title: Why and how might genetic and phylogenetic diversity be reflected in the identification of key biodiversity areas?
abstract: 'Key biodiversity areas' are defined as sites contributing significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity. The identification of these sites builds from existing approaches based on measures of species and ecosystem diversity and process. Here, we therefore build from the work of Sgró et al. (2011 Evol. Appl. 4, 326-337. (doi:10.1111/j.1752-4571.2010.00157.x)) to extend a framework for how components of genetic diversity might be considered in the identification of key biodiversity areas. We make three recommendations to inform the ongoing process of consolidating a key biodiversity areas standard: (i) thresholds for the threatened species criterion currently consider a site's share of a threatened species' population; expand these to include the proportion of the species' genetic diversity unique to a site; (ii) expand criterion for 'threatened species' to consider 'threatened taxa' and (iii) expand the centre of endemism criterion to identify as key biodiversity areas those sites holding a threshold proportion of the compositional or phylogenetic diversity of species (within a taxonomic group) whose restricted ranges collectively define a centre of endemism. We also recommend consideration of occurrence of EDGE species (i.e. threatened phylogenetic diversity) in key biodiversity areas to prioritize species-specific conservation actions among sites.
authors.affiliation: IUCN, 28 rue Mauverney, Gland 1196, Switzerland t.brooks@iucn.org.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: IUCN, 219c Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0DL, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuttelod
authors.affiliation: Australian Museum, 6 College St., Sydney, New South Wales 2010, Australia.
authors.forename: D P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Faith
authors.affiliation: Het Haam 16, Arnhem 6846 KW, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garcia-Moreno
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, PO Box 874601, Tempe, AZ 85287-4601, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Langhammer
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pérez-Espona
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003710:Demography; D017753:Ecosystem; D056727:Endangered Species; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: adaptive potential; evolutionary refugia; genetic diversity; key biodiversity areas; phylogenetic diversity