Nature Communications (Feb 2020)

Conservation prioritization can resolve the flagship species conundrum

  • Jennifer McGowan,
  • Linda J. Beaumont,
  • Robert J. Smith,
  • Alienor L. M. Chauvenet,
  • Robert Harcourt,
  • Scott C. Atkinson,
  • John C. Mittermeier,
  • Manuel Esperon-Rodriguez,
  • John B. Baumgartner,
  • Andrew Beattie,
  • Rachael Y. Dudaniec,
  • Richard Grenyer,
  • David A. Nipperess,
  • Adam Stow,
  • Hugh P. Possingham

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14554-z
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Conservation actions focused on flagship species are effective at raising funds and awareness. Here, McGowan et al. show that prioritizing areas for conservation based on the presence of flagship species results in the selection of areas with ~ 79-89% of the total species that would be selected by maximizing biodiversity representation only.