Hotspots within a global biodiversity hotspot - areas of endemism are associated with high mountain ranges

Abstract

Conservation biology aims at identifying areas of rich biodiversity. Currently recognized global biodiversity hotspots are spatially too coarse for conservation management and identification of hotspots at a finer scale is needed. This might be achieved by identification of areas of endemism. Here, we identify areas of endemism in Iran, a major component of the Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot, and address their ecological correlates. Using the extremely diverse sunflower family (Asteraceae) as our model system, five consensus areas of endemism were identified using the approach of endemicity analysis. Both endemic richness and degree of endemicity were positively related to topographic complexity and elevational range. The proportion of endemic taxa at a certain elevation (percent endemism) was not congruent with the proportion of total surface area at this elevation, but was higher in mountain ranges. While the distribution of endemic richness (i.e., number of endemic taxa) along an elevational gradient was hump-shaped peaking at mid-elevations, the percentage of endemism gradually increased with elevation. Patterns of endemic richness as well as areas of endemism identify mountain ranges as main centres of endemism, which is likely due to high environmental heterogeneity and strong geographic isolation among and within mountain ranges. The herein identified areas can form the basis for defining areas with conservation priority in this global biodiversity hotspot.

The new locally endemic genusYazdana(Caryophyllaceae) and patterns of endemism highlight the high conservation priority of the poorly studied Shirkuh Mountains (central Iran)

“…2000 m a.s.l. ), it decreases gradually until the nival zone (Noroozi et al, 2018). In Shirkuh Mts., however, the number of local endemic species does not decrease with increasing elevation, which could be due to the isolation of higher elevations fostering allopatric speciation.…”

“…at elevations above 1400 m a.s.l. were recorded, and their distribution patterns in different mountain ranges of Iran (which are well associated with the identified areas of endemism of this region according to Noroozi et al, 2018, 2019b) were analyzed. These data were extracted from the database of endemic vascular plant species of Iran (Noroozi et al, 2019b).…”

Sky islands as foci for divergence of fig trees and their pollinators in southwest China

“…Within the broad pattern of montane species expanding their ranges to lower elevations during glacial periods, cyclical changes in distribution are not necessarily simple, and the complex topography and microclimates of large mountain ranges can provide refugia for different species in different places (Chen, Compton, Liu, & Chen, 2012;Davis & Shaw, 2001;Haubrich & Schmitt, 2007;Qiu, Fu, & Comes, 2011;Sharma, Poudel, Li, Xu, & Guan, 2014). Mountains are therefore often centres of endemism and species diversity hotpots (Noroozi et al, 2018;Zhou et al, 2018), as well as foci for divergence between populations of the same species that have become isolated on different mountains (Barthlott, Mutke, Rafiqpoor, Kier, & Kreft, 2005;Myers, Mittermeier, Mittermeier, Fonseca, & Kent, 2000;Popp, Gizaw, Nemomissa, Suda, & Brochmann, 2008;Xu et al, 2016).…”

Patterns of Endemism in Turkey, the Meeting Point of Three Global Biodiversity Hotspots, Based on Three Diverse Families of Vascular Plants

“…These are among the most species-rich plant families in Turkey and constitute a significant proportion of the endemic flora of Turkey (c. 30%). In order to identify CEs, three biodiversity indices, i.e., Endemic Richness (ER), Rangerestricted Endemic Richness (RER), and Weighted Endemic Richness (WER; referred to as Endemism Richness by Kier et al, 2009), were applied (Crisp et al, 2001;Linder, 2001); in order to identify AEs, Endemicity Analysis (Szumik et al, 2002) was used, which has been successfully applied in different parts of the world (Martínez-Hernández et al, 2015;Mendoza-Fernández et al, 2015;Szumik and Goloboff, 2015;Elías and Aagesen, 2016;Hoffmeister and Ferrari, 2016;Zhang et al, 2016;Weirauch et al, 2017;Noroozi et al, 2018). We address the following questions: (1) Where are the CEs and AEs in Turkey?…”