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- Daru, B. H., et al.
(författare)
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Endemism patterns are scale dependent
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Areas of endemism are important in biogeography because they capture facets of biodiversity not represented elsewhere. However, the scales at which they are relevant to research and conservation are poorly analysed. Here, we calculate weighted endemism (WE) and phylogenetic endemism (PE) separately for all birds and amphibians across the globe. We show that scale dependence is widespread for both indices and manifests across grain sizes, spatial extents and taxonomic treatments. Variations in taxonomic opinions—whether species are treated by systematic ‘lumping’ or ‘splitting’—can profoundly affect the allocation of WE hotspots. Global patterns of PE can provide insights into complex evolutionary processes but this congruence is lost at the continental to country extents. These findings are explained by environmental heterogeneity at coarser grains, and to a far lesser extent at finer resolutions. Regardless of scale, we find widespread deficits of protection for endemism hotspots. Our study presents a framework for assessing areas for conservation that are robust to assumptions on taxonomy, spatial grain and extent. © 2020, The Author(s).
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| 2. |
- Farooq, Harith, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Identifying Australian snakes by color patterns
- 2020
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Ingår i: Vertebrate Zoology. - 1864-5755. ; 70:3, s. 473-482
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated if Australian snakes can be identified by using their color, pattern, size and location. We coded these criteria for the 185 terrestrial snake species of Australia (excluding 37 species of sea snakes from our analysis). Uniformly brown snakes are most common, followed by banded and blotched species. Some highly variable species can have dozens of color patterns. For most localities these four criteria are sufficient to narrow down the number of possible species to fewer than 21 species and in most cases accurate identification is possible with a few photos for comparison. Given that most Australian snakes are venomous, accurately identifying snakes is also of medical importance. In addition to identifying snakes, colors and patterns provide useful data for phylogenetic and ecological studies. © 2020 Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Farooq, Harith, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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WEGE: A new metric for ranking locations for biodiversity conservation
- 2020
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Ingår i: Diversity and Distributions. - : Wiley. - 1366-9516 .- 1472-4642.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aim Effective policymaking for biological conservation requires the identification and ranking of the most important areas for protection or management. One of the most frequently used systems for selecting priority areas is the Key Biodiversity Areas (hereafter KBAs), developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, KBAs cannot be used to rank areas, potentially limiting their use when limited funding is available. To tackle this shortcoming and facilitate spatial prioritization, here we develop and validate the "WEGE index" (Weighted Endemism including Global Endangerment index), consisting of an adaptation of the EDGE score (Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered). WEGE allows the ranking of any set of locations according to the KBA guidelines and on a continuous scale. Location Global. Methods We calculated the EDGE score, Weighted Endemism, Evolutionary distinctiveness, Extinction risk and our newly developed WEGE index for all terrestrial species of amphibians, mammals and birds accessed by IUCN. We then compared the performance of each of those five indices at prioritizing areas according to the KBA guidelines. Results We found that for all taxa surveyed, WEGE was consistently better at identifying areas that trigger KBA status. Main conclusions In our analyses, WEGE outperformed all other methods and metrics designed for similar purposes. It can serve as a robust evidence-based methodology to prioritize among otherwise equally qualified sites according to the KBA categories. WEGE can therefore support transparent, evidence-based and biologically meaningful decision-making for conservation priorities.
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