Global priority areas to protect mammals mapped

Scientists have mapped priority areas around the world, including parts of India, to protect thousands of mammal species, with a focus on species with few close relatives.
A study led by researchers at Australian National University (ANU) used maps of about 4,700 land mammals' habitats, and information on how species are related to each other, to identify important places across the world for protecting the world's mammal diversity.
The study identified the top places in every continent, including parts of coastal Queensland, Australian deserts near Alice Springs, Sumatra and Java, Madagascar, India, China and Spain.
"Habitat loss is a major threat to the world's mammal species - over 1,000 mammal species are already threatened," said Dan Rosauer from the ANU Research School of Biology.

He said targeting conservation efforts in areas that provided the most benefit was critical, because resources - particularly land and money - were limited.
"Scientists have often focused on the number of species in a protected area, but studies like this one consider the degree to which the family tree of life is well represented," said Rosauer, who led the study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"This study seeks to protect all land mammals, but it gives top priority to species with no close relatives, because if they were lost there would be nothing like them left.

"This is the first time that anyone has mapped these priority areas for conserving the diversity of mammal evolution along with minimum target areas for habitat protection," said Rosauer.
"People are already working on these challenges, but by using this cutting-edge genetic information we can make far better decisions, protecting up to 32 per cent more of the diversity of the mammal tree of life through better use of limited resources," he said.
Animals with few close relatives include the echidna and platypus in Australia, the lemur in Madagascar, the aardvark in Africa, and the mouse-like marsupial monito del monte in South America, researchers said.

"The platypus and echidna separated from each other around 25 million years ago. And they split from the rest of the early mammals way back in the time of the dinosaurs," Rosauer said.
"By targeting areas with these really unique species, you would also protect a lot of other species too," he added.