INVESTIGADORES
NUÑEZ martin Andres
artículos
Título:
Quantity versus quality: Endemism and protected areas in the temperate forest of South America
Autor/es:
RODRIGUEZ-CABAL MA, NUÑEZ, M.A., MARTINEZ A. S.
Revista:
AUSTRAL ECOLOGY
Referencias:
Año: 2008 vol. 33 p. 730 - 736
ISSN:
1442-9985
Resumen:
Identification of biodiversity hotspots is essential to conservation
strategies aimed at minimizing the possibility of losing half of the
world's species in the next 50 years. The aims of the present study
were: (i) to locate and designate zones of endemism in the temperate
forest of South America; and (ii) to compare the distribution of these
areas with the distribution of existing protected areas in this habitat
type. Endemism areas were determined by using parsimonious analysis of
endemism, which identified zones of endemism on the basis of sets of
endemic species that were restricted to two or more study areas. We
used distribution information for five unrelated taxa (ferns, trees,
reptiles, birds and mammals) to provide more reliable results and
patterns than would work with only a single taxon or related taxa. The
northern part of this region has high endemism for all of the taxa
considered in this study. We demonstrate that although the temperate
forest of South America has more than 30% of its area under some type
of protection, correlation between protected areas and the areas of
endemism is remarkably low. In fact, less than 10% of protected areas
are situated in areas that have the greatest value for conservation
(i.e. high endemism). Under the current strategy, biodiversity within
South America's temperate forest is in danger despite the large amount
of protected area for this forest type.