Distinguished by high levels of diversity and endemism, the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes in Brazil are recognized as hotspots of biodiversity. Home to hundreds of frog species, many of which are endemic, these regions and their anuran fauna are of particular interest to conservation biologists.
Modelling the ecological niches of more than 500 frog species, authors of this study outline conservation priorities across space and time. Their results show that for both biomes in the baseline climate, total representation is achievable in just ~9 per cent of 50x50 km grid cells.
In future climates, the Atlantic Forest anurans will require an increased area in the number of grid cells for total coverage, whereas the opposite is the case for the Cerrado. In fact, fewer than a third of the baseline Cerrado cells appear to have relevance for anuran conservation across all time frames.