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| Identification of reliable surrogate indicator taxa and effective
shortcuts for the preservation of overall biodiversity is a major
challenge. Encouragingly, complementarity-derived priority sets of
focal taxa were found highly effective in representing non-target taxa
in a study from Ugandan forests. It has been proposed cross-taxon
congruence in complementarity is less distinct in temperate regions
than in the tropics, because temperate regions have fewer species, and
hence focal taxa may be less effective as they are less diverse. To
test this, we used all available atlas data (10 x 10 km scale) in
Denmark (butterflies, birds, amphibians, reptiles, large moths, bats
and click beetles, n = 434 species), and looked at whether conservation
priority areas based on one taxonomic group represent species richness
of other groups in a highly fragmented landscape. We apply a new
approach (based on G-statistics) that enables statistical evaluation of
cross-taxon congruence in complementarity-derived priority sets. We
found indications that the same taxa represented other groups
effectively and exhibited cross-taxon congruence in
complementarity-derived priority sets. Birds performed significantly,
but relatively poorly, butterflies somewhat better and bats relatively
well in representing species richness of other groups. Large moths
performed best and may be an overlooked predictor of diversity in other
animal taxa. | |
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