Conservation in Canada

Conservation actions could be more efficient if there is similarity among taxa in the distribution of species. In a paper in Ecology Letters, May, by an international research team, patterns in the geographic distribution of five taxa were used to identify nationally important regions for conservation in Canada. There was congruence in both geographic distribution of taxa and a measure of the conservation value of areas for taxa. However, few large protected areas exist in the sites of highest conservation value. Additional sites for conservation are required for species with small ranges that do not overlap, and three high biodiversity regions where species are at the edge of their range from northern and southern bioclimatic zones. One measure illustrated that conservation areas for threatened and endangered species, which are a national priority in Canada, also benefited other species.

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