1. Remotely Sensed Data Informs Red List Evaluations and Conservation Priorities in Southeast Asia
- Author
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Li, Binbin V, Hughes, Alice C, Jenkins, Clinton N, Ocampo-Peñuela, Natalia, and Pimm, Stuart L
- Subjects
Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation ,Biological Sciences ,Environmental Management ,Environmental Sciences ,Climate Action ,Life on Land ,Amphibians ,Animals ,Asia ,Southeastern ,Birds ,Conservation of Natural Resources ,Ecosystem ,Endangered Species ,Environmental Monitoring ,Extinction ,Biological ,Geographic Information Systems ,Information Storage and Retrieval ,Mammals ,Remote Sensing Technology ,Research ,General Science & Technology - Abstract
The IUCN Red List has assessed the global distributions of the majority of the world's amphibians, birds and mammals. Yet these assessments lack explicit reference to widely available, remotely-sensed data that can sensibly inform a species' risk of extinction. Our first goal is to add additional quantitative data to the existing standardised process that IUCN employs. Secondly, we ask: do our results suggest species of concern-those at considerably greater risk than hitherto appreciated? Thirdly, these assessments are not only important on a species-by-species basis. By combining distributions of species of concern, we map conservation priorities. We ask to what degree these areas are currently protected and how might knowledge from remote sensing modify the priorities? Finally, we develop a quick and simple method to identify and modify the priority setting in a landscape where natural habitats are disappearing rapidly and so where conventional species' assessments might be too slow to respond. Tropical, mainland Southeast Asia is under exceptional threat, yet relatively poorly known. Here, additional quantitative measures may be particularly helpful. This region contains over 122, 183, and 214 endemic mammals, birds, and amphibians, respectively, of which the IUCN considers 37, 21, and 37 threatened. When corrected for the amount of remaining natural habitats within the known elevation preferences of species, the average sizes of species ranges shrink to
- Published
- 2016