21Vertebrate pollinators are increasingly threatened worldwide, but little is known about the 22 potential consequences of their declines for plants and wider ecosystems. We present the first 23 global assessment of the importance of vertebrate pollinators for zoophilous plant 24 reproduction. Our meta-analysis of 126 experiments on plants revealed that excluding 25 vertebrate pollinators reduced fruit and/or seed production by 63% on average. We found bat-26 pollinated plants to be more dependent on pollinators than bird-pollinated plants (an average 27 84% reduction in fruit/seed production when bats were being excluded, compared to 46% 28 when birds were excluded). Dependence on vertebrate pollinators for fruit/seed production 29 was greater in the tropics than at higher latitudes. With such a large potential impact of 30 vertebrate pollinator loss, there is a clear need for prompt, effective conservation action for 31 threatened flower-visiting vertebrate species. More research is needed on how such changes 32 might affect wider ecosystems. 33 In a nutshell:• We present the first global assessment of the importance of vertebrate pollinators for the reproductive success of the plants they pollinate.• In our meta-analysis, we found that excluding vertebrate pollinators from plants visited by both insects and vertebrate pollinators reduced fruit and seed production by 63%, indicating a strong dependence on these pollinators.• Plants in the tropics and bat-pollinated plants are more reliant on vertebrate pollination than temperate plants and those visited by other vertebrates.• We emphasize the importance of conserving vertebrate pollinators and stress the need for more empirical data on the pollination systems of plants and their vertebrate pollinator communities.Odd page header 1 3Animal pollination is necessary in the life cycle of many plant species. It is estimated that 34 87.5% of the world's flowering plant species are animal pollinated (Ollerton et al. 2011), 35 with 75% of the world's major crops species benefitting to some degree from animal 36 pollination (Klein et al. 2007). Animal pollinated plants are also used for medicines, forage 37 and materials (Potts et al. 2010(Potts et al. , 2016 Ollerton et al. 2011) and play a crucial role in the 38 long-term maintenance of biodiversity and natural ecosystems. While much attention is paid 39 to insect pollinators, the role of vertebrate pollinators is widely recognized. A recent global 40 study revealed that both mammal and bird pollinators are becoming increasingly threatened 41 with extinction over time, with an average of 2.5 species per year having moved one Red List 42 category towards extinction in recent decades (Regan et al. 2015). These bird and mammal 43 pollinator declines are thought to be driven by agricultural expansion, the spread of invasive 44 alien species, hunting and fire (Regan et al. 2015). 45Over 920 species of birds are known to pollinate plants (Whelan et al. 2008) including 46 Nectarinidae (sunbirds), Trochilidae ...

SummaryImportant Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) are sites identified as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations on the basis of an internationally agreed set of criteria. We present the first review of the development and spread of the IBA concept since it was launched by BirdLife International (then ICBP) in 1979 and examine some of the characteristics of the resulting inventory. Over 13,000 global and regional IBAs have so far been identified and documented in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems in almost all of the world’s countries and territories, making this the largest global network of sites of significance for biodiversity. IBAs have been identified using standardised, data-driven criteria that have been developed and applied at global and regional levels. These criteria capture multiple dimensions of a site’s significance for avian biodiversity and relate to populations of globally threatened species (68.6% of the 10,746 IBAs that meet global criteria), restricted-range species (25.4%), biome-restricted species (27.5%) and congregatory species (50.3%); many global IBAs (52.7%) trigger two or more of these criteria. IBAs range in size from < 1 km2 to over 300,000 km2 and have an approximately log-normal size distribution (median = 125.0 km2, mean = 1,202.6 km2). They cover approximately 6.7% of the terrestrial, 1.6% of the marine and 3.1% of the total surface area of the Earth. The launch in 2016 of the KBA Global Standard, which aims to identify, document and conserve sites that contribute to the global persistence of wider biodiversity, and whose criteria for site identification build on those developed for IBAs, is a logical evolution of the IBA concept. The role of IBAs in conservation planning, policy and practice is reviewed elsewhere. Future technical priorities for the IBA initiative include completion of the global inventory, particularly in the marine environment, keeping the dataset up to date, and improving the systematic monitoring of these sites.

who provided valuable feedback on elements of this document during a workshop (March 2018, The Dolomites World Heritage Site, Italy). IUCN also thanks UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre for their contribution to this project.

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We utilised a practical approach to integrated ecosystem service valuation to inform decisionmaking at Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park in Nepal. The Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Sitebased Assessment (TESSA) was used to compare ecosystem services between two alternative states of the site (protection or lack of protection with consequent changed land use) to estimate the net consequences of protection. We estimated that lack of protection would have substantially reduced the annual ecosystem service flow, including a 74% reduction in the value of greenhouse gas sequestration, 60% reduction in carbon storage, 94% reduction in nature-based recreation, and 88% reduction in water quality. The net monetary benefit of the park was estimated at $11 million year -1 . We conclude that: (1) simplified cost-benefit analysis between alternative states can be usefully employed to determine the ecosystem service consequences of land-use change, but monetary benefits should be subject to additional sensitivity analysis; (2) both biophysical indicators and monetary values can be standardised using rose plots, to illustrate the magnitude of synergies and trade-offs among the services; and (3) continued biodiversity protection measures can preserve carbon stock, although the benefit of doing so remains virtual unless an effective governance option is established to realise the monetary values. Highlights TESSA was used for integrated ecosystem services valuation of Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park, Nepal. Net monetary ecosystem service value of protecting the Park was estimated at $11 million y -1 . Protection avoided a reduction in carbon stock of 60% and a net annual monetary loss of 19%. Conservation and ecosystem service provision objectives were congruent at site-level. A buffer zone around the park may improve benefit sharing.5