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Conserving the evolutionary history of birds.
- Source :
-
Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology [Conserv Biol] 2023 Dec; Vol. 37 (6), pp. e14141. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 13. - Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- In the midst of the sixth mass extinction, limited resources are forcing conservationists to prioritize which species and places will receive conservation action. Evolutionary distinctiveness measures the isolation of a species on its phylogenetic tree. Combining a species' evolutionary distinctiveness with its globally endangered status creates an EDGE score. We use EDGE scores to prioritize the places and species that should be managed to conserve bird evolutionary history. We analyzed all birds in all countries and important bird areas. We examined parrots, raptors, and seabirds in depth because these groups are especially threatened and relatively speciose. The three focal groups had greater median threatened evolutionary history than other taxa, making them important for conserving bird evolutionary history. Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Madagascar, New Zealand, and the Philippines were especially critical countries for bird conservation because they had the most threatened evolutionary history for endemic birds and are important for parrots, raptors, and seabirds. Increased enforcement of international agreements for the conservation of parrots, raptors, and seabirds is needed because these agreements protect hundreds of millions of years of threatened bird evolutionary history. Decisive action is required to conserve the evolutionary history of birds into the Anthropocene.<br /> (© 2023 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1523-1739
- Volume :
- 37
- Issue :
- 6
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 37424371
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14141