Aligning Conservation Priorities Across Taxa in Madagascar with High-Resolution Planning Tools
- 11 April 2008
- journal article
- other
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 320 (5873), 222-226
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1155193
Abstract
Globally, priority areas for biodiversity are relatively well known, yet few detailed plans exist to direct conservation action within them, despite urgent need. Madagascar, like other globally recognized biodiversity hot spots, has complex spatial patterns of endemism that differ among taxonomic groups, creating challenges for the selection of within-country priorities. We show, in an analysis of wide taxonomic and geographic breadth and high spatial resolution, that multitaxonomic rather than single-taxon approaches are critical for identifying areas likely to promote the persistence of most species. Our conservation prioritization, facilitated by newly available techniques, identifies optimal expansion sites for the Madagascar government's current goal of tripling the land area under protection. Our findings further suggest that high-resolution multitaxonomic approaches to prioritization may be necessary to ensure protection for biodiversity in other global hot spots.Keywords
This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
- Novel methods improve prediction of species’ distributions from occurrence dataEcography, 2006
- Updated estimates of biotic diversity and endemism for MadagascarOryx, 2005
- Extinction risk from climate changeNature, 2004
- A conservation plan for a global biodiversity hotspot—the Cape Floristic Region, South AfricaBiological Conservation, 2003
- Biogeographical concordance and efficiency of taxon indicators for establishing conservation priority in a tropical rainforest biotaProceedings. Biological sciences, 2001
- Systematic conservation planningNature, 2000
- Designing the Masoala National Park in Madagascar Based on Biological and Socioeconomic DataConservation Biology, 1999
- From representation to persistence: requirements for a sustainable system of conservation areas in the species‐rich mediterranean‐climate desert of southern AfricaDiversity and Distributions, 1999
- Biodiversity Assessment and Conservation StrategiesScience, 1998
- Rare species, the coincidence of diversity hotspots and conservation strategiesNature, 1993