Protected areas and spatial conservation priorities for endemic vertebrates of the Gran Chaco, one of the most threatened ecoregions of the world

NORI, JAVIER; TORRES, RICARDO; LESCANO, JULIÁN N.; CORDIER, MAXIMILIANO; PERIAGO, MARIA EUGENIA; BALDO, DIEGO J.

DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2016

1366-9516

Aim: To evaluate the representativeness of the currentnetwork of protected areas (PAs) of one of the most threatened ecoregions inthe world, the South American Gran Chaco, and determine priority conservationareas for endemic (and nearly endemic) terrestrial vertebrates of the region. Location:South America. Methods: We identified all those amphibians, mammals and birdswhose distributions were at least 70% within the Gran Chaco. Then, we refinedand corrected species? distributional ranges, first, using records from collectionsand expert knowledge, and second, by incorporating environmental andtopographic data using a technique for range polygon refinement. Lastly, weused ZONATION, a spatial conservation prioritization software, to evaluate representativenessof the current protected areas (PAs) network of the region and to define forestremnants to strategically expand PAs while maximizing the representativeness ofthe selected groups and considering human activities. Results: Current PAs cover9% of the region and represent 9.1% of the total distribution of endemicspecies. Considering our prioritization, increasing the coverage to 17% tomatch the Aichi targets would substantially increase the representativeness of thePA network, covering on average more than 30% of the ranges of all endemic speciesand 77% of the distributions of threatened and DD endemic species. Mainconclusions: Our results highlight that the need for well-informed decisions inthe Gran Chaco is imperative. While the current PA network in the regionensures a very poor representation of endemic terrestrial vertebrates, opportunitiesto efficiently expand the PAs network are really high. This emphasizes thepotential of complementarity-based systematic conservation planning tools as anessential support for conservation decisions. Given the great information gapsregarding biodiversity and human activities in the region, similar studies withupdated data would improve conservation planning in the Gran Chaco in the future