Evaluating Temporal Consistency in Marine Biodiversity Hotspots.

ABSTRACT: With the ongoing crisis of biodiversity loss and limited resources for conservation, the concept of biodiversity hotspots has been useful in determining conservation priority areas. However, there has been limited research into how temporal variability in biodiversity may influence conservation area prioritization. To address this information gap, we present an approach to evaluate the temporal consistency of biodiversity hotspots in large marine ecosystems. Using a large scale, public monitoring dataset collected over an eight year period off the US Pacific Coast, we developed a methodological approach for avoiding biases associated with hotspot delineation. We aggregated benthic fish species data from research trawls and calculated mean hotspot thresholds for fish species richness and Sh

SUBMITTER: Piacenza SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4511790 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature