Critical areas for pollinator conservation in Mexico: A cross-border priority

Abstract

Pollinators are currently the focus of international concern, as numerous studies have documented declines in their diversity and abundance. Pollinator conservation has therefore become an international priority. We selected 815 pollinator species (including bats, bees, hummingbirds, and hawkmoths) inhabiting the southern United States, Mexico and part of Central America to assess the overlap between their distributions and land-use changes. We also analyzed the representativeness values of species contained within current protected areas (PAs). Then, we considered three important pressures —habitat loss, population density and infrastructure, and crop-specific pesticides— to determine high-priority and complementary conservation areas to optimize the long-term protection of these species. We found strong overlap (74.5 %) between the distributions of pollinator species and areas with a moderate or high degree of human modification. Furthermore, current PAs are both insufficient and inefficient: they cover only 14.3 % of the study area and represent on average 14.6 ± 8.6 % of the species' total distribution area. For 62.7 % of the species, <15 % of their distribution occurred within PAs. This picture is particularly alarming for the most range-restricted and threatened species. If our prioritization were implemented, the protection coverage would increase to 30 % (in line with the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework), substantially increase representativeness values, and cover over 25 % of the ranges of all species. In the context of the current biodiversity crisis, we provide insights about where transboundary efforts should focus to design a PA network that is effective for the conservation of whole biodiversity, including important ecosystem processes.