Investing in evolutionary history: implementing a phylogenetic approach for mammal conservation

摘要: Under the impact of human activity, global extinction rates have risen a thousand times higher than shown in fossil record. The resources available for conservation are insufficient to prevent loss much world's threatened biodiversity during this crisis. Conservation planners been forced prioritize their protective activities, context great uncertainty. This has become known as ‘the agony choice’. A range methods proposed prioritizing species attention; one most strongly supported is those that maximize phylogenetic distinctiveness (PD). We evaluate how composite measure risk and isolation (EDGE) used according degree unique evolutionary history (evolutionary distinctiveness, ED) weighted by urgency (global endangerment, GE). review PD-based approaches provide an updated list EDGE mammals using 2010 IUCN Red List. robust method changes uncertainty, knowledge taxonomy risk, examine mammalian rank highly score representative collective from which they drawn.