Global Patterns of Mammalian Diversity, Endemism, and Endangerment

Abstract

To assess the conservation status of the world’s land mammals, we compiled data on the number of total species, endemic species, recently extinct species, and currently endangered species for 155 countries. Total species richness was significantly correlated with territorial land area, whereas number of endemic species was only weakly correlated with both area and total number of species. The large amount of variation left unexplained by species‐area regressions reflects the influence of other factors, such as latitude, topographic and habitat heterogeneity, and historical biogeography, on species richness and especially on patterns of endemism. Countries of particular conservation concern, because they have rich mammalian faunas containing many endemic species, are the large islands of Australia, Madagascar, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as well as continental Mexico. Patterns of recent extinctions and the current endangered status of species were difficult to interpret, largely because of inadequate and inconsistent data. The majority of officially listed endangered species are large, well known, and popular mammals, such as primates, ungulates, and carnivores, whereas the majority of species known to have gone recently extinct and likely to be currently threatened are small and inconspicuous, such as rodents and bats. Our work not only illustrates the role of ecological, evolutionary, and biogeographic processes in the origin and maintenance of land mammal diversity, it also presents the information at the level of biogeographic regions and political units where management and policy must be applied in order to slow the loss of this diversity.