IBAs are vital for many other kinds of biodiversity

© Pete Morris

In countries in which both Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and globally important sites for other wildlife have been identified, IBAs represent 71% of the number and 80% of the area of important sites for all these taxa. Furthermore, the global IBA network overlaps with the distributions of 76% of all amphibian and 87% of all mammal species. IBAs are therefore critical for the conservation not just for birds, but for biodiversity more broadly.


Overlaps between the global Important Bird Area network and the distributions of the world’s amphibians (6247 species) and mammals (5399 species).

In countries in which both Important Bird Areas (IBAs) and globally important sites for other wildlife (mammals, amphibians and certain reptile, fish, plant and invertebrate clades) have been identified, IBAs represent 71% of the number and 80% of the area of important sites for all these taxa (Butchart et al. 2012). Furthermore, the global IBA network overlaps with the distributions of 76% of 6,247 amphibian and 87% of 5,399 mammal species (including 72% of threatened amphibians and 79% of threatened mammals). IBAs also cover 86% of 825 terrestrial ecoregions and 84% of 232 marine ecoregions. IBAs are therefore critical for the conservation not just for birds, but for biodiversity more broadly (analysis of BirdLife data 2013).


References

Butchart, S. H. M., Scharlemann, J. P. W., Evans, M.I., Quader, S., Aricò, S., et al. (2012) Protecting important sites for biodiversity contributes to meeting global conservation targets. PLoS ONE 7(3): e32529. 

Compiled: 2013   

Recommended Citation:
BirdLife International (2013) IBAs are vital for many other kinds of biodiversity. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 19/03/2024