Drafting a Blueprint for Functional and Phylogenetic Diversity Conservation in the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

Understanding how different aspects of biodiversity are covered by protected areas and how they could be used to derive efficient conservation actions remains little studied. We mapped mammal functional and phylogenetic diversity in the Cerrado Biodiversity Hotspots to pinpoint sites with high conservation value across the biome. Further, we overlapped sites with higher or lower diversity than expected by chance with the current network of protected areas. Northeast and midwest regions emerged as priority for bats, whereas southern sites were less critical. Midsouth region captured both aspects of non-flying mammals’ diversity more than expected. Current network of protected areas covers 52% of sites with high diversity for non-flying mammals; this value being lower respective to bats (22%). Our approach provides a wall-to-wall picture on the effectiveness of the Cerrado protected areas in capturing different aspects of mammal biodiversity and points to new directions for future establishing conservation actions.