Back
Full-text
Journal article

Global habitat suitability models of terrestrial mammals

  • Rondinini, Carlo Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Di Marco, Moreno Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Chiozza, Federica Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Santulli, Giulia Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Baisero, Daniele Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Visconti, Piero ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia
  • Hoffmann, Michael Conservation International, Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22202, USA
  • Schipper, Jan Big Island Invasive Species Committee, 23 E. Kawili Street, Hilo, HI 96720, USA
  • Stuart, Simon N. Al Ain Wildlife Park and Resort, PO Box 45553 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • Tognelli, Marcelo F. Instituto Argentino de Investigaciones de Zonas Áridas, CONICET CCT-Mendoza, C.C. 507, C.P. 5500 Mendoza, Argentina
  • Amori, Giovanni CNR Institute for Ecosystem Studies, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Falcucci, Alessandra Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
  • Maiorano, Luigi Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Biophore Building, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Boitani, Luigi Global Mammal Assessment programme, Department of Biology and Biotechnologies, Sapienza Università di Roma, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185 Rome, Italy
Show more…
  • 2011-9-27
Published in:
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. - The Royal Society. - 2011, vol. 366, no. 1578, p. 2633-2641
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
English Detailed large-scale information on mammal distribution has often been lacking, hindering conservation efforts. We used the information from the 2009 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a baseline for developing habitat suitability models for 5027 out of 5330 known terrestrial mammal species, based on their habitat relationships. We focused on the following environmental variables: land cover, elevation and hydrological features. Models were developed at 300 m resolution and limited to within species' known geographical ranges. A subset of the models was validated using points of known species occurrence. We conducted a global, fine-scale analysis of patterns of species richness. The richness of mammal species estimated by the overlap of their suitable habitat is on average one-third less than that estimated by the overlap of their geographical ranges. The highest absolute difference is found in tropical and subtropical regions in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia that are not covered by dense forest. The proportion of suitable habitat within mammal geographical ranges correlates with the IUCN Red List category to which they have been assigned, decreasing monotonically from Least Concern to Endangered. These results demonstrate the importance of fine-resolution distribution data for the development of global conservation strategies for mammals.
Language
  • English
Open access status
bronze
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/1681
Statistics
Document views: 47 File downloads:
  • Full-text: 0