MULTIFACETED DIVERSITY-AREA RELATIONSHIPS REVEAL GLOBAL HOTSPOTS OF MAMMALIAN SPECIES, TRAIT AND LINEAGE DIVERSITY.

Mazel, F., Guilhaumon, F., Mouquet N., Devictor, V., Gravel, D., Renaud, J., Cianciaruso, M.V., Loyola, R., Diniz-Filho, J.A.F., Mouillot, D., and Thuiller, W. (2014).

Global Ecology and Biogeography, 23, 836-847, doi:10.1111/geb.12158

Key message : Here we define biome-scale hotspots of phylogenetic and functional mammalian biodiversity (PD and FD, respectively) and compare them with classical hotspots based on species richness (SR) alone. SR, PD and FD were computed for 782 terrestrial ecoregions using the distribution ranges of 4616 mammalian species. Ecoregions harbouring a rich and abundantly represented evolutionary history and FD did not match with the top-ranked ecoregions defined by SR. More importantly PD and FD hotspots showed important spatial mismatches. We also found that FD and PD generally reached their maximum values faster than SR as a function of area. The fact that PD/FD reach their maximum value faster than SR could suggest that the two former facets might be less vulnerable to habitat loss than the latter. While this point is expected, it is the first time that it has been quantified at a global scale and should have important consequences for conservation. This means that maximizing species number may fail to preserve those nodes (in the phylogenetic or functional tree) that are relatively abundant in the ecoregion. As a consequence it may be of prime importance to adopt a multifaceted biodiversity perspective to inform conservation strategies at a global scale.