Abstract
We applied spatial distribution and reserve selection modeling to identify critical habitat network for 50 critically endangered plant species of Uzbekistan. We created maps of relative habitat suitability, converted them into maps of species critical habitat, and the latter served as input to the spatial conservation prioritization program Zonation. Although all studied species were extremely rare, the extent of their predicted critical habitat ranged from 2.6 to 15,508 km2 and did not correlate with the number of occurrence records. It appears that the extent of the threatened species predicted suitable area is an indicator of whether the species rarity is inherent due to vary narrow ecological niche or caused solely by anthropogenic activity. This has important conservation implications. Imperiled species from the first category are less amenable (if at all) to such conservation actions as trans- or relocation (i.e. there is no alternative to protecting the last remaining populations). Species from the second group can potentially grow in many more locations than they currently occupy, and therefore, for these species, translocation can be the most appropriate strategy when their last remaining locations are degraded or can not be protected for whatever reason. Based on results of nature reserve design that utilized SDM-predicted maps for 50 imperiled species, we recommend adding new areas to the existing network of protected areas to cover critical habitats of highly threatened plant species. The highest priority for adding have the territories harboring critical habitat of disproportionally high number of imperiled species, and we found that they all are concentrated in the eastern part of Uzbekistan.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Orzimat Turginov for compiling the species occurrence data and Ziyoviddin Yusupov for kind help with preparation of figures for publication. We are also grateful to two reviewers for their comments on the first version of the manuscript.
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Supplementary Figure 1. SDM-predicted suitable habitat for 50 critically endangered plant species of Uzbekistan (PNG 580 kb)
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Supplementary Figure 2.SDM-predicted suitable habitat for 50 critically endangered plant species of Uzbekistan (PNG 424 kb)
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Supplementary Table. A list of studied species, their life form and the estimated extent of the SDM-predicted suitable habitat. Names of the species from the category 0 (presumably extinct) are in bold (DOC 96 kb)
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Volis, S., Tojibaev, K. Defining critical habitat for plant species with poor occurrence knowledge and identification of critical habitat networks. Biodivers Conserv 30, 3603–3611 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02265-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-021-02265-w