Proyecto FEDER-Junta Andalucía (2020-2022)

“Un nuevo enfoque para predecir el riesgo de extinción de especies: El papel de la vulnerabilidad intraespecífica“

Esta investigación está financiada por FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional) y la Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad), dentro del programa operativo FEDER 2014-2020 (Ref: US-1260137)

Studies linking species extinction risk with biological traits provide good insights to understand species extinction globally. However, models show small predictive power generating uncertainty about how to apply knowledge into conservation strategies on the ground. Since global species extinction is the result of a sequence of local population extirpations, it becomes more meaningful understanding vulnerability to extinction risk at population level. This implies knowing the drivers of population extirpations within the geographical ranges of the species. Human modification of the environment is the major driver of local population extirpations, but theory predicts that species vulnerability depends on the spatial configuration of suitable environmental conditions, namely, on the ecological and evolutionary factors that have imprinted to local populations a natural ability to tolerate anthropogenic threats. This would imply that populations of a given species can show differences in their vulnerability depending on their environmental context, i.e. the environmental conditions in which they live. This project aims to build a global biogeographic framework for terrestrial vertebrates to incorporate the species environmental context into ecological models.