Abstract
Conservation biology aims at identifying areas of rich biodiversity. Currently recognized global biodiversity hotspots are spatially too coarse for conservation management and identification of hotspots at a finer scale is needed. This might be achieved by identification of areas of endemism. Here, we identify areas of endemism in Iran, a major component of the Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot, and address their ecological correlates. Using the extremely diverse sunflower family (Asteraceae) as our model system, five consensus areas of endemism were identified using the approach of endemicity analysis. Both endemic richness and degree of endemicity were positively related to topographic complexity and elevational range. The proportion of endemic taxa at a certain elevation (percent endemism) was not congruent with the proportion of total surface area at this elevation, but was higher in mountain ranges. While the distribution of endemic richness (i.e., number of endemic taxa) along an elevational gradient was hump-shaped peaking at mid-elevations, the percentage of endemism gradually increased with elevation. Patterns of endemic richness as well as areas of endemism identify mountain ranges as main centres of endemism, which is likely due to high environmental heterogeneity and strong geographic isolation among and within mountain ranges. The herein identified areas can form the basis for defining areas with conservation priority in this global biodiversity hotspot.
Highlights
A major goal in conservation biology is to determine areas of rich biodiversity[1]
We addressed the following questions: (1) Where are the main areas of endemism (AEs) within the study region? Are these exclusively found within the Irano-Anatolian hotspot or elsewhere? Are these congruent with areas identified previously in phytogeographical studies? (2) What are the major ecological and/or evolutionary factors affecting the distribution of endemics? we tested the hypothesis that topographical heterogeneity as a driver of species richness positively affects endemic richness[52,53,54,55]
High richness was observed in high mountains (Fig. 2, Table 1), the highest endemic richness overall corresponding to Central Alborz (Fig. 1b)
Summary
Conservation priorities are well established as 34 biodiversity hotspots[2], i.e. areas featuring exceptional concentrations of endemic species as well as experiencing extreme loss of habitat[3]. The Irano-Anatolian biodiversity hotspot, which mainly covers high elevations of central and eastern Turkey, Armenia, NE Iraq and Iran, is the only global biodiversity hotspot entirely inside South-West Asia (Fig. 1a). This region has a dry climate with a Mediterranean precipitation regime[20]. These have, never been investigated using a formal quantitative approach
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