Priority mammals for biodiversity conservation in Brazil

Abstract

More than one fifth of the world´s mammals are listed in an extinction risk category. However, extinction risk should not be the only criterion used in conservation prioritization schemes. Here, we used a species and spatial prioritization scheme for the conservation of Brazilian mammals that incorporates other parameters in addition to extinction risk. Our results suggest that 3.4% of all Brazilian mammal species are high priorities and 29.1% of all Brazilian ecoregions are also high priorities. Since 62.5% of the species identified as high-priority do not have any national conservation plan, we hope our results will help guide mammal conservation actions.