Priority areas for conservation of and research focused on terrestrial vertebrates

• Published in: Conservation biology 2020-10, Vol.34 (5), p.1281-1291
• Main Authors: Nori, Javier, Loyola, Rafael, Villalobos, Fabricio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amphibians; Animals; Aquatic reptiles; Biodiversity; Conservation; conservation investment; Conservation of Natural Resources; conservation planning; Decision making; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered Species; Environmental policy; Footprints; Geographical distribution; Humans; inversión en la conservación; Investment; Knowledge acquisition; planeación de la conservación; Policies; priority research areas; Protected areas; Reptiles; Return on investment; Returns; Species extinction; Terrestrial environments; Threatened species; toma de decisiones; Vertebrates; Wildlife conservation; Zonation; áreas prioritarias para la investigación; áreas protegidas; 优先研究领域; 保护地; 保护投资; 保护规划; 决策
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13476

Effective conservation policies require comprehensive knowledge of biodiversity. However, knowledge shortfalls still remain, hindering possibilities to improve decision making and built such policies. During the last 2 decades, conservationists have made great efforts to allocate resources as efficiently as possible but have rarely considered the idea that if research investments are also strategically allocated, it would likely fill knowledge gaps while simultaneously improving conservation actions. Therefore, prioritizing areas where both conservation and research actions could be conducted becomes a critical endeavor that can further maximize return on investment. We used Zonation, a conservation planning tool and geographical distributions of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles to suggest and compare priority areas for conservation and research of terrestrial vertebrates worldwide. We also evaluated the degree of human disturbance in both types of priority areas by describing the value of the human footprint index within such areas. The spatial concordance between priority conservation and research areas was low: 0.36% of the world's land area. In these areas, we found it would be possible to protect almost half of the currently threatened species and to gather information on nearly 42% of data‐deficient (DD) species. We also found that 6199 protected areas worldwide are located in such places, although only 35% of them have strict conservation purposes. Areas of consensus between conservation and research areas represent an opportunity for simultaneously conserving and acquiring knowledge of threatened and DD species of vertebrates. Although the picture is not the most encouraging, joint conservation and research efforts are possible and should be fostered to save vertebrate species from our own ignorance and extinction. Áreas Prioritarias para la Conservación e Investigación Enfocadas en Vertebrados Terrestres Resumen Las políticas efectivas de conservación requieren del conocimiento integral de la biodiversidad. Sin embargo, la deficiencia de conocimiento todavía obstaculiza las posibilidades de mejorar la toma de decisiones y construir dichas políticas. Durante las últimas dos décadas, los conservacionistas han realizado un gran esfuerzo por asignar los recursos de la manera más eficiente posible, pero en pocas ocasiones han considerado la idea de que, si las inversiones para la investigación también se asignan estratégicamente, probablemente