LIFE (Land-cover change Impacts on Future Extinctions; Eyres et al, 2025) scores land layers for 30,875 terrestrial vertebrates at 1 arc-minute resolution. These maps provide estimates of the expected changes in the number of extinctions (both increases and decreases) caused by (1) converting remaining natural vegetation to agriculture, and (2) restoring farmland to natural habitat.
The resulting maps can be used at scales from 0.5-1000 km2, and offer opportunities to estimate the impact on extinctions of diverse actions that affect land cover, from individual dietary choices through to global protected area development.
The LIFE conversion to arable layer shows the change in number of extinctions that would occur if current natural habitat was converted to arable land and largely results in increased extinctions (i.e. largely positive values). The LIFE reversion layer shows the change in extinctions that result from restoring agricultural lands (arable and pasture) back to potential natural habitats. This predominantly results in a decrease in extinction (i.e. largely negative values). All values in the layers are presented as extinction/km2 of land that has changed in a pixel.
Paper: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb/380/1917
Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/records/14945383
These data and any derivatives may not be used for commercial or any revenue generating activities without prior written permission from IBAT. (Contact ibat@ibat-alliance.org)