Hotspots in Cold Climates: Mapping and Evaluating the Conservation of Winter Biodiversity Across the United States
Spencer R. Keyser, Jonathan N. Pauli, Volker C. Radeloff, Daniel Fink, Benjamin ZuckerbergABSTRACT
Aim
To identify hotspots and conservation priorities of biodiversity based on winter‐informed species distribution models for cold‐adapted mammals and birds, and their taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional richness.
Location
The United States of America.
Methods
We modeled species distributions for cold‐adapted birds and mammals at 3‐km resolutions from eBird and GBIF, respectively, and mapped taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity patterns. We then identified conservation priorities for multiple facets of biodiversity in accordance with the CBD ‘30 × 30’ target, accounting for land acquisition costs.
Results
We found that montane regions are critical for all three facets of cold‐adapted biodiversity. However, controlling for species richness identified additional regions hosting high taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity. The current protected area network across the United States represented winter bird and mammal biodiversity in similar proportion to the amount of land set aside for strict biodiversity conservation (~9%–11%) suggesting spatial biases in the placement of protected areas have inadvertently contributed to the conservation of cold‐adapted taxa. Nevertheless, we found a ~20% shortfall for the current protected area network in meeting globally established CBD ‘30 × 30’ targets for the protection of winter biodiversity, but our prioritization provided key regions where additional protected areas could help achieve stated goals.
Main Conclusions
Montane regions across the United States harbour the greatest taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional richness for cold‐adapted birds and mammals, illustrating the importance of mountains for climate change refugia. Accounting for species richness in estimates of phylogenetic and functional diversity illustrates additional conservation priorities in regions supporting boreal forest remnants (i.e., Upper Great Lakes) and temperate grasslands (i.e., Great Plains), but hotspots were conditional on taxa. Given their inherent vulnerability to modern climate change, prioritizing the conservation of cold‐adapted species is critical for protection biodiversity in a rapidly warming world.