Front Cover

Abstract

The cover image, by Christopher D. Barratt et al., is based on the Biodiversity Research Environmental correlates of phylogenetic endemism in amphibians and the conservation of refugia in the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa, DOI:. Photo Credit: B.A. Bwong, Afrixalussylvaticus, photographed in Shimba Hills National Reserve, Kenya

Functional endemism captures hotspots of unique phenotypes and restricted ranges

“…Where patterns of FE deviate from expected patterns provides the opportunity to explore the ecological and evolutionary processes that shape functional biogeographic patterns, while highlighting regions that may contain particularly vulnerable species that could be overlooked using other measures. There are several examples of studies using endemism metrics to inform conservation targets (Barratt et al 2017, Daru et al 2020a) and recent studies have predicted heavy losses to functional diversity across taxa due to ongoing global change (Carmona et al 2021). Therefore, new ways to document and describe spatial patterns of endemism, particularly in functionally unique species, is an urgent necessity.…”