Limestone Karsts of Southeast Asia: Imperiled Arks of Biodiversity

Clements, Gopalasamy Reuben; Sodhi, Navjot S.; Schilthuizen, Menno; Ng, Peter K. L.

doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[733:lkosai]2.0.co;2

Cited by 416 publications

(417 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Although defining hotspots as congruent with whole biogeographic subregions ( Fig. 1: Indochina, Sundaic, Philippine and Wallacea), as done by Conservation International (2007), may be too broad-scale for some purposes, the identification of smaller areas of endemism or species richness can guide the location of protected areas, e.g., the Mentawi islands with their 17 species of endemic mammals (Corlett 2009a), numerous isolated karst mountains (Clements et al 2006(Clements et al , 2008, IUCN's Key Biodiversity Areas (Brooks et al 2008), and BirdLife International's Important Bird Areas (Chan et al 2004). Understanding the history of today's hotspots is necessary to establish whether they are ancient and geographically fixed, or whether they have moved in response to past climatic change?…”

Section: Patterns Of Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography and conservation in Southeast Asia: how 2.7 million years of repeated environmental fluctuations affect today’s patterns and the future of the remaining refugial-phase biodiversity

2010

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Understanding the historical biogeography of this global biodiversity hotspot is as important to long-term conservation goals as ecology and evolution are to understanding current patterns and processes. Today's geography is, however, misleading and typical of only *2% of the last million years; [90% of that time the region's land area was 1.5-2.0 times larger as mean sea levels were 62 m below today's, climates were cooler, and extensive forests and savanna covered the emerged Sunda plains. The region's land area varied two-fold as sea levels fluctuated up to ±50 m with each of *50 Pleistocene glacial cycles, and forests expanded and contracted with oscillations in land area and seasonality. This dynamic geographic history is relevant to the development of biogeographic regionalism and shows that it is today's forests that are refugial, not those of the Last Glacial Maximum. This history affects how species will adapt or shift their ranges in response to global warming and further decreases in land area (submergence of low-lying coastal areas) during the 21st century. The alternative is mass species extinction. The biota is also threatened by the continued destruction of forest, destruction of Mekong River flood-pulse based ecosystems, and continued human population growth. Human biogeography will become more important in conservation planning as tens of millions of people who depend on protected area forests, riverine ecosystems, and coastal habitats become environmental refugees. Conservation scientists need to become more involved in regional ecological education, environmental stewardship, and ecosystem-based adaptation to sustain as much as possible of this rich biota and the ecological services it provides.

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Section: Patterns Of Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biogeography and conservation in Southeast Asia: how 2.7 million years of repeated environmental fluctuations affect today’s patterns and the future of the remaining refugial-phase biodiversity

2010

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“…Filling this gap is currently jeopardized by the fast degradation of the Indonesian natural habitats due to a large array of perturbations including mining, logging activities, land burning for crop cultivation, deforestation for land conversion (e.g. palm plantations) and water contamination [4,5]. Freshwater fishes are particularly at risk in Indonesia as their persistence is currently jeopardized by the interactions between ecological and biotic (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

DNA Barcoding Indonesian freshwater fishes: challenges and prospects

Hubert¹,

Kadarusman²,

Wibowo³

et al. 2015

DNA Barcodes

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With 1172 native species, the Indonesian ichthyofauna is among the world’s most speciose. Despite that the inventory of the Indonesian ichthyofauna started during the eighteen century, the numerous species descriptions during the last decades highlight that the taxonomic knowledge is still fragmentary. Meanwhile, the fast increase of anthropogenic perturbations during the last decades is posing serious threats to Indonesian biodiversity. Indonesia, however, is one of the major sources of export for the international ornamental trade and home of several species of high value in aquaculture. The development of new tools for species identification is urgently needed to improve the sustainability of the exploitation of the Indonesian ichthyofauna. With the aim to build comprehensive DNA barcode libraries, the co-authors have started a collective effort to DNA barcode all Indonesian freshwater fishes. The aims of this review are: (1) to produce an overview of the ichthyological researches conducted so far in Indonesia, (2) to present an updated checklist of the freshwater fishes reported to date from Indonesia’s inland waters, (3) to highlight the challenges associated with its conservation and management, (4) to present the benefits of developing comprehensive DNA barcode reference libraries for the conservation of the Indonesian ichthyofauna.

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“…Our present knowledge is insufficient to apply conservational categories to each species, especially to those inhabiting Myanmar. Overall, as for most southeast Asian land snails, the main threat to plectopylids is probably limestone mining (quarrying) (Clements et al 2006). Therefore, protecting as many limestone hills as possible is paramount to save these species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%