Habitat suitability models to make conservation decisions based on areas of high species richness and endemism

Hernández-Quiroz, Nathalie S.; Badano, Ernesto I.; Barragán, Felipe; Flores, Joel; Pinedo-Alvarez, Carmelo

doi:10.1007/s10531-018-1596-9

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Reductions could be more intense independently of taxonomic group in specialist species [34], therefore the conservation status of specialist species is likely to be modified under future scenarios. Projections of future habitat suitability have been tested in groups as diverse as ants [45] or ticks [23], and ecological niche models (ENMs), including climatic models [43], have proved to be efficient for making decisions regarding conservation priorities [32,54]. Such models are commonly used to assess impacts of future climatic warming, comparing distributions under current environmental variables with conditions under future projections for these same environmental variables [47].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change challenges IUCN conservation priorities: a test with western Mediterranean amphibians

et al. 2020

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One common approach to assigning conservation priorities during the current biodiversity crisis is to identify and direct efforts to high profile, vulnerable taxa, and important biodiversity areas. We addressed the first issue by assessing the comparison between conservation status and habitat suitability under differing climate change scenarios for sixteen species of five amphibian families (Pelobatidae, Bufonidae, Alytidae, Hylidae and Ranidae) distributed on both sides of the Gibraltar Strait, with the aim of verify whether potentially sensible species under climatic change scenarios are or not considered at risk presently in the IUCN current categories. We have addressed this with an environmental niche modelling algorithm (MaxEnt) and projecting the outputs in four future climatic change scenarios. Our results demonstrate that climatic niches of some species may currently match their conservation category, with Pelobates varaldii having the narrowest distribution and being the more endangered species, but not all responses to predicted climatic change scenarios are related to conservation status. Some suggest notable changes in potential climatic habitats, with both substantial increase (7 species) and decrease (5 species) represented. Threatened species such as P. varaldii could be climatically favored whereas currently more abundant species could maintain, increase, or reduce their habitat distribution. These results have implications for current conservation strategies, and suggest that this approach deserves consideration as part of any species or habitat conservation strategy in the future.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change challenges IUCN conservation priorities: a test with western Mediterranean amphibians

et al. 2020

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“…Appropriate evidence-based strategies are essential to optimise the effectiveness of conservation 2,3 . Various strategies have been developed to prioritise taxa and their ecosystems for conservation such as habitat prioritisation and zoning [4][5][6] , but many countries may lack access to such data or resources to effectively implement conservation. Priorities should be matched with future targets and effort allocation to support reaching such targets and ensure that species and ecosystems are well protected [7][8][9][10] .…”

Section: Introductorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing global vulnerabilities and conservation priorities for cave-dwelling bats

Tanalgo¹,

Oliveira²,

Hughes³

2021

Preprint

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Research and conservation interventions are disproportionately focused on taxa perceived as charismatic, while other systems with high levels of endemism, and often under-protected such as caves and subterranean ecosystems remain neglected. Bats are keystone to cave ecosystems making them ideal surrogates to understand diversity patterns and assay conservation priorities. Using a novel framework, we assessed and mapped the global bat cave vulnerabilities and priorities at the biome and site level. Almost half (N = 678, 48%) of bat species across the world regularly use caves, with 32% endemic to a single country, and 15% currently threatened with extinction. Tropical realms and small-ranged species faced the highest levels of risk. Our analyses consistently showed that most caves with lower threat levels show higher cave biotic potential (i.e., evolutionary distinctiveness and endemism), though this may be due to the loss of species from more disturbed caves. We estimate that 3% to 28% are high-priority caves for conservation in broad-scale (biome level) and fine-scale (site-dependent) analyses respectively. Amongst regions, the highest concentration of conservation priority areas are in the Palearctic and tropical regions (except Afrotropical), which requires more intensive data sampling. Our results further highlight the importance of prioritising bat caves at local scales but show that broader scale analysis is possible if robust cave data is present and effective parameters are included (i.e., appropriate landscape features and threats). Developing priorities for these systems requires more systematic approaches as a standard measure to develop the priorities needed to maintain cave diversity.

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“…Appropriate evidence-based strategies are essential to optimise the implementation and effectiveness of conservation (Ceballos et al, 2015;Pimm et al, 2014). Various methods and frameworks have been developed to prioritise taxa and their habitats for conservation such as habitat prioritisation and zoning (Conenna et al, 2017;Hernández-Quiroz et al, 2018;Wintle et al, 2019), but many countries may have limited access to such data or resources to effectively implement conservation (Chandra and Idrisova, 2011). Priorities should be matched with future targets and effort allocation to support reaching such targets and ensure that species and their ecosystems are well protected (Arponen, 2012;Groves et al, 2002;Sutherland et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using bats as surrogates to effectively target global hotspots for subterranean conservation and monitoring

Tanalgo

Oliveira

Hughes

2021

Preprint

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Research and media attention is disproportionately focused on taxa and ecosystems perceived as charismatic, while other systems with high levels of endemism, are often under-protected and overlooked such as caves and subterranean ecosystems. Yet these more challenging systems are also threatened, with karsts for example losing around 6% of their area each year, highlighting the urgent need for protection, especially as up to 90% of cave endemic species may be undescribed. Bats are keystone to cave ecosystems making them potential surrogates to understand cave diversity patterns and assay conservation priorities. Almost half (48%) of known bat species use caves for parts of their life histories, with 32% endemic to a single country, and 15% currently threatened. We combine global analysis of cave bats from the IUCN with site specific analysis of 1930 bat caves from 46 countries to develop global priorities for the conservation of the most vulnerable cave ecosystems. Globally, 28% of caves showed high diversity and were highly threatened and 4% had high diversity but not currently threatened. Amongst regions, the highest concentration of conservation priority caves were in the Palearctic, and tropical regions except the Afrotropics, which requires more intensive data sampling. Our results further highlight the importance of prioritising bat caves using locally collected data, and parameter selection is optimised (i.e., appropriate landscape features and threats). Finally, to protect and conserve these ecosystems it is crucial that we identify priorities in species and habitat-level, and map vulnerable habitats with the highest biodiversity and distinctiveness.

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Habitat suitability models to make conservation decisions based on areas of high species richness and endemism

Cited by 20 publications

References 36 publications

Climate change challenges IUCN conservation priorities: a test with western Mediterranean amphibians

Climate change challenges IUCN conservation priorities: a test with western Mediterranean amphibians

Developing global vulnerabilities and conservation priorities for cave-dwelling bats

Using bats as surrogates to effectively target global hotspots for subterranean conservation and monitoring

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