Relationship between geographic rarity and perception of threat in Iberian butterflies |
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Authors: | Enrique García-Barros Helena Romo Marcos Molina |
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Institution: | 1. Departamento de Biolog??a, Universidad Aut??noma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, C. Darwin, 2, Edificio de Biolog??a, A-016, 28049, Madrid, Spain 2. Departamento de Biolog??a, Universidad Aut??noma de Madrid, Campus de Cantoblanco, C. Darwin, 2, Edificio de Biolog??a, A-017, 28049, Madrid, Spain
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Abstract: | Measuring threat and selecting ??flagship?? species for conservation planning should ideally rely on ??dynamic?? criteria (i.e.: decreasing range and population sizes) which may not be available for most taxa and geographic regions. We address the question of what features of the organisms or of their geographic distributions lie behind selections of potentially threatened species when there is insufficient information on temporal trends. Focusing on Iberian butterflies, we evaluate the support for past and present lists of target species from the most easily quantifiable features of the species?? ranges and conspicuousness (size and visual apparency). Among the features tested, geographic rarity has the highest weight in all the species lists. However, the explanation is rather modest statistically, especially when the species selection is of a supra-regional nature (in this case European). Among the rarest species, those with geographic ranges concentrated in the study area (a) are comparatively few and (b) on average, have less restricted ranges than those whose geographic rarity results from their marginal occurrence in the study area. Finally, the total geographic coverage of the EU-threatened butterflies is relatively large in Iberia. As a consequence species-oriented conservation planning in this region may be rather unrealistic if only geographic rarity is emphasized, or if the levels of threat determined at the supra-regional (European) level are directly translated to the regional legislations. Thus we support the regionally hierarchical approach to conservation proposed by former authors. |
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