The importance of
defining the geographic distribution of species for conservation: The case of
the Bearded Wood-Partridge
Claudio Mota-Vargas, Octavio R. Rojas-Soto
Journal for Nature
Conservation, Volume 20, Issue 1, Pages 10-17
A
proper understanding of the distribution areas of species has fundamental
implications for the proper understanding of biodiversity and for
decision-making in conservation. The authors of this paper say this is very
well illustrated by the case of the Bearded Wood-Partridge (Dendrortyx
barbatus), which is endemic to Mexico and was classified as threatened by
the IUCN.
Recently Bearded Wood-Partridge was discovered in
new locations and this increase in known location led it to be reclassified in
a lower risk category.
In this study the researchers examine closely, delimitation
and comparison of the Bearded Wood-Partridge distribution area utilising five
different methods: minimum convex polygon; areographic; cartographic;
ecological niche modelling; and, “free hand”.
Locality records were used to demonstrate the chronological order
of appearance.
An analysis of the results show that the size and shape of the
distribution area of this species vary depending on the number of records and
on their spatial and environmental location, as well as on the particular delimitation
method used.
The researchers say ecological niche modelling
provides the best results in terms of spatial and numerical sensitivity as well
as lower values of omission and a moderate extent of predicted areas. They
suggest that decisions related to species conservation (categories of risk,
areas of endemism, etc.), particularly those species of high geographical
restriction, should be contingent on the formalised delimitation of
distribution areas based on ecological niche modelling methods.
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