Academic Journal
Scrutinizing the Wallacean shortfall: global gaps in snake occurrence data across space and environment.
| Τίτλος: | Scrutinizing the Wallacean shortfall: global gaps in snake occurrence data across space and environment. |
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| Συγγραφείς: | Frateles, Lívia1,2 (AUTHOR), Ronquillo, Cristina2 (AUTHOR), Nakamura, Gabriel3 (AUTHOR), Diniz‐Filho, José Alexandre Felizola4 (AUTHOR), Ladle, Richard James5 (AUTHOR), Hortal, Joaquín2,4 (AUTHOR) |
| Πηγή: | Ecography. Jul2026, Vol. 2026 Issue 7, p1-13. 13p. |
| Θεματικοί όροι: | *Biodiversity conservation, *Sampling errors, *Species diversity, *Climatic classification, *Ecological zones |
| Περίληψη: | Occurrence records are fundamental for ecological and evolutionary research, providing key information on species' geographic ranges. However, these records are often taxonomically, spatially, and temporally biased, requiring caution in their use. Here, we analysed the spatial coverage of occurrence records for over 3500 snake species worldwide to identify geographical gaps, biases, and priority areas for surveys. We calculated completeness metrics to detect well‐sampled cells and assessed whether these cells adequately represent the climatic conditions across biogeographic realms. We also identified priority areas for surveys based on geographic and environmental distances from well‐sampled cells, which may reflect different environmental conditions and species. Our results show that the number of well‐sampled cells is higher in the Nearctic, Western Palearctic, and Australasia, whereas the Afrotropical, Eastern Palearctic, and Indomalayan realms remain poorly sampled. Although the Neotropical realm has a relatively high number of well‐sampled cells, they are spatially clustered, leaving large areas under‐sampled. Overall, well‐sampled cells fail to represent the majority of climatic types present in each realm; also, rare climates are underrepresented in the Nearctic, Neotropical, and Indomalayan realms. We highlight priority areas in all realms, particularly in high‐latitude regions of the Nearctic and Palearctic and in low‐latitude regions of the Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indomalayan, and Australasia realms. While the low number of occurrence records in extremely high latitudes may reflect low abundance and species richness, these areas can still harbour undescribed species and high taxonomic uncertainty. However, given the limited funding and resources, we suggest that redirecting survey efforts to neglected and species‐rich regions is essential for enhancing strategic planning for snake biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | Academic Search Index |
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