Ranking Mammal Species for Conservation and the Loss of Both Phylogenetic and Trait Diversity.

ABSTRACT: The 'edge of existence' (EDGE) prioritisation scheme is a new approach to rank species for conservation attention that aims to identify species that are both isolated on the tree of life and at imminent risk of extinction as defined by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The self-stated benefit of the EDGE system is that it effectively captures unusual 'unique' species, and doing so will preserve the total evolutionary history of a group into the future. Given the EDGE metric was not designed to capture total evolutionary history, we tested this claim. Our analyses show that the total evolutionary history of mammals preserved is indeed much higher if EDGE species are protected than if at-risk species are chosen randomly. More of the total tree is also protected by EDGE species than if sol

SUBMITTER: Redding DW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4668038 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature