Journal Article

Global mammal distributions, biodiversity hotspots, and conservation

Ceballos, Gerardo, Ehrlich, Paul R

2006

Overview

Hotspots, which have played a central role in the selection of sites for reserves, require careful rethinking. We carried out a global examination of distributions of all nonmarine mammals to determine patterns of species richness, endemism, and endangerment, and to evaluate the degree of congruence among hotspots of these three measures of diversity in mammals. We then compare congruence of hotspots in two animal groups (mammals and birds) to assess the generality of these patterns. We defined hotspots as the richest 2.5% of cells in a global equal-area grid comparable to 1° latitude x 1° longitude. Hotspots of species richness, \"endemism,\" and extinction threat were noncongruent. Only 1% of cells and 16% of species were common to the three types of mammalian hotspots. Congruence increased with increases in both the geographic scope of the analysis and the percentage of cells defined as being hotspots. The within-mammal hotspot noncongruence was similar to the pattern recently found for birds. Thus, assigning global conservation priorities based on hotspots is at best a limited strategy.

• Publisher: National Academy of Sciences,National Acad Sciences
• Subject: Animals / Biodiversity / Biodiversity conservation / Biodiversity hot spots / Biological Sciences / Birds / Conservation / Conservation biology / Conservation of Natural Resources - methods / Conservation of Natural Resources - statistics & numerical data / Demography / Ecology / Endemic species / Endemism / extinction / Extinction, Biological / Geographic Information Systems / Geography / indigenous species / latitude / longitude / Mammals / Mammals - physiology / Species / Species diversity / Species extinction / Species richness / Species Specificity / Threatened species / Tropical regions / Wildlife conservation