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Related Experiment Video

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Deploying Community Scientists to Conduct Nondestructive Genetic Sampling of Rare Butterfly Populations

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Published on: October 28, 2022

Large conservation gains possible for global biodiversity facets.

Laura J Pollock¹, Wilfried Thuiller¹, Walter Jetz^2,3

¹Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, LECA, Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine, F-38000 Grenoble, France.

|May 25, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Expanding protected areas by just 5% can significantly increase the protection of species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in birds and mammals. Strategic conservation planning is key to maximizing global biodiversity representation.

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Area of Science:

Conservation Biology
Biodiversity Science
Ecosystem Services

Background:

Ecosystem function and services depend on various biodiversity facets beyond species richness.
International bodies like IPBES advocate for a global, quantitative approach to biodiversity protection.
Current conservation efforts often focus narrowly on species diversity, neglecting functional and phylogenetic aspects.

Purpose of the Study:

To evaluate the current protection of global species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in birds and mammals.
To assess the potential for improving biodiversity protection through strategic expansion of protected areas.
To analyze the impact of different conservation strategies on biodiversity representation.

Main Methods:

Quantitatively assessed the protected coverage of species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity for birds and mammals.
Modeled the potential gains in diversity protection with a 5% expansion of global protected land.
Compared conservation priorities across different diversity facets and taxa, and analyzed strategy effectiveness.

Main Results:

A modest 5% increase in protected areas can more than triple the coverage of species, phylogenetic, or functional diversity.
Key areas for conservation often overlap across multiple diversity facets and taxa (birds and mammals).
Maximizing global biodiversity representation is more land-intensive than maximizing local diversity; priorities vary between species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity.

Conclusions:

Significant improvements in multi-faceted biodiversity protection are achievable with strategic expansion of protected areas.
Conservation strategy choice fundamentally influences outcomes; explicit links between objectives and metrics are crucial.
Provides a framework and tools for advancing multi-faceted biodiversity conservation goals.