Testing the higher-taxon approach to conservation planning in a megadiverse group: the macrofungi

Balmford, Andrew; Lyon, A. J. E.; Lang, Rachel M.

doi:10.1016/s0006-3207(99)00140-8

Cited by 94 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The hotspot approach to choosing protected areas has been criticized as susceptible to taxonomic instability (Isaac et al 2004). Some authors have suggested that hotspots should use higher level taxonomy to identify areas that warrant protection and sidestep issues related to unstable taxonomy (Balmford et al 2000;Amori and Gippoliti 2003). Genera and species were found to be highly correlated and may select for the same priority areas, whereas family and order are not very informative (Balmford et al 2000;Amori and Gippoliti 2003).…”

Section: Defining Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some authors have suggested that hotspots should use higher level taxonomy to identify areas that warrant protection and sidestep issues related to unstable taxonomy (Balmford et al 2000;Amori and Gippoliti 2003). Genera and species were found to be highly correlated and may select for the same priority areas, whereas family and order are not very informative (Balmford et al 2000;Amori and Gippoliti 2003). This approach may be inappropriate for bats, as young, rapid radiations may result in higher species diversity than would be predicted based on generic diversity.…”

Section: Defining Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Roles of Taxonomy and Systematics in Bat Conservation

Tsang

Cirranello

Bates

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

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Taxonomy-the description, naming, and classification of organismsand systematics-the study of the evolutionary relationships of organisms-are both crucial components in conservation, providing a necessary framework for any conservation initiative. With more than 200 new bat species identified or raised from synonymy in the past decade and additional taxa described monthly, the Age of Discovery is ongoing for bats. New taxonomic and systematic discoveries clarify the status of populations, and the recognition of distinct species and lineages allows appropriate conservation strategies to be crafted, increasing the likelihood of recovery. In addition to identifying species and specimens, taxonomists care for vouchers, provide species lists for localities, and communicate taxonomic ideas to non-experts, especially through descriptions, keys, and field guides. Taxonomists can also provide conservation planning tools such as inventory data, estimates of extinction risk and extinction rate, and information for defining protected areas. Despite the importance of taxonomy, a lack of financial and institutional support impedes the training and employment of taxonomists and such factors need to be

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Section: Defining Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Defining Protected Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Roles of Taxonomy and Systematics in Bat Conservation

Tsang

Cirranello

Bates

et al. 2015

Bats in the Anthropocene: Conservation of Bats in a Changing World

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, recent studies in biodiversity assessment and measurements have used taxonomic surrogates rather than species (or taxonomic morphospecies, e.g., Musca species 1) for methodological and taxonomic expediency. The use of taxonomic surrogacy without care could often result in confusing or ambiguous conclusions (e.g., Warwick and Clarke 1995;Balmford et al 2000) involving taxonomic and ecological complexity (Bertrand et al 2006). The lack of taxonomic breadth and depth in many ecology studies represents one of the biggest challenges to advancing integrated biodiversity science.…”

Section: Ecology and Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity loss and the taxonomic bottleneck: emerging biodiversity science

Kim¹,

Byrne²

2006

Ecological Research

179

140

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Human domination of the Earth has resulted in dramatic changes to global and local patterns of biodiversity. Biodiversity is critical to human sustainability because it drives the ecosystem services that provide the core of our life-support system. As we, the human species, are the primary factor leading to the decline in biodiversity, we need detailed information about the biodiversity and species composition of specific locations in order to understand how different species contribute to ecosystem services and how humans can sustainably conserve and manage biodiversity. Taxonomy and ecology, two fundamental sciences that generate the knowledge about biodiversity, are associated with a number of limitations that prevent them from providing the information needed to fully understand the relevance of biodiversity in its entirety for human sustainability: (1) biodiversity conservation strategies that tend to be overly focused on research and policy on a global scale with little impact on local biodiversity; (2) the small knowledge base of extant global biodiversity; (3) a lack of much-needed site-specific data on the species composition of communities in human-dominated landscapes, which hinders ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation; (4) biodiversity studies with a lack of taxonomic precision; (5) a lack of taxonomic expertise and trained taxonomists; (6) a taxonomic bottleneck in biodiversity inventory and assessment; and (7) neglect of taxonomic resources and a lack of taxonomic service infrastructure for biodiversity science. These limitations are directly related to contemporary trends in research, conservation strategies, environmental stewardship, environmental education, sustainable development, and local site-specific conservation. Today's biological knowledge is built on the known global biodiversity, which represents barely 20% of what is currently extant (commonly accepted estimate of 10 million species) on planet Earth. Much remains unexplored and unknown, particularly in hotspots regions of Africa, South Eastern Asia, and South and Central America, including many developing or underdeveloped countries, where localized biodiversity is scarcely studied or described. ''Backyard biodiversity'', defined as local biodiversity near human habitation, refers to the natural resources and capital for ecosystem services at the grassroots level, which urgently needs to be explored, documented, and conserved as it is the backbone of sustainable economic development in these countries. Beginning with early identification and documentation of local flora and fauna, taxonomy has documented global biodiversity and natural history based on the collection of ''backyard biodiversity'' specimens worldwide. However, this branch of science suffered a continuous decline in the latter half of the twentieth century, and has now reached a point of potential demise. At present there are very few professional taxonomists and trained local parataxonomists worldwide, while the need for, and demands on, taxonomi...

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“…Here, it is important to notice that several groups and higher taxa could serve as surrogates of other groups, for either local species richness (Balmford et al 2000;Cardoso et al 2004a,b), and geographic variations (MacNally and Fleishman 2004;Fleishman et al 2005;Thomson et al 2005;Tognelli 2005;Tognelli et al 2005;Larsen and Rahbek 2005). Therefore, a limited group of taxa could give a good picture of overall biodiversity variation, although their surrogacy presents several limitations (see, e.g., Thomson et al 2005;Tognelli et al 2005).…”

Section: The Advantages Of the Synecological Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

A synecological framework for systematic conservation planning

Hortal

Lobo

2006

Biodiv. Inf.

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Abstract.− Biodiversity conservation design, though difficult with fragmentary or insufficient biological data, can be planned and evaluated with several methods. One of them, the complementarity criterion, is commonly used to account for the distributions of a number of species (i.e., an autoecological approach). At the same time, the patchiness and spatial bias of available distribution data has also been dealt with through distribution modelling. However, both the uncertainty of the ranges estimated and the changes in species' distributions in response to changing climates, limit the potential of single-species distributions as the biodiversity attribute to be used in complementarity strategies. Several technical and theoretical advantages of composite biodiversity variables (i.e., a synecological approach) may, however, make them ideal biodiversity indicators for conservation area selection. The drawbacks associated with current biodiversity data are discussed herein, along with the possible advantages and disadvantages of conservation planning through a synecological or autoecological approach.

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Testing the higher-taxon approach to conservation planning in a megadiverse group: the macrofungi

Cited by 94 publications

References 32 publications

The Roles of Taxonomy and Systematics in Bat Conservation

The Roles of Taxonomy and Systematics in Bat Conservation

Biodiversity loss and the taxonomic bottleneck: emerging biodiversity science

A synecological framework for systematic conservation planning

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