Do protected areas represent species' optimal climatic conditions? A test usingIberian water beetles

Abstract

Aim To assess the effectiveness of protected area networks in representing the climatic niche of Iberian water beetle species.Location Iberian Peninsula. Methods We used distribution data from 133 endemic water beetle species in the Iberian Peninsula. Climatic potential distributions were estimated by applying a multidimensional-envelope procedure based on climatic data (both current and future) and observed occurrences. Mahalanobis distances were calculated to obtain continuous climatic suitability values within the climatic potential distribution. Two protected area networks were assessed: National Parks (NPs) and Natura 2000 (N 2000 ). The average climatic suitability value for the cells overlapping with protected areas was calculated and compared with the average value of 10,000 random samples from the same number of cells within their entire potential distribution, which allowed to identify species whose climatic niches were optimally or marginally represented.Results Fifty-seven and 104 of the 107 considered taxa were represented with at least one occurrence in NPs and N 2000 , respectively, and the climatic potential distributions of 93 and all 107 taxa overlapped with NPs and N 2000 . While the climatic niches of 48 and 38 taxa were marginally represented in NPs and N 2000 , the climatic niches of only 11 and 29 were optimally represented by these two protected area networks. When predicted future climatic conditions were considered, both the climatic suitability values and the number of species whose potential distribution was represented by protected areas decreased.Main conclusions Although the representation of endemic Iberian taxa could be considered adequate, these results show that for most of them the protected networks tend to include areas with climatic conditions close to the species tolerance limit, and the expected climate change only worsened this scenario. Thus, current protected areas cannot be considered to guarantee the long-term survival of the species considered in this study.

How well are biodiversity drivers reflected in protected areas? A representativeness assessment of the geohistorical gradients that shaped endemic flora in Japan

“…Likewise, high degrees of endemicity in current species distribution patterns are a result of in situ diversification through divergent selection or genetic drift, which are promoted by environmental heterogeneity, geographical isolation, and habitat stability (Sandel et al 2011). Taking these processes into consideration when designing protected area networks increases the likelihood that biodiversity will persist long-term, even in the face of land-use and climate change (Sa´nchez-Ferna´ndez et al 2013). The use of environmental factors to explain biodiversity patterns allows conservation planners to capture both ecological diversification and accumulation of taxa (Mittelbach et al 2007).…”

“…The consistency (or inconsistency) of the environmental factors that drive biodiversity patterns within a protected area and, more broadly, across the whole biogeographic region, may be used as a heuristic measure for evaluating process-based representativeness that contributes to improving the long-term effectiveness of conservation plans (Sa´nchez-Ferna´ndez et al 2013;Albuquerque and Beier 2015). In Japan, plant diversity patterns are correlated with a variety of environmental factors that are a proxy for ecological and historical (evolutionary) processes: for example, current climate and edaphic factors drive species sorting; paleoclimatic and geological stability promote species accumulation; and geographical isolation is related to allopatric speciation .…”

Effectiveness of a large reserve network in protecting freshwater biodiversity: a test for the Iberian Peninsula

“…Sánchez‐Fernández et al . () focussed on water beetles and demonstrated that protected areas provide the basic climatic conditions suitable for many species, but that most were close to their tolerance limits, which might compromise long‐term persistence. Similar results have been reported for other areas in Europe (e.g.…”

On the Iberian endemism Eurylophella iberica Keffermuller and Da Terra 1978 (Ephemeroptera, Ephemerellidae): current and future potential distributions, and assessment of the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network on its protection

“…Cheng and Bonebrake 2017). Moreover, few conservation planning studies have focused on insects, as compared to other taxa (Wilson and Maclean 2011;Sánchez-Fernández et al 2013). Some studies have already stressed the lack of effectiveness of the European Natura 2000 reserve network in representing the invertebrate fauna in different countries (e.g.…”

“…This procedure has been widely used in spatial animal ecology (e.g. Etherington et al 2009) and is considered an useful tool to estimate the environmental suitability area for a given species (Calenge et al 2008;Sánchez-Fernández et al 2013;Guareschi et al 2013). Thus the final representation of the potential distribution for E. iberica was a map with continuous favourability values within its potential distribution, which ranged from 0 (low suitability) to 100 (high suitability).…”