Optimal allocation of Red List assessments to guide conservation of biodiversity in a rapidly changing world.
The IUCN Red List is the most extensive source of conservation status assessments for species worldwide, but important gaps in coverage remain. Here, we demonstrate the use of a spatial prioritization approach to efficiently prioritize species assessments to achieve increased and up-to-date coverage efficiently. We focus on freshwater fishes, which constitute a significant portion of vertebrate diversity, although comprehensive assessments are available for only 46% of species. We used marxan to identify ecoregions for future assessments that maximize the coverage of species while accounting for anthropogenic stress. We identified a set of priority regions that would help assess one-third (ca 4000 species) of all freshwater fishes in need of assessment by 2020. Such assessments could be achieved without increasing current investment levels. Our approach is suitable for any taxon and can help ensure that species threat assessments are sufficiently complete to guide global conservation efforts in a rapidly changing world.
Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya, Lleida, Spain.|Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
Virgilio
0000-0003-3205-5033
V
Hermoso
Laboratoire Evolution et Diversité Biologique, UMR 5174, Université Paul Sabatier, Bat. 4R1, 118 route de Narbonne, Toulouse, 31062, France.
Stephanie Renee
SR
Januchowski-Hartley
Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD, Australia.
Simon
S
Linke
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong.
David
D
Dudgeon
The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia & Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Paulo
P
Petry
Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Peter
P
McIntyre
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D005399:Fishes; D005618:Fresh Water; D014714:Vertebrates

marxan
; freshwater fish; priorities; spatial prioritization; threat status