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Biodiversity Research
Species richness and representation in protected areas of the Western hemisphere: discrepancies between checklists and range maps
Article first published online: 30 JAN 2013
DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12034
© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Additional Information
How to Cite
Cantú-Salazar, L., Gaston, K. J. (2013), Species richness and representation in protected areas of the Western hemisphere: discrepancies between checklists and range maps. Diversity and Distributions, 19: 782–793. doi: 10.1111/ddi.12034
Publication History
- Issue published online: 13 JUN 2013
- Article first published online: 30 JAN 2013
Funded by
- Zoologisches Institut, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald
- Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Mexico. Grant Number: 128763
Keywords:
- Distribution maps;
- occurrence;
- protected areas;
- representation;
- species richness;
- vertebrates
Abstract
Aim
We use data based on species checklists and geographical range maps for 3096 amphibian, 4100 bird and 1878 terrestrial mammal species to explore possible discrepancies in estimates of species richness for protected areas. We predict substantial differences between checklist and range map richness for smaller areas, where higher errors of commission from range maps are likely to occur. We also explore how discrepancies between species inventories and range maps may affect assessments of reserve prioritization and representation.
Location
Continental America and associated islands.
Methods
We obtained species numbers based on checklists for 619 protected areas from a variety of sources, including management plans, technical reports, environmental assessments, official websites, biodiversity databases and conservation agencies, and evaluated how these correlate with species richness estimates from geographical range map databases, also testing for an effect of reserve size on range map omission and commission errors.
Results
Species richness estimates obtained from checklists and range maps showed a significant positive relationship for all three groups of vertebrates, although for most protected areas, estimates of richness from range overlap maps tended to be overestimates, especially for amphibians and mammals in species-rich regions. Protected area size explained little of the discrepancies between checklist and range map richness. Species representation in protected areas based on checklists was in general lower than representation based on range maps.
Main conclusions
Our results suggest that range maps, although far from perfect, have the advantage of reducing geographical biases and filling gaps that exist in point locality data at least in species-rich protected areas, while most available checklists in these regions were extremely variable in quality and availability, lacking of basic information on survey design, reliability and completeness. However, range maps will likely overestimate species representation in protected areas and should thus be treated with caution in this context.