Conservation priority of endemic Chinese flora at family and genus levels

Abstract

Endemism is an important concept in biogeography and biodiversity conservation, and much attention has been given to methods that operationally identify centers or hotspots of endemic species diversity to effectively protect biodiversity. China is one of the richest countries in terms of plant biodiversity and has very high levels of plant endemism. In this study, conservation priorities for endemic seed flora in China based on a distribution database that includes both specimen records and published references. In China, a total of 12,824 endemic species belong to 194 families and 1598 genera. Biogeographically weighted endemic evolutionary distinctiveness indices were constructed to identify endemic flora conservation priorities at family and genus levels. All of the grids ranked within the top 5 % for the constructed indices were designated as hotspots and conservation priority areas. Distributions of Chinese endemic flora varied at the family and genus levels. At the family level, 14 centers of biodiversity were identified as priority areas for conservation of Chinese endemic flora. All centers were distributed in subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest, tropical monsoon/rainforest, or mountainous areas of south Qinghai. At the genus level, 15 centers were identified as conservation priority areas, and most were distributed within the Qinling Mountains and further south or the Hengduan Mountains and to the east. Among the 15 centers, 11 overlapped with conservation priority areas for endemic flora families. Our analysis indicates that different groups have different diversity centers, and different taxa ranks have similar, but not identical, diversity distribution patterns.