Assessing best practice for selecting surrogates and target–setting methods in a megadiverse country

Abstract

Assessing best practice for selecting surrogates and target-setting methods in a megadiverse country. Systematic conservation planning provides a framework to identify representative areas of biodiversity, but its effectiveness depends on the choice of surrogates and targets. Mexico has conducted participatory and comprehensive gap analyses. We present the results of two independent surrogate assessments to test the criteria used in Mexico's spatial conservation prioritization. We tested the surrogate efficiency of range restricted, endemic, and threatened mammals and the influence of target-setting on the spatial configuration of the conservation network, as well as the performance of taxonomic-based surrogates. Results show that target-setting heavily influences the spatial configuration and irreplaceability values of the conservation area network. Representation effectiveness and coverage of species distribution was sensitive to surrogate selection but not to target-setting. Threatened and rare species were poorly represented when other surrogate species were used, while threatened mammals represented 90 % of all species. The effectiveness of networks designed for a single vertebrate taxon varied greatly; reptiles and amphibians performed better than random achieving high species representation.

Threatened status of neglected and underutilised Jatropha (Euphorbiaceae) species endemic to Mexico

“…The species grows in dry deciduous forest which is under threat from deforestation (Trejo & Dirzo, 2000) and this area is a newly defined priority area for conservation of Mexican dry forest (Ceballos et al, 2010). Furthermore, the hills of Tepehuaje are in the Papagayo River hydrologic region priority area for conservation, which is threatened by urban expansion, increase in crop and livestock production, and the over-exploitation and pollution of water resources (Arriaga et al, 2002). J. moranii is known from 3 herbarium specimens and is endemic to Los Cabos in Baja California Sur.…”

“…The habitats were defined according to the Conabio eco-regions classification system (Challenger & Soberón, 2008). These data were obtained from the "Ecoregiones terrestres de México" vector data set at a scale of 1:250000 (INEGI et al, 2016).…”

“…These data were obtained from the "Ecoregiones terrestres de México" vector data set at a scale of 1:250000 (INEGI et al, 2016). To show the habitat use, a layer of "land use and vegetation" at a scale of 1:250000 was obtained from Conabio (Conabio, 1999). Two comparator species growing outside of Mexico were analysed according to the terrestrial eco-region classified by WWF (WWF, 2013) and a layer was obtained from WorldMap (Lewis, 2011).…”

Los géneros de fanerógamas que, sin ser exclusivos de México, dan carácter a su flora

“…No pocos de ellos quedaron altamente impresionados con el valor estético de una gran cantidad de plantas nativas de nuestro país y sin mayor tardanza comenzaron a llegar colectores profesionales de varios países de Europa central y occidental. Es justo reconocer que una buena parte de estos colectores se dedicó solamente a obtener materiales de interés científico; otros, mientras tanto, combinaron tal tarea con la búsqueda y envío de plantas vivas y algunos, como por ejemplo Benedikt Roezl, hicieron de ello un cuantioso negocio con remesas embarcadas de toneladas de individuos de orquídeas y de otras especies de valor ornamental (Rzedowski et al, 2009).…”

Una nueva Commelina (Commelinacea) de Baja California Sur, México

“…22201/ib.20078706e.2019.90.2823 La riqueza de Commelina es incierta, pues se ha considerado constituida por entre 170 y 250 taxones (Dahlgren et al, 1985;Faden y Hunt, 1991;Tucker, 1989). Para México, Matuda (1955) citó 13 taxones, posteriormente Espejo-Serna y López-Ferrari (1995) consignaron 16 taxones, y más tarde 20 (Espejo-Serna et al, 2009). En la árida península de Baja California, Rebman et al (2016) mencionan 7 taxones de Commelina, de los cuales 3 reportados para la sierra de la Laguna podrían ser errores de identificación sobre ejemplares incompletos; de las 4 especies validadas, dos se restringen a las comunidades boscosas de la sierra de la Laguna y las otras 2 extienden su distribución a las montañas de la región de Los Cabos y hacia el centro peninsular, a través de las serranías de La Giganta, San Francisco y La Libertad, lo que permite entender que su distribución corresponde a los sitios menos áridos de la misma península.…”