Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32494601›Full record

ArticleScience advances2020

Functional diversity of marine megafauna in the Anthropocene.

C Pimiento, F Leprieur, D Silvestro, J S Lefcheck, C Albouy, D B Rasher, M Davis, J-C Svenning, J N Griffin

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
46citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

46 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Vulnerability of marine megafauna to global at-sea anthropogenic threats.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2026
    Article
  4. Vulnerability of tropical fish communities across depth in the central Indian Ocean.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2025
    Article
  5. Biodiversity conservation requires consideration of different life history stages.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Conservation priorities for functionally unique and specialized terrestrial vertebrates threatened by biological invasions.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. The extinct marine megafauna of the Phanerozoic.Cambridge prisms. Extinction · 2024
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

C PimientoDepartment of Biosciences, Swansea University, Wallace Building, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-5320-7246
F LeprieurMARBEC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, Ifremer, IRD, Montpellier, France.
D SilvestroDepartment of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg and Global Gothenburg Biodiversity Centre, 41319 Gothenburg, Sweden.
J S LefcheckTennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, MarineGEO, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8787-1786
C AlbouyIFREMER, Unité Ecologie et Modèles pour l'Halieutique, Nantes Cedex 3, France.
D B RasherBigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 60 Bigelow Drive, East Boothbay, ME 04544, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0212-8070
M DavisCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE) and Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-5949-3044
J-C SvenningCenter for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE) and Section for Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.ORCID 0000-0002-3415-0862
J N GriffinDepartment of Biosciences, Swansea University, Wallace Building, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-3295-6480

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Marine megafauna, the largest animals in the oceans, serve key roles in ecosystem functioning. Yet, one-third of these animals are at risk of extinction. To better understand the potential consequences of megafaunal loss, here we quantify their current functional diversity, predict future changes under different extinction scenarios, and introduce a new metric [functionally unique, specialized and endangered (FUSE)] that identifies threatened species of particular importance for functional diversity. Simulated extinction scenarios forecast marked declines in functional richness if current trajectories are maintained during the next century (11% globally; up to 24% regionally), with more marked reductions (48% globally; up to 70% at the poles) beyond random expectations if all threatened species eventually go extinct. Among the megafaunal groups, sharks will incur a disproportionate loss of functional richness. We identify top FUSE species and suggest a renewed focus on these species to preserve the ecosystem functions provided by marine megafauna.

Identifiers

PMID32494601
PMCPMC7164949

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.