Integrating hotspots for endemic, threatened and rare species supports the identification of priority areas for vascular plants in SW China

• Published in: Forest ecology and management Vol. 484; p. 118952
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yinbo, Wang, Guangyu, Zhuang, Hongfei, Wang, Lanhui, Innes, John L., Ma, Keping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 15.03.2021
• Subjects: Biodiversity conservation; Congruence; Hotspots; Priority areas; Southwest China; SW China; RR; Biodiversity conservation; Congruence; Southwest China; EH; Hotspots; ER; ASC; TH; RH; TR; Priority areas; SR
• ISSN: 0378-1127; 1872-7042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.118952

•Southwest China has been recognized as one of the world’s most important refuge for diverse wildlife.•Identification of “hotspots-within-hotspots” assists conservation management.•The spatial congruence of three hotspots (EH, TH and RH) was low for endemic, threatened and rare vascular plants in SW China.•Integrating different types of hotspots (EH ∪ TH ∪ RH) was developed to be an optimal method to support the identification of priority areas for vascular plants in SW China. Southwest China (SW China) covers three global biodiversity hotspots—the Mountains of Southwest China, the Eastern Himalayas and the Indo-Burma, India and Myanmar region—and has been recognized as one of the world’s most important refuges for diverse types of wildlife. Knowledge of the distribution of vascular plants in SW China provides essential information for determining priority conservation areas within these global biodiversity hotspots. However, little is known of the congruence among hotspots identified by different criteria. Here, the research aimed to identify proxies that could represent vascular plants in SW China by identifying the spatial congruence between different hotspots. First, the distributions of species richness (SR), endemic species richness (ER), threatened species richness (TR) and rare species richness (RR) for 24,070 vascular plants in SW China were mapped. Then, Gi* statistics were used to identify endemic species hotspots (EH), threatened species hotspots (TH) and rare species hotspots (RH); spatial congruence was tested by overlapping these three hotspots. The results showed that the spatial congruence of EH, TH and RH in the three hotspots was low, only ~21% were common to the three hotspots, and ~51% did not overlap with any other hotspots. However, the integration of EH, TH and RH (EH ∪ TH ∪ RH) provided a robust proxy for vascular plant diversity based on metrics of conservation efficiency, as the combination represents ~84% of all vascular plants in SW China and supports ~81%, ~82% and ~75% of endemic, threatened and rare species, respectively. Finally, 8 hotspot regions (counties) representing 20,187 species were identified as priority conservation areas, with only ~8.2% land cover of SW China, suggesting that this hotspots integration approach can provide a robust alternative for enhancing overall levels of biodiversity conservation and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of local management efforts.