Researchers from North Carolina State University have released an advanced world map highlighting priority areas of vulnerable species that require immediate conservation efforts to prevent them from going extinct.
The NCSU's new biodiversity research map shows the highest concentrations of vulnerable mammals, amphibians and birds worldwide in various colors to help conservationists take up methods to save them and protect the biodiversity. This color-based map is considered to be a better version of previous studies.
"We must know where individual species live, which ones are vulnerable, and where human actions threaten them," said Dr. Clinton Jenkins, lead author and research scholar at NC State University. "We have better data than in the past-and better analytical methods. Now we have married them for conservation purposes."
The map reveals bright red areas- which are number one priority areas requiring stronger efforts for preservation. The researchers calculated the percentage of bright-red priority areas within the already protected zones to help protect vertebrate species. The result produced colorful maps revealing worldwide efforts on conservation.
Dr. Lucas Joppa with Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England said that the global protected areas are growing at a snail pace.
"The most important biodiversity areas do have a higher rate of protection than the global average. Unfortunately, it is still insufficient given how important these areas are," said Joppa. "There is a growing worry that we are running out of time to expand the global network of protected areas."
The experts hope that the new mapping tool will help preserve endangered species from going extinct and increase the number of protected areas worldwide.
"The choice of which areas in the world receive protection will ultimately decide which species survive and which go extinct," says co-author Dr. Stuart Pimm of Duke University. "We need the best available science to guide these decisions."
