Abstract
Aim: On the basis of multitaxon biogeographical processes related to region-specific geohistory and palaeoclimate, we identified a balanced and area-effective protected area network (PAN) expansion in the East Asian islands, a global biodiversity hotspot. Location: Japanese archipelago, Ryukyu archipelago and Izu-Bonin oceanic islands. Methods: We modelled the distributions of 6,325 species (amphibians, birds, freshwater fish, mammals, plants and reptiles) using 4,389,489 occurrence data points. We then applied the Zonation software for spatial conservation prioritization. First, we identified environmental drivers underpinning taxon-specific biodiversity patterns. Second, we analysed each taxon individually to understand baseline priority patterns. Third, we combined all taxa into an inclusive analysis to identify the most important PAN expansions. Results: Biodiversity patterns were well explained by geographical factors (climate, habitat stability, isolation and area), but their explanatory power differed between the taxa. There was remarkably little overlap between priority areas for the individual higher taxa. The inclusive prioritization analysis across all taxa identified priority regions, in particular in southern subtropical and mountainous areas. Expanding the PAN up to 17% would cover most of the ranges for rare and/or restricted-range species. On average, approximately 30% of the ranges of all species could be covered by the 17% expansion identified here. Main conclusions: Our analyses identified top candidates for the expansion of Japan's protected area network. Taxon-specific prioritization was informative for understanding the conservation priority patterns of different taxa associated with unique biogeographical processes. For the basis of PAN expansion, we recommend multi-taxon prioritization as an area-efficient compromise that reflects taxon-specific priority patterns. Spatial prioritization across multiple taxa provides a promising start for the development of conservation plans with the aim of long-term persistence of biodiversity on the East Asian islands.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 414-429 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Diversity and Distributions |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 11 Dec 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2019 |
Funding
the University of the Ryukyus President's Research Award for Leading Scientists; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant/Award Number: 15H04424 and 24651037; the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence program; Ministry of the Environment, Grant/Award Number: 4-1501; Seventh Framework Programme, Grant/ Award Number: 308393 Financial support was provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (no. 24651037, no. 15H04424), the University of the Ryukyus President’s Research Award for Leading Scientists and the Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (4-1501) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan. This study was also supported by Program for Advancing Strategic International Networks to Accelerate the Circulation of Talented Researchers, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. J.L warmly acknowledges funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement no. 308393 “OPERAs.” A.M. was supported by the Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence program 2012-2017. We are grateful to Yasuhara Moriaki and Akasaka Munemitsu for their advice on this project.
Funders | Funder number |
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FP7/2007 | |
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science | 24651037, 15H04424 |
Academy of Finland | |
Seventh Framework Programme | 308393 |
Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan | 4-1501 |
Keywords
- conservation biogeography
- island biogeography
- multitaxon approach
- protected area network
- reserve design
- spatial conservation prioritization
- Zonation software