Enhancing Conservation Efforts in the Qinling Mountains Through Phenotypic Trait Diversity Optimization

The establishment of conservation areas is considered one of the most effective approaches to address biodiversity loss with limited resources. Identifying hotspots of plant diversity and conservation gaps has played a crucial role in optimizing conservation areas. Utilizing diverse types of research data can effectively enhance the recognition of hotspots and conservation gaps. Phenotypic trait diversity is a functional biogeography that analyzes the geographic distribution patterns, formation, and reasons for the development of specific or multiple phenotypic traits of organisms. Flower color and fruit color phenotypic traits are primary characteristics through which plants interact with other organisms, affecting their own survival and reproduction, and that of their offspring. This study utilized data from 1923 Phenotypic Trait Diversity Species (PTDS) with flower and fruit color characteristics to optimize conservation areas in the Shaanxi Qinling Mountains. Additionally, data from 1838 endemic species (ES), 190 threatened species (TS), and 119 protected species (PS) were used for validation. The data were primarily sourced from the Catalogue of Vascular Plants in Shaanxi, supplemented by the Chinese Virtual Herbarium and the Shaanxi Digital Herbarium. The results reveal that by comparing the existing conservation area boundaries with those determined by four types of data, conservation gaps are found in 14 counties in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi. The existing conservation area only accounts for 13.3% of the area determined by the four types of data. There are gaps in biodiversity conservation in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi, and the macroscopic use of plant phenotypic trait data contributes to optimizing these conservation gaps.