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Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened worldwide. A great part of this threat comes from climate and land cover changes. This situation is specially worrying in areas and ecosystems that are highly relevant in terms of biodiversity but severely impacted by these two factors, such as water bodies in North Africa. Using water beetles as surrogates of freshwater biodiversity, we present a novel approach to identify priority basins for the preservation of freshwater biodiversity in Morocco, using Species Distribution Models to identify potential biodiversity hotspots under future climate change scenarios, and estimates of future Land Cover dynamics. The mountainous areas of the Rif and Prerif, Middle Atlas and northern Central Plateau areas, as well as some Atlantic coastal basins were identified as priority areas for water beetles conservation and will play a crucial role for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Indeed, these areas can act as a dead end for a number of African species in the future. However, most of these areas are poorly covered by the national protected areas network (i.e., protected area extent < 10%). In addition, our analyses revealed a general negative trend of the natural vegetation coverage in the study area, and an increase of non-irrigated cropland. Finally, we identified specific areas that need special attention because are priority for conservation but are expected to suffer intense land cover changes. These results, which consider not only biodiversity values, but also the potential threats driven by climate and land cover changes, can provide a solid scientific basis to policy-makers to define specific conservation measures to anticipate freshwater biodiversity loss in North Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation-planning approaches must be supported by a good understanding of the geographical distribution of species. Despite the efforts conducted so far to compile data on aquatic insects, the information on the distribution of water beetles in Morocco is scarce. In this study, we assess for the first time the degree of inventory quality of aquatic insects in Africa. Using an exhaustive database of Moroccan water beetles, likely the most complete database for any group of aquatic insects in Africa (with 11,229 records for 305 species), we specifically aim to explore the patterns of species richness, sampling effort and inventory completeness at four different spatial resolutions, identifying those spatial units that can be considered as sufficiently surveyed, and locating areas in need of further sampling effort. Our results showed a lack of complete and extensive inventory data; as less than 12% of Moroccan cells at the coarsest resolution assessed (45′) can be considered as well surveyed (slope < 0.1 and survey completeness > 70%), while at the finest resolution (7′), only 1% of Moroccan cells could be identified as being well prospected. Finally, we highlight the importance of these procedures to improve monitoring planning of aquatic fauna and to improve their effective conservation and management. Implications for insect conservation: Considerable information is still required to provide an accurate picture of the richness patterns of aquatic insects in North-Western Africa. Thus, results on the pattern of species richness must be used cautiously, as they could be just mirroring the pattern of sampling effort carried out. We recommend the use of modelling procedures as a shortcut to improve our knowledge on the biodiversity patterns of aquatic insects in North-Western Africa and to establish efficient conservation strategies for their protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eurylophella iberica Keffermüller and Da Terra, 1978 is an endemic insect species of the Iberian Peninsula whose distribution has been poorly studied to date with rather old and scattered records. Here we compiled all existing distribution records and add new records from recent sampling activities. We also used this updated distributional information and environmental data (climate and geology) to estimate both current and future potential distributions in different climate change scenarios. We found that currently ca. 50% of the total Iberian region could present suitable environmental conditions for E. iberica (all the Iberian Peninsula, save the most eastern and Mediterranean areas). However, the potential distributions estimated when considering future climate change scenarios showed a marked reduction in the areas with suitable environmental conditions for the species, especially in the south. The northwest part of the Iberian Peninsula is a crucial zone for the future survival of this endemic species. We also found that most populations that occur in areas with suitable (both current and future) environmental conditions fall outside the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. Our results represent the first attempt to estimate the potential distribution of this endemic species providing important insights for its conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important issues in biodiversity conservation is an exploration of the relationships among protected areas, land-use changes and biodiversity, so we aimed to assess the performance of the Natura 2000 network (N2000) in representing the bat conservation hotspots in peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands and to compare the rates of land-use changes within these hotspots with those observed throughout the rest of the study area. First, we applied a Combined Index that integrates various biodiversity metrics (species richness, rarity and vulnerability) to identify hotspots, and once they were identified, we used null models to assess the performance of N2000 in representing them. Finally, also using null models, we tested whether the changes in land use ('anthropization' or 'naturalization') within the hotspots occurred at a significantly higher or lower frequency than in the rest of the study