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This mathematical study extends two biodiversity indices, HED and HEDGE, which measure evolutionary distinctiveness and extinction risk based on phylogenetic trees. The researchers generalize these indices to work with phylogenetic networks, discrete trait features, and arbitrary biodiversity measures, providing mathematical formulas for calculating their mean and variance. They demonstrate the approach using all 27 living crocodilian species as a test case.
Why it matters
These expanded biodiversity metrics could improve conservation prioritization by providing more flexible and mathematically rigorous tools to assess which species are most important to protect. The methods may help conservation programs like the Zoological Society of London's EDGE2 initiative make more informed decisions about allocating limited resources to prevent extinctions.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Abstract: The loss of biodiversity due to the likely widespread extinction of species in the near future is a focus of current concern in conservation biology. One approach to measure the impact of this extinction is based on the predicted loss of phylogenetic diversity. These predictions have become a focus of the Zoological Society of London’s `EDGE2′ program for quantifying biodiversity loss and involves considering the HED (heightened evolutionary distinctiveness) and HEDGE (heightened evolutionary distinctiveness and globally endangered) indices which are based on phylogenetic diversity on a tree. Here, we show how to generalise the HED(GE) indices by expanding their application to more general settings (to phylogenetic networks, to feature diversity on discrete traits, and to arbitrary biodiversity measures). We provide a simple and explicit description of the mean and, importantly, the variance of such measures, and illustrate our results by an application to the phylogeny and a small set of features for all 27 extant Crocodilians.
Source: Properties of biodiversity indices that incorporate future extinction risk