Integrating multiple dimensions of biodiversity to inform global parrot conservation

Abstract

Because biodiversity is increasingly threatened by habitat destruction and climate change, conservation agencies face challenges associated with an uncertain future. In addition to changes associated with climate and land use, parrots are threatened by hunting and capture for the pet trade, making them the most at-risk order of birds in the world. Parrots provide key ecosystem services, but remain understudied compared to other major bird orders despite their high extinction risk and ecological importance. Species richness is often used to identify high priority areas for conserving biodiversity. By definition, richness considers all species to be equally different. However, ongoing research emphasizes the importance of incorporating ecological functions (functional diversity) or evolutionary relationships (phylogenetic diversity) to more fully understand patterns of biodiversity, suggesting that using functional and phylogenetic information could improve conservation strategies. These distinctions among dimensions of biodiversity are important, because (1) areas of high species richness do not always represent areas of high functional or phylogenetic diversity, and (2) functional or phylogenetic diversity may better predict ecosystem function and evolutionary potential, which are essential for effective long-term conservation policy and management.\n\nOur objective was to create a framework for identifying areas of high species richness, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity within the global distribution of parrots We combined species richness, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity into an Integrated Biodiversity Index (IBI) to identify global biodiversity hotspots for parrots. We found important spatial mismatches among dimensions, which demonstrate that species richness is not always an effective proxy for other dimensions of parrot biodiversity. The IBI is an integrative and flexible index that can incorporate multiple dimensions of biodiversity, resulting in an intuitive and more direct way of assessing comprehensive goals in conservation planning (i.e., healthy ecosystem functioning and climate change resilience).