Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY, UK.
Science and Solutions for a Changing Planet DTP, Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
Nat Commun. 2020 May 26;11(1):2616. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-16410-6.
Phylogenetic diversity measures are increasingly used in conservation planning to represent aspects of biodiversity beyond that captured by species richness. Here we develop two new metrics that combine phylogenetic diversity and the extent of human pressure across the spatial distribution of species - one metric valuing regions and another prioritising species. We evaluate these metrics for reptiles, which have been largely neglected in previous studies, and contrast these results with equivalent calculations for all terrestrial vertebrate groups. We find that regions under high human pressure coincide with the most irreplaceable areas of reptilian diversity, and more than expected by chance. The highest priority reptile species score far above the top mammal and bird species, and reptiles include a disproportionate number of species with insufficient extinction risk data. Data Deficient species are, in terms of our species-level metric, comparable to Critically Endangered species and therefore may require urgent conservation attention.
系统发育多样性测度方法越来越多地被用于保护规划，以反映物种丰富度以外的生物多样性方面。在这里，我们开发了两种新的度量标准，将物种在空间分布上的系统发育多样性和人类压力程度结合起来——一种度量标准重视区域，另一种度量标准重视物种。我们对爬行动物进行了评估，这些动物在以前的研究中基本被忽略了，并且与所有陆地脊椎动物组的等效计算进行了对比。我们发现，人类压力高的地区与爬行动物多样性最不可替代的地区相吻合，而且比随机情况要多。优先级最高的爬行动物物种得分远远高于顶级哺乳动物和鸟类物种，并且爬行动物包括比例过高的物种，这些物种的灭绝风险数据不足。根据我们的物种水平度量标准，数据不足的物种与极危物种相当，因此可能需要紧急保护关注。
