Global patterns of freshwater species diversity, threat and endemism

AIM: Global‐scale studies are required to identify broad‐scale patterns in the distributions of species, to evaluate the processes that determine diversity and to determine how similar or different these patterns and processes are among different groups of freshwater species. Broad‐scale patterns of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global ecology and biogeography Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 40 - 51
Main Authors:	Collen, Ben, Whitton, Felix, Dyer, Ellie E, Baillie, Jonathan E. M, Cumberlidge, Neil, Darwall, William R. T, Pollock, Caroline, Richman, Nadia I, Soulsby, Anne‐Marie, Böhm, Monika
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.01.2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Blackwell Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:	Amphibians Animal and plant ecology Animal, plant and microbial ecology Biodiversity Biodiversity conservation biogeography Biological and medical sciences Cambaridae Congruence conservation planning crabs crayfish Crustacea Decapoda decapods diversity metric ecosystems Extinct species extinction fish Fresh water Fresh water ecosystems Freshwater Freshwater organisms Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects geographical range geographical variation interspecific variation Invertebrates mammals planning reptiles Research Papers risk species differences Species diversity species richness Synecology Taxa Threatened species Wildlife conservation Endemic species Congruence conservation planning Conservation Biogeography Ecology decapods diversity metric Crustacea Freshwater environment Species diversity Geographic distribution Arthropoda Metric Decapoda Planning Invertebrata Distribution range Species richness geographical range species richness
ISSN:	1466-822X, 1466-8238, 1466-822X
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Summary:	AIM: Global‐scale studies are required to identify broad‐scale patterns in the distributions of species, to evaluate the processes that determine diversity and to determine how similar or different these patterns and processes are among different groups of freshwater species. Broad‐scale patterns of spatial variation in species distribution are central to many fundamental questions in macroecology and conservation biology. We aimed to evaluate how congruent three commonly used metrics of diversity were among taxa for six groups of freshwater species. LOCATION: Global. METHODS: We compiled geographical range data on 7083 freshwater species of mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fishes, crabs and crayfish to evaluate how species richness, richness of threatened species and endemism are distributed across freshwater ecosystems. We evaluated how congruent these measures of diversity were among taxa at a global level for a grid cell size of just under 1°. RESULTS: We showed that although the risk of extinction faced by freshwater decapods is quite similar to that of freshwater vertebrates, there is a distinct lack of spatial congruence in geographical range between different taxonomic groups at this spatial scale, and a lack of congruence among three commonly used metrics of biodiversity. The risk of extinction for freshwater species was consistently higher than for their terrestrial counterparts. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that broad‐scale patterns of species richness, threatened‐species richness and endemism lack congruence among the six freshwater taxonomic groups examined. Invertebrate species are seldom taken into account in conservation planning. Our study suggests that both the metric of biodiversity and the identity of the taxa on which conservation decisions are based require careful consideration. As geographical range information becomes available for further sets of species, further testing will be warranted into the extent to which geographical variation in the richness of these six freshwater groups reflects broader patterns of biodiversity in fresh water.
Bibliography:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb.12096 istex:6A4423CE92AA644E0ABCED79E6FADE8154760B5C Appendix S1 Reptile and fish species in our analyses of freshwater species.Figure S1 Proportion of freshwater fish species by biogeographical realm. Rufford Foundation European Commission-funded BIOFRESH project - No. FP7-ENV-2008 ark:/67375/WNG-V2S8Q8MM-W ArticleID:GEB12096 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23 [Copyright line has been changed since first online publication on July 3, 2013].
ISSN:	1466-822X 1466-8238 1466-822X
DOI:	10.1111/geb.12096