Detailed large-scale information on mammal distribution has often been lacking, hindering conservation efforts. We used the information from the 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a baseline for developing habitat suitability models for 5027 out of 5330 known terrestrial mammal species, based on their habitat relationships. We focused on the following environmental variables: land cover, elevation and hydrological features. Models were developed at 300 m resolution and limited to within species' known geographical ranges. A subset of the models was validated using points of known species occurrence. We conducted a global, fine-scale analysis of patterns of species richness. The richness of mammal species estimated by the overlap of their suitable habitat is on average one-third less than that estimated by the overlap of their geographical ranges. The highest absolute difference is found in tropical and subtropical regions in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia that are not covered by dense forest. The proportion of suitable habitat within mammal geographical ranges correlates with the IUCN Red List category to which they have been assigned, decreasing monotonically from Least Concern to Endangered. These results demonstrate the importance of fine-resolution distribution data for the development of global conservation strategies for mammals.

The use of surrogate species in conservation planning has been applied with disappointing results on relatively large sets of species. It could still prove useful for optimizing conservation eVorts when considering a small set of species with similar ecological requirements, however few Weld tests of this nature have been carried out. The aim of this research is to compare the response of three arboreal rodent species-the fat dormouse (Glis glis), the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) and the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)-to habitat loss and fragmentation, with the aim of identifying priorities for conservation and evaluating possible optimization of conservation eVorts under diVerent scenarios: habitat restoration and selection of focal patches. We studied the distribution of the three species in a sample of patches in a highly fragmented landscape in central Italy, using a patch-landscape scale approach. The distribution was studied by using hair tubes, nestboxes and nocturnal surveys. The three species showed analogous responses to increasing isolation and decreasing size of habitat patches; what diVered however, was the magnitude of responses. Our results show possible application of surrogacy within this restricted group of species, however several caveats arise depending on the conservation strategy and available funding. If habitat restoration is the objective, then the fat dormouse should be the target species for guiding size and isolation of patches. On the other hand, the magnitude of the diVerences and patch requirements for this species, question the feasibility of these conservation actions. If selection of focal patches for conservation is the objective then selecting the fat dormouse as a focal/umbrella species would overlook areas suitable for the other two species. Feasible optimisation of conservation eVorts may be possible only between the red squirrel and the hazel dormouse.

Mediterranean mountain ranges harbour highly endemic biota in islandlike habitats. Their topographic diversity offered the opportunity for mountain species to persist in refugial areas during episodes of major climatic change. We investigate the role of Quaternary climatic oscillations in shaping the demographic history and distribution ranges in the spider Harpactocrates ravastellus, endemic to the Pyrenees. Gene trees and multispecies coalescent analyses on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences unveiled two distinct lineages with a hybrid zone around the northwestern area of the Catalan Pyrenees. The lineages were further supported by morphological differences. Climatic niche-based species distribution models (SDMs) identified two lowland refugia at the western and eastern extremes of the mountain range, which would suggest secondary contact following postglacial expansion of populations from both refugia. Neutrality test and approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) analyses indicated that several local populations underwent severe bottlenecks followed by population expansions, which in combination with the deep population differentiation provided evidence for population survival during glacial periods in microrefugia across the mountain range, in addition to the main Atlantic and Mediterranean (western and eastern) refugia. This study sheds light on the complexities of Quaternary climatic oscillations in building up genetic diversity and local endemicity in the southern Europe mountain ranges.

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