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Using extinctions in species distribution models to evaluate and predict threats: a contribution to plant conservation planning on the island of Sardinia

Part of: Humans and Island Environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2017

MAURO FOIS ,
GIANLUIGI BACCHETTA ,
ALBA CUENA-LOMBRAÑA ,
DONATELLA COGONI ,
MARIA SILVIA PINNA ,
ELENA SULIS  and
GIUSEPPE FENU
MAURO FOIS
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
GIANLUIGI BACCHETTA
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
ALBA CUENA-LOMBRAÑA
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
DONATELLA COGONI*
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
MARIA SILVIA PINNA
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
ELENA SULIS
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy
GIUSEPPE FENU
Affiliation:
Centro Conservazione Biodiversità (CCB), Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Viale S. Ignazio da Laconi 11–13, 09123, Cagliari, Italy Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, ‘Sapienza’ Università di Roma, P.le A. Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy
*
*Correspondence: Donatella Cogoni email: d.cogoni@unica.it
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Summary

Recent extinction rates suggest that humans are now causing the sixth mass extinction, and the Mediterranean islands are at the forefront of many of the environmental issues involved. This study provides an alternative approach for investigating documented local plant extinctions that occurred in Sardinia (western Mediterranean) during the last half century. A total of 190 local extinctions of 62 plant species were used to investigate the independent effects of eight ecological and anthropogenic variables and to model the areas of potential extinctions where plant conservation efforts could be focused. If all analysed plant species were considered together, ecological factors explained local extinctions more than anthropogenic factors. The independent effects of each factor considerably varied among species of different lifeforms and altitude ranges. Accordingly, distribution models of local extinctions outscored areas that are potentially rich in plant species with conservation interest, but which are particularly affected by humans. This paper suggests a reproducible, operational framework for analysing which extinction factors may play important roles in similar contexts and where they might be relevant.

Keywords

drivers of extinctionsgeneralized linear modelshuman influenceMediterranean island florarandom forest
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 45 , Issue 1: Thematic section. Humans and Island Environments , March 2018 , pp. 11 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2017 

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Footnotes

Supplementary material can be found online at https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892917000108

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