Rainforests on Borneo support exceptional concentrations of endemic insect biodiversity, but many of these forest-dependent species are threatened by land-use change. Totally protected areas (TPAs) of forest are key for conserving biodiversity, and we examined the effectiveness of the current TPA network for conserving range-restricted butterflies in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo). We found that mean diurnal temperature range and precipitation of the wettest quarter of the year were the most important predictors of butterfly distributions (N = 77 range-restricted species), and that species richness increased with elevation and aboveground forest carbon. On average across all species, TPAs were effective at conserving ~43% of species’ ranges, but encompassed only ~40% of areas with high species richness (i.e. containing at least 50% of our study species). The TPA network also included only 33-40% of areas identified as high priority for conserving range-restricted species, as determined by a systematic conservation prioritization analysis. Hence, the current TPA network is reasonably effective at conserving range-restricted butterflies, although considerable areas of high species richness (6565 km2) and high conservation priority (11,152-12,531 km2) are not currently protected. Sabah’s remaining forests, and the range-restricted species they support, are under continued threat from agricultural expansion and urban development, and our study highlights important areas of rainforest that require enhanced protection.
R code and data for running SDMs in biomod2
Zip file containing: (1) raw butterfly locality data used in the species distribution models (SDMs)('ButterflyDataBorneo_UniqueRecordsSITE1950s.csv'), (2) R script file for processing Worldclim climate variables ('WorldclimData_CorrelationScript.R'), and (3) R script file for running SDMs in biomod2 ('Biomod2SDMs_77Butterflies.R').
SDM_Analyses.zip
SDM output maps for 77 butterfly species
Zip file containing species distribution model (SDM) ensemble output maps for 77 range-restricted butterfly species on Borneo. Output maps include binary range maps ('BinaryRangeMaps' sub-folder) and probability of occurrence maps ('ProbabilityOccurrenceMaps' sub-folder) for the 77 butterfly species modelled. The 'BinaryMaps_Summed' and 'ProbabilityOccurrenceMaps_Summed' sub-folders contain maps depicting summed species ranges (i.e., species richness) and probability of occurrence (i.e., species occurrence) values, respectively, for: (1) all species (n=77), and (2) all species endemic to Borneo (n=15). Maps for each species are labelled with a unique number; see 'ButterflySpeciesNumbers.csv' for a list of butterfly numbers and corresponding species names.
SDM_OutputMaps.zip
R code and data for prioritization analyses
Zip file containing prioritization R code and species distribution model output maps used as input layers in prioritization analyses. The 'InputMaps_1kmSabah' folder includes probability of occurrence maps for: (1) the 15 endemic butterfly species ('Endemic_15' sub-folder), and (2) the 62 Sundaland-restricted (but non-endemic) butterfly species ('NonEndemic_62' sub-folder) across Sabah. R code for prioritization analyses using the prioritizr package is provided in the 'Prioritization_butterflies.R' R script file.
Prioritization_Analyses.zip
Output maps from prioritization analyses
Zip file containing output maps depicting the final prioritized area in Sabah for range-restricted butterflies. Files include: (1) the prioritized area for all 77 butterfly species ('PrioritizedArea_AllSpecies.tif'); (2) the prioritized area for all 77 butterfly species with the inclusion of a boundary length modifier (BLM) ('PrioritizedArea_AllSpeciesBLM.tif'); (3) the prioritized area for the 15 butterfly species that are endemic to Borneo ('PrioritizedArea_EndemicSpecies.tif'); and (4) the prioritized area for the 15 endemic butterfly species with the inclusion of a BLM ('PrioritizedArea_EndemicSpecies.tif').
Prioritization_OutputMaps.zip