Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A
B
Note:
Global conservation prioritization templates have been based almost exclusively
on bioregional classii cation and specialist opinion, rather than primary biodiversity data.
Such primary datasets have recently started to become available under the umbrella of the
IUCN Species Survival Commission (Baillie et al., 2004), and they allow progressive testing
and rei nement of templates. (
A
) Global gap analysis of coverage of 11 633 mammal, bird,
turtle and amphibian species (~40% of terrestrial vertebrates) in protected areas (Rodrigues
et al., 2004b). It shows unprotected half-degree grid cells characterized simultaneously by
irreplaceability values of at least 0.9 on a scale of 0-1, and of the top 5% of values of an
extinction risk indicator based on the presence of globally threatened species (Rodrigues
et al., 2004a). (
B
) Priorities for the conservation of 6269 African plant species (~2% of
vascular plants) across a 1-degree grid (Küper et al., 2004). These are the 125 grid cells with
the highest product of range-size rarity (a surrogate for irreplaceability) of plant species
distributions and mean human footprint (Sanderson et al., 2002). Comparison of these two
maps, and between them and Figure 2.4, reveals a striking similarity among conservation
priorities identii ed using independent datasets. The dif erence in taxonomic and geographic
coverage between
A
and
B
also highlights the challenge facing the botanical community
to compile comprehensive primary data on plant conservation in order to inform global
conservation prioritization (Callmander et al., 2005). Rectifying this is part of the Global
Strategy for Plant Conservation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Source:
Revised version of i gure originally published in Brooks et al. (2006).
Figure 2.5
Incorporating primary biodiversity data in global conservation
priority- setting
much higher levels of congruence (Mittermeier et al., 2004). Similarly,
pioneering techniques to model wholesale irreplaceability by combining
point data for megadiverse taxa with environmental datasets produce
results commensurate with existing conservation priorities (Ferrier et al.,
2004). These i ndings, while encouraging, in no way preclude the need to
use primary invertebrate data in global conservation prioritization as they
become available.
