Title
The biodiversity of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories: a stock take of species occurrence and assessment of key knowledge gaps
Author(s)
Churchyard, Thomas;Eaton, M. A.;Havery, S.;Hall, J.;Millett, J.;Farr, A.;Cuthbert, R. J.;Stringer, C.;Vickery, J. A.
Published
2016
Publisher
Biodiversity and Conservation
Abstract
Limited financial resources for conservation and growing environmental problems make it vital to base conservation on sound scientific evidence. Small islands hold a disproportionately large amount of the worlds threatened biodiversity but it is among the least well-documented. This paper reports on the most extensive collation and synthesis of biodiversity data to date for the 14 United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs). A process of literature review and consultation produced 65,259 species records, including 32,216 native species of which 1549 were endemic to a single UKOT. The extent of knowledge of species occurrence varied both between islands and taxonomic groups. It was higher for vertebrates and vascular plants than small bodied invertebrates and non-vascular and for non-Caribbean compared to Caribbean islands, a difference that largely reflects knowledge of invertebrates. Global Red List assessments exist for 2606 species and document 111 of endemic species, 75 % of those assessed, and 291, 12 % of non-endemics, as globally threatened. Using the data to estimate true species richness suggests a further 70,000 native species, including 1800 single island endemics, remain to be documented suggesting the UKOTs as a whole may support over 100,000 native species including 3300 single island endemics.
Keywords
UK Overseas Territories;Endemic;Biodiversity;IUCN Red List;Islands
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PUB18895