Textured species range maps enhance interdisciplinary science capacity across scales

Abstract

Range maps are critical for understanding and conserving biodiversity, but current range maps often omit important context, negating the dynamism and variation of populations, environmental conditions, and ecological attributes to functionally oversimplify biogeography theory. Moreover, the gross underrepresentation of spatial heterogeneity throughout a species distribution limits the utility of range maps in decision making and for community engagement, weakening applications to disciplines outside the natural sciences. As climate change and other anthropogenic factors outpace our understanding of their impacts, robust and informative range maps for species will be critical in anticipating how environmental changes affect coupled ecological, evolutionary, and social processes. Here, we highlight the expansion of “flat” range maps by adding “texture”, which can represent a myriad of conditions that are spatially explicit across a species range. Using examples of variations (in human pressures, presence of competitor species, and extent of Indigenous lands) as texture, we demonstrate how range maps can address broader questions and promote enhanced capacity for interdisciplinary research.

Socio-ecological gap analysis to forecast species range contractions for conservation

“…1 ). All maps are presented in the supplementary materials ( 41 ). Our final list of African carnivores with available range maps from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) included 91 species with only extant ranges used for analyses (table S1 in ref.…”

“…Our final list of African carnivores with available range maps from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) included 91 species with only extant ranges used for analyses (table S1 in ref. 41 ). Range sizes (mean = 748,920 km 2 , SE = 101,645) and body sizes (mean = 7.95 kg; SE = 1.99) varied as well as current IUCN threat status among these carnivores with 21 species classified as Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU).…”

“…Present species ranges reflect historic conditions and extant pressures coupled with biology and resource availability ( 1 , 2 ). Despite an exhaustive focus on climate change inducing range shifts, the heterogeneity of conditions within a species’ range is complex and extends beyond environmental properties to delimit distributions and alter ecology ( 3 , 4 ). Now, in an era of immense anthropogenic influence, social factors stemming from human values, interactions with nature, and land use are increasingly governing range dynamics and threatening the persistence of species ( 5 , 6 ).…”

“…We use the availability of these resources compared to the distribution of threats including hunting pressure, human modification, and drought to determine capacity scenarios that enable forecasting locations within a species’ range at risk of contraction (figure S1 in ref. 41 ). Simply put, areas across a species’ distribution where threats outweigh resources are at immediate risk of contraction.…”

The past as a lens for biodiversity conservation on a dynamically changing planet

“…The restoration of landscapes and conservation of individual species requires integrating the rapidly shifting environmental, social, and political landscapes into our risk considerations and engaging with local stakeholders ( Fig. 2 ) to ensure success ( 16 , 41 , 42 ).…”