Global Protected Areas as refuges for amphibians and reptiles under climate change

Chunrong Mi, Liang Ma, Mengyuan Yang, Xinhai Li, Shai Meiri, Uri Roll, Oleksandra Oskyrko, Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Lilly P. Harvey, Daniel Jablonski, Barbod Safaei-Mahroo, Hanyeh Ghaffari, Jiri Smid, Scott Jarvie, Ronnie Mwangi Kimani, Rafaqat Masroor, Seyed Mahdi Kazemi, Lotanna Micah Nneji, Arnaud Marius Tchassem Fokoua, Geraud C. Tasse Taboue, Aaron Bauer, Cristiano Nogueira, Danny Meirte, David G. Chapple, Indraneil Das, Lee Grismer, Luciano Javier Avila, Marco Antônio Ribeiro Júnior, Oliver J. S. Tallowin, Omar Torres-Carvajal, Philipp Wagner, Santiago R. Ron, Yuezhao Wang, Yuval Itescu, Zoltán Tamás Nagy, David S. Wilcove, Xuan Liu () and Weiguo Du ()
Additional contact information
Chunrong Mi: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Liang Ma: School of Ecology, Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University
Mengyuan Yang: Zhejiiang University
Xinhai Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shai Meiri: Tel Aviv University
Uri Roll: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Oleksandra Oskyrko: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Daniel Pincheira-Donoso: Queen’s University Belfast
Lilly P. Harvey: Nottingham Trent University, Clifton Campus
Daniel Jablonski: Comenius University in Bratislava
Barbod Safaei-Mahroo: Arash Str., Jalal-e Ale-Ahmad Boulevard
Hanyeh Ghaffari: University of Kurdistan
Jiri Smid: Charles University
Scott Jarvie: Otago Regional Council, Dunedin
Ronnie Mwangi Kimani: Herpetology Section
Rafaqat Masroor: Pakistan Museum of Natural History
Seyed Mahdi Kazemi: Somayyeh Avenue
Lotanna Micah Nneji: Princeton University
Arnaud Marius Tchassem Fokoua: University of Yaoundé
Geraud C. Tasse Taboue: Institute of Agricultural Research for development
Aaron Bauer: Villanova University
Cristiano Nogueira: Universidade de São Paulo
Danny Meirte: Royal Museum for Central Africa
David G. Chapple: Monash University
Indraneil Das: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Lee Grismer: La Sierra University
Luciano Javier Avila: Instituto Patagónico para el Estudio de los Ecosistemas Continentales (IPEEC-CONICET)
Marco Antônio Ribeiro Júnior: Tel-Aviv University
Oliver J. S. Tallowin: UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Omar Torres-Carvajal: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Philipp Wagner: Allwetterzoo
Santiago R. Ron: Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Yuezhao Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuval Itescu: Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Müggelseedamm
Zoltán Tamás Nagy: Independent researcher
David S. Wilcove: Princeton University
Xuan Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Weiguo Du: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Protected Areas (PAs) are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. Here, we collated distributional data for >14,000 (~70% of) species of amphibians and reptiles (herpetofauna) to perform a global assessment of the conservation effectiveness of PAs using species distribution models. Our analyses reveal that >91% of herpetofauna species are currently distributed in PAs, and that this proportion will remain unaltered under future climate change. Indeed, loss of species’ distributional ranges will be lower inside PAs than outside them. Therefore, the proportion of effectively protected species is predicted to increase. However, over 7.8% of species currently occur outside PAs, and large spatial conservation gaps remain, mainly across tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, and across non-high-income countries. We also predict that more than 300 amphibian and 500 reptile species may go extinct under climate change over the course of the ongoing century. Our study highlights the importance of PAs in providing herpetofauna with refuge from climate change, and suggests ways to optimize PAs to better conserve biodiversity worldwide.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-36987-y

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