Indicators to monitor the status of the tree of life

• Published in: Conservation biology 2023-12, Vol.37 (6), p.e14138-n/a
• Main Authors: Gumbs, Rikki, Chaudhary, Abhishek, Daru, Barnabas H., Faith, Daniel P., Forest, Félix, Gray, Claudia L., Kowalska, Aida, Lee, Who‐Seung, Pellens, Roseli, Pipins, Sebastian, Pollock, Laura J., Rosindell, James, Scherson, Rosa A., Owen, Nisha R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biodiversity; biodiversity indicator; Biodiversity loss; biodiversity policy; Biological evolution; Birds; Conservation of Natural Resources; Conservation status; contribuciones de la naturaleza para las personas; Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica; Convention on Biological Diversity; Cycadophyta; diversidad filogenética; edge species; Endangered & extinct species; Endangered Species; especie borde; Evolution; evolutionary history; Extinction; historia evolutiva; Humans; indicador de biodiversidad; Indicators; Mammals; nature's contributions to people; phylogenetic diversity; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; políticas de biodiversidad; Risk; Species extinction; tree of life; árbol de la vida
• ISSN: 0888-8892; 1523-1739
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14138

Following the failure to fully achieve any of the 20 Aichi biodiversity targets, the future of biodiversity rests in the balance. The Convention on Biological Diversity's Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) presents the opportunity to preserve nature's contributions to people (NCPs) for current and future generations by conserving biodiversity and averting extinctions. There is a need to safeguard the tree of life—the unique and shared evolutionary history of life on Earth—to maintain the benefits it bestows into the future. Two indicators have been adopted within the GBF to monitor progress toward safeguarding the tree of life: the phylogenetic diversity (PD) indicator and the evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered (EDGE) index. We applied both to the world's mammals, birds, and cycads to show their utility at the global and national scale. The PD indicator can be used to monitor the overall conservation status of large parts of the evolutionary tree of life, a measure of biodiversity's capacity to maintain NCPs for future generations. The EDGE index is used to monitor the performance of efforts to conserve the most distinctive species. The risk to PD of birds, cycads, and mammals increased, and mammals exhibited the greatest relative increase in threatened PD over time. These trends appeared robust to the choice of extinction risk weighting. EDGE species had predominantly worsening extinction risk. A greater proportion of EDGE mammals (12%) had increased extinction risk compared with threatened mammals in general (7%). By strengthening commitments to safeguarding the tree of life, biodiversity loss can be reduced and thus nature's capacity to provide benefits to humanity now and in the future can be preserved. Indicadores para monitorear el estado del árbol de la vida Resumen El futuro de la biodiversidad peligra tras no haberse logrado ninguno de los 20 Objetivos de Aichi. El Marco Global de Biodiversidad (GBF) de Kunming‐Montreal del Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica (CDB) representa la oportunidad de preservar las contribuciones de la naturaleza a las personas (PNC) para las generaciones actuales y futuras mediante la conservación de la biodiversidad y la prevención de las extinciones. Es necesario salvaguardar el árbol de la vida ‐la historia evolutiva única y compartida de la vida en la Tierra‐ para mantener en el futuro los beneficios que aporta. En el GBF se han adoptado dos indicadores para supervisar los avances ha