu & Jiajia Liu, 2023. "Global forest fragmentation change from 2000 to 2020," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Xinmin Zhang & Wenqiang Wan & Ronald C. Estoque, 2025. "Impacts of urban and cropland expansions on natural habitats in Southeast Asia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Chao Yang & Huizeng Liu & Qingquan Li & Xuqing Wang & Wei Ma & Cuiling Liu & Xu Fang & Yuzhi Tang & Tiezhu Shi & Qibiao Wang & Yue Xu & Jie Zhang & Xuecao Li & Gang Xu & Junyi Chen & Mo Su & Shuying W, 2022. "Human expansion into Asian highlands in the 21st Century and its effects," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Dang, Hongzhong & Han, Hui & Chen, Shuai & Li, Mingyang, 2021. "A fragile soil moisture environment exacerbates the climate change-related impacts on the water use by Mongolian Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica) in northern China: Long-term observations," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    6. E. Ashley Steel & Oliver Stoner & Harry Podschwit & Bruno Paz & Ilaria Bombelli & Sophia L. Simon & Erin Peterson & Holger Weimar & Sebastian Glasenapp & Richard Sikkema & Nazik Elhassan & Rob Bailis , 2025. "Global wood fuel production estimates and implications," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Feng, Xinhui & Wang, Sensen & Li, Yan & Yang, Jiayu & Lei, Kaige & Yuan, Weikang, 2024. "Spatial heterogeneity and driving mechanisms of carbon emissions in urban expansion areas: A research framework coupled with patterns and functions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Coulombe, Raphaelle G. & Rao, Akhil, 2025. "Fires and local labor markets," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    9. Xiaohua Xia & Jialu Wu & Lianzhou Tang & Baifan Chen & Ying Zheng, 2025. "Plugging in for cities: the impact of power infrastructure on urban agglomeration," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Jiang, Shouzheng & Wu, Jie & Wang, Zhihui & He, Ziling & Wang, Mingjun & Yao, Weiwei & Feng, Yu, 2023. "Spatiotemporal variations of cropland carbon sequestration and water loss across China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    11. Dai, Junjie & Zhao, Ying & Seki, Katsutoshi & Wang, Li, 2024. "Changes in water-use strategies and soil water status of degraded poplar plantations in water-limited areas," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    12. Yiping Wu & Xiaowei Yin & Guoyi Zhou & L. Adrian Bruijnzeel & Aiguo Dai & Fan Wang & Pierre Gentine & Guangchuang Zhang & Yanni Song & Decheng Zhou, 2024. "Rising rainfall intensity induces spatially divergent hydrological changes within a large river basin," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    13. Thierry Roncalli, 2025. "Lecture Notes on Biodiversity," Post-Print hal-04982922, HAL.
    14. Shengbiao Wu & Bin Chen & Chris Webster & Bing Xu & Peng Gong, 2023. "Improved human greenspace exposure equality during 21st century urbanization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    15. Ma, Chen & Li, Manchun & Jiang, Penghui, 2024. "The multiscale response of global cropland cropping intensity to urban expansion," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    16. Cai, Angzu & Wang, Leyi & Zhang, Yuhao & Wu, Haoran & Zhang, Huai & Guo, Ru & Wu, Jiang, 2025. "Uncovering the multiple socio-economic driving factors of carbon emissions in nine urban agglomerations of China based on machine learning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    17. Seijo, Francisco & Zavala, Gonzalo & Ballester, Rafael & Costa-Saura, Jose Maria & Sangüesa-Barreda, Gabriel & Camarero, Jesús Julio & Sáez, José Antonio López, 2024. "Contrasting state land and fire use policies condition fire regime seasonality and size in two Central Spain forest landscapes," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    18. Wen-Yong Guo & Josep M. Serra-Diaz & Wolf L. Eiserhardt & Brian S. Maitner & Cory Merow & Cyrille Violle & Matthew J. Pound & Miao Sun & Ferry Slik & Anne Blach-Overgaard & Brian J. Enquist & Jens-Chr, 2023. "Climate change and land use threaten global hotspots of phylogenetic endemism for trees," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    19. Weidong Wang & Jiaying Li & Xia Qu & Zheng Han & Pan Liu, 2019. "Prediction on landslide displacement using a new combination model: a case study of Qinglong landslide in China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 96(3), pages 1121-1139, April.
    20. Jun Rentschler & Paolo Avner & Mattia Marconcini & Rui Su & Emanuele Strano & Stephane Hallegatte & Louise Bernard & Capucine Riom & Paolo Avner, 2022. "Rapid Urban Growth in Flood Zones," World Bank Publications - Reports 37348, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64449-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.