Hotspot and conservation gap analysis of endemic vascular plants in the Altai Mountain Country based on a new global conservation assessment

The Altai Mountains of Central and North Asia are biologically rich and comprise a wide range of ecosystems and phytogeographical regions. According to the latest checklist, a total of 321 endemic vascular plant species, including 217 endemic and 104 subendemic taxa, have been recognized in the Alta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Global ecology and conservation Vol. 47; p. e02647
Main Authors:	Erst, Andrey S., Baasanmunkh, Shukherdorj, Tsegmed, Zagarjav, Oyundelger, Khurelpurev, Sharples, Mathew T., Oyuntsetseg, Batlai, Krivenko, Denis A., Gureyeva, Irina I., Romanets, Roman R., Kuznetsov, Alexander A., Kechaykin, Alexey A., Shmakov, Alexander I., Maltseva, Svetlana Yu, Erst, Tatiana V., Wang, Wei, Gil, Hee-Young, Choi, Hyeok Jae
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 01-11-2023 Elsevier
Subjects:	Altai Mountains Conservation status Endemism Mountain biodiversity Species richness Threatened species Altai Mountains Mountain biodiversity Threatened species Conservation status Endemism Species richness
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Summary:	The Altai Mountains of Central and North Asia are biologically rich and comprise a wide range of ecosystems and phytogeographical regions. According to the latest checklist, a total of 321 endemic vascular plant species, including 217 endemic and 104 subendemic taxa, have been recognized in the Altai Mountain Country (AMC). In this study, we conducted species risk assessment, distribution evaluation and conservation gap analysis for the endemic vascular flora of the AMC. The conservation status of 217 endemic species was assessed at the global level using the ConR package. As a result, 197 species were evaluated as potentially threatened, of which 101 are critically endangered (CR), 72 species are endangered (EN), and 24 species are vulnerable (VU). The remaining 20 species were evaluated as not threatened. Furthermore, the AMC was divided into 350 grid cells, with a grid cell size of 50 × 50 km2, for the spatial assessments of the endemic vascular plants. A total of 2657 unique georeferenced occurrences of endemic species were found and analyzed with three endemism indices, species richness (SR), weighted endemism (WE), and corrected weighted endemism (CWE), to quantify geographic patterns and centers of endemism across the whole AMC. The results showed that the endemic species are spread across 186 grid cells and distributed unevenly within the AMC. According to the conservation gap analysis, the main hotspots of endemism (i.e., SR and WE indices) were found at high elevations in the Russian Altai, while the CWE points to the Kazakh Altai as a hotspot, and many such hotspots are currently afforded no formal protections. •The Altai Mountain Country (AMC) contains a high diversity of endemic vascular plant species.•The conservation status of 217 endemic vascular plant species was assessed.•197 species were evaluated as potentially threatened in the AMC.•A total of 39 grid cells represent areas of high diversity of endemic species across the AMC, and not enough of this area is protected.
ISSN:	2351-9894 2351-9894
DOI:	10.1016/j.gecco.2023.e02647