1. Further progress in reducing biodiversity loss relies on the improved quantification of the connections between drivers of habitat loss and subsequent biodiversity impacts. To this end, biodiversity impact metrics should be able to report linked trends in specific human activities and changes in biodiversity state, accounting for both the ecology of different species and the cumulative effects of historical habitat losses. These characteristics are not currently captured within a single metric.
2. Here, we develop a globally applicable methodological framework that uses freely and publicly available datasets to quantify the relative impacts of anthropogenic activities on biodiversity. We use species‐specific habitat suitability models to link specific land uses to ensuing changes in the likelihood that local populations of those species will persist. To illustrate our approach, we assess the impacts of soy expansion and other land uses within the Brazilian Cerrado on over 2,000 species of amphibians, birds, mammals and plants for three periods between 2000 and 2014.
3. Our results showed that mammals and plants suffered the greatest overall reduction of suitable habitat. However, among endemic and near‐endemic species—which face greatest risk of global extinction from habitat conversion in the Cerrado—birds and mammals were the most affected groups. While conversion of natural vegetation to grassland and planted pastures were together responsible for most of the biodiversity impact of recent changes, soy expansion (via direct conversion of natural vegetation) had the greatest impact per unit area. The total biodiversity impact of recent land‐use change was concentrated in the southern states of the Cerrado—Minas Geráis, Goiás and Mato Grosso—but the impact on biodiversity of production of soy was greatest within the agricultural frontiers of Bahía and Piauí.
4. The flexibility of our approach to examine linkages between biodiversity loss and specific human activities has clear potential to better characterize the pathways by which habitat loss drivers operate. Its capacity to incorporate species‐specific ecological needs, through a globally applicable methodology, can improve the tangibility of biodiversity loss assessments.

中文翻译：

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衡量土地转换对生物多样性影响的实用方法

1. 减少生物多样性丧失的进一步进展取决于对生境丧失驱动力与后续生物多样性影响之间联系的定量化改进。为此，生物多样性影响指标应能够报告特定人类活动和生物多样性状态变化的相关趋势，同时考虑到不同物种的生态和历史栖息地丧失的累积影响。这些特征当前未在单个度量标准中捕获。
2. 在这里，我们建立了一个全球适用的方法框架，该框架使用免费和公开可用的数据集来量化人为活动对生物多样性的相对影响。我们使用特定物种的栖息地适应性模型，将特定土地用途与随之而来的变化联系起来，以确保这些物种的本地种群持续存在的可能性。为了说明我们的方法，我们在2000年至2014年的三个时期内，评估了巴西Cerrado地区大豆扩张和其他土地利用对2,000多种两栖动物，鸟类，哺乳动物和植物的影响。
3. 我们的结果表明，哺乳动物和植物的总体适宜栖息地减少幅度最大。但是，在塞拉多地区因栖息地转变而面临全球灭绝风险最大的地方性和近地方性物种中，鸟类和哺乳动物是受影响最大的群体。尽管自然植被向草地和牧场的转化是最近变化对生物多样性的大部分影响，但大豆的扩张（通过自然植被的直接转化）对单位面积的影响最大。最近土地用途变化对生物多样性的总体影响主要集中在塞拉多的南部州-米纳斯吉拉斯州，戈亚斯州和马托格罗索州-但大豆生产对生物多样性的影响在巴伊亚州和皮奥伊州的农业边界内最大。
4. 我们研究生物多样性丧失与特定人类活动之间联系的方法的灵活性具有明显的潜力，可以更好地表征栖息地丧失驱动因素的运作途径。它具有通过全球适用的方法纳入特定物种生态需求的能力，可以改善生物多样性丧失评估的切实性。