Global priorities for conservation across multiple dimensions of mammalian diversity

Abstract

<p id="d984593e350">Approximately a quarter of all land mammals are currently threatened, mostly by human activities including habitat loss and harvesting. Here, we provide the first biological map of priority areas that captures all three dimensions of mammalian biodiversity: taxonomic, phylogenetic, and traits. We find limited overlap in priority regions across the three dimensions and with currently protected areas, indicating that conservation planning should consider multiple dimensions of biodiversity to maximize biodiversity conservation. Our complementarity-based prioritization provides a conservation solution that can be incorporated in future conservation planning efforts aimed at helping protect not only species but also evolutionary potential and ecosystem function. </p><p class="first" id="d984593e353">Conservation priorities that are based on species distribution, endemism, and vulnerability may underrepresent biologically unique species as well as their functional roles and evolutionary histories. To ensure that priorities are biologically comprehensive, multiple dimensions of diversity must be considered. Further, understanding how the different dimensions relate to one another spatially is important for conservation prioritization, but the relationship remains poorly understood. Here, we use spatial conservation planning to ( <i>i</i>) identify and compare priority regions for global mammal conservation across three key dimensions of biodiversity—taxonomic, phylogenetic, and traits—and ( <i>ii</i>) determine the overlap of these regions with the locations of threatened species and existing protected areas. We show that priority areas for mammal conservation exhibit low overlap across the three dimensions, highlighting the need for an integrative approach for biodiversity conservation. Additionally, currently protected areas poorly represent the three dimensions of mammalian biodiversity. We identify areas of high conservation priority among and across the dimensions that should receive special attention for expanding the global protected area network. These high-priority areas, combined with areas of high priority for other taxonomic groups and with social, economic, and political considerations, provide a biological foundation for future conservation planning efforts. </p>