area; for this, we considered two temporal windows (1980-2006 and 2006-2012) corresponding with periods before and after the official designation of the N2000 sites. Our results show that bat hotspots are effectively represented in the Iberian N2000, but although land-use changes were generally higher in Spain before 2006, hotspots have not experienced lower rates of change compared to the remainder of the territory (regardless of the period under consideration). This suggests low effectiveness of the Iberian N2000 in preventing land-use change in bat hotspots, so to preserve the Iberian bat fauna, we encourage the urgent implementation of management plans to avoid intensive changes in land use both inside and around bat hotspots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main aims of protected areas is to be effective in the conservation of target species, i.e. those of the highest conservation concern. The Natura 2000 network (N2000) of protected areas is the main pillar of European action to halt biodiversity loss. Within N2000, special areas of conservation (SACs) are designated to protect habitats and species of the highest conservation interest, i.e. habitats from Annex I and species (other than birds) listed in Annex II of the Habitat Directive. Thus, a critical and urgent task is to assess the effectiveness of N2000 in the protection of these species. Here, we used distribution data for Spanish bats to test whether the species included in Annex II are better represented in N2000 than the remaining bats found in Spain, since SAC sites were specifically designated to protect the former species. In general, we found significantly high overlapping values between species distribution and N2000 sites (both groups of species are in general over-represented in N2000). However, contrary to our expectations, N2000 (even when only SACs were considered) did not offer higher representation values for the species listed in Annex II than for other species. We found that N2000 performed well even for non-target species, and that species from Annex II could have acted as effective umbrella species for the remaining bat species. Finally, the usefulness of including a species in Annex II is discussed, and guidelines to improve the efficiency of the N2000 for bat conservation are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected area networks represent one of the mainstays of worldwide conservation policies and play a key role in the protection of biodiversity. While numerous studies have evaluated the extent to which reserves fulfil their role of protecting biodiversity (so called 'gap analysis') in Europe at national and subnational scales, their performance across the whole of Europe has seldom been assessed. Here we assess the effectiveness of nationally designated protected areas and the pan-European Natura 2000 network in representing and maintaining over time European amphibian and reptile biodiversity using a comprehensive and newly available species occurrence dataset. Overall, our results show that often national protected areas and Natura 2000 sites perform poorly in representing amphibians and reptiles, but highlight differences in the effectiveness of both protected area networks when the goal is to promote the persistence of the species. While nationally designated areas did not usually cover more species than a random selection of areas for both vertebrate groups across different conservation targets, Natura 2000 network usually covered significantly more species than random when the goal was to include multiple representations of each species. In any case, these covered species were mostly widespread taxa, while narrow-range species remained under-represented. Additionally, our findings provide important evidence of the need to assess sensitivity of reserve effectiveness assessments to data and decision-rules, as the effectiveness of both reserve networks varied greatly across the different thresholds used for assigning reserves to grid cells and the criteria used to consider species as covered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What environmental variables determine riparian vegetation patterns? Are there differences between woody and herbaceous species? To answer these questions, we first explored the composition and richness patterns of both riparian woody and herbaceous species in a semi-arid mediterranean basin. Then, we assessed the environmental factors (climate, geology, topography, hydrogeomorphology and land use) that best explain these patterns. We used the following methodological approaches: clustering analyses, distance-based linear models, generalised linear models and hierarchical partitioning procedures. Valley shape, drought duration, river habitat heterogeneity, water conductivity and agricultural land use were the most important variables explaining variation in species composition for both groups. Woody riparian richness was mainly influenced by flow conditions and valley shape, whereas herbaceous one was more dependent on substrate features. Thus, although some differences in the importance of individual variables were observed, we found a notable congruence in the composition and species richness of both groups and also in the main types of variables explaining these patterns (hydrogeomorphology and land use, especially agriculture). Our results show that both communities could be treated in a holistic way, since they respond similarly to the strong natural and anthropogenic environmental gradients present in mediterranean basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local autocorrelation statistics offer new opportunities for the discrimination of important conservation areas since the spatial dependence of local values upon neighbouring ones may assist conservation decisions. We exemplify the use of local autocorrelation statistics for conservation purposes using data on Spanish threatened invertebrates to identify areas composed of similarly species-rich localities ( hot spots), species-rich 'islands', cold spots and species-poor 'islands'. In order to assess the probable causes of the detected patterns differences in environmental, land use and protected area variables were examined between the different regions. Distributional data for threatened invertebrate species in Spain at 100 km UTM cell resolution were used. After defining a neighbouring area, statistically significant local autocorrelation values (both positive and negative) were estimated. Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA by rank test was used to compare the environmental, land use and protected area percentages between the cells of the different regions. Around 11 and 2 % of total cells can be considered hot spots and rich 'islands', respectively. Hot spots are characterized by a lower percentage of anthropic land uses and a higher percentage of current protected area. However, approximately a third part of these cells possess at least 98 % of their area unprotected. Rich 'island' cells are not environmentally different from those considered as cold spots, though experiencing a lower rate of anthropization and higher proportion of protected area. Unfortunately, almost 70 % of these rich 'island' cells have <2 % of their areas currently protected. The use of local autocorrelation statistics on species richness values may complement conservation decisions by discriminating interconnected sites facilitating local persistence ( hot spots) as well as isolated and vulnerable sites (rich 'islands'). The study of different variables associated with these regions allows us to suggest determinant causal factors. Our results suggest that land use changes due to human activities are the main cause of threats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extensive biological databases are valuables ecological research tools that form the basis of biodiversity studies. However, it is essential to perform an assessment of the inventories' completeness for their use in ecological and conservational research, and this is especially true for non-emblematic groups. Using four exhaustive databases compiled for four taxonomic groups (aquatic beetles, aquatic bugs, bryophytes and orchids), in a semiarid Mediterranean region, the aim of this study was to estimate the degree of completeness for the inventory of each taxa and to identify those spatial units that could be considered to be sufficiently-surveyed (UTM 10 × 10 km squares). Then, the degree of environmental representativeness of the databases was assessed, as well as those factors that could have caused biased sampling efforts. Lastly, the usefulness of each database for conservational purposes was discussed. The results of the present study highlighted the lack of complete and extensive inventory data; as the best sampled group did not even reach 25% of sufficiently-surveyed squares in the territory (in the case of aquatic bugs) and none of the squares presented reliable inventories in the case of bryophytes. Although these results suggested that recording was skewed by relatively simple climatic variables, the sufficiently-surveyed squares were evenly distributed across physioclimatic subregions, what enables their use in further ecological studies. The authors would like to emphasise the potential of these procedures to locate areas in need of further sampling as well as to aid in the design of more effective regional conservation schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water beetles were examined for use as potential biodiversity indicators in continental aquatic ecosystems in a semiarid Mediterranean region, the Segura river basin (SE Spain). The indicator value of water beetles was investigated by examining the degree to which their species richness patterns was correlated with other groups (Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Mollusca, Heteroptera and Ephemeroptera), and the efficiency of water beetle area networks (selected by complementarity) in conserving overall groups richness. The species richness patterns of Coleoptera, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera were significantly correlated with the Remaining Richness value (RR), defined as the total number of species found at a site (of all six groups examined) minus the number of species belonging to the considered indicator group. Area networks for Coleoptera selected by complementarity represented the highest RR percentage (84.46%) and contained more than 78% species of each group. Furthermore, water beetles meet most of the criteria proposed in the literature for choosing biodiversity indicator taxa. In our study, the correlation values and the percentage of species represented by family, genus and species complementary networks were similar and we suggest that the higher taxa of water beetles (genera or families) can be used as biodiversity surrogates for cost-effective practical surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Subterranean ecosystems (comprising terrestrial, semi-aquatic, and aquatic components) are increasingly threatened by human activities; however, the current network of surface-protected areas is inadequate to safeguard subterranean biodiversity. Establishing protected areas for subterranean ecosystems is challenging. First, there are technical obstacles in mapping three-dimensional ecosystems with uncertain boundaries. Second, the rarity and endemism of subterranean organisms, combined with a scarcity of taxonomists, delays the accumulation of essential biodiversity knowledge. Third, establishing agreements to preserve subterranean ecosystems requires collaboration among multiple actors with often competing interests. This perspective addresses the challenges of preserving subterranean biodiversity through protected areas. Even in the face of uncertainties, we suggest it is both timely and critical to assess general criteria for subterranean biodiversity protection and implement them based on precautionary principles. To this end, we examine the current status of European protected areas and discuss solutions to improve their coverage of subterranean ecosystems., (© 2024. The Author(s).)