Are the areas of highest species richness of

birds and mammals protected in Venezuela?

María A. Oliveira-Miranda1*, Jon Paul Rodríguez2, Rodrigo

Lazo1, Sergio Zambrano2, Efraín Tapiquén2, Augusto Ruiz2,
Eliécer Gutiérrez2, Manuel Armas1, Luis Aníbal Solórzano3,
Franklin Rojas-Suárez3
1Centro Internacional de Ecología Tropical (CIET-UNESCO),
2Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas,
3Conservation International Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela

* oliveira.maria@gmail.com
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

• Information on biodiversity is required in order to define

conservation priorities. However, this information is scarce:
inventories are incomplete, and the money and time required
are not available, especially in tropical countries.

• Maps of biodiversity are useful tools to guide and evaluate

national conservation policies. One indirect approach to
mapping biodiversity is to map the species diversity of major
taxonomic groups, in order to identify areas of potential
conservation value.

• Venezuela is a megadiverse country. In order to preserve this

diversity, we need to evaluate and adjust our policies in
conservation. As in most tropical countries, financial support
for investigation in conservation is minimal, while policies are
required with urgency.
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

IN VENEZUELA:

There are no maps of species richness for any species

There is a system of Natural Protected Areas, which includes

a group of Strictly Protected Areas (SPA), which represent
16.48% of the country's surface area

We do not know the relationship between areas of high

species richness and the areas protected by SPA
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

GENERAL METHODS:

Selected two major groups: birds and mammals, because

they have better and more extensive information available

Mapped species richness of these groups

Evaluated the distribution pattern of birds and mammals in

relation to the Strictly Protected Areas. The categories of
protection considered were National Parks, Natural
Monuments, and Faunal Refuges
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

SPECIFIC METHODS:
 Obtained a database from InfoNatura:
 Birds, mammals, and amphibians of Latin America [web
application]. 2004. Version 4.1 . Arlington, Virginia (USA):
NatureServe. Available: http://www.natureserve.org/infonatura.

 Used GIS (ArcView 3.3) to process the information

 Obtained polygons of Strictly Protected Areas from Rodríguez et

al. 2004 (Available: ecoSIG server: http:ecosig.ivic.ve)

 Elaborated a species richness map for birds and mammals. The

grid cells used was of 100 Km2.

 Estimated the proportional surface of each richness category

 Evaluated the protected status of each richness category

 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Map of avian species richness

0 800000
1600000

1600000
Map of avian
species richness
Avian richness
80 - 217
218 - 359
360 - 407

Max spp = 1288

800000
800000

408 - 461
462 - 510
511 - 552
553 - 597

0 800000
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Distribution of avian species richness by area

5% 0%

27%
80-217
22% 218-359
360-407
408-461
462-510
511-552
18% 553-597
18%
10%

Species richness
Statistics 80-217 218-359 360-407 408-461 462-510 511-552 553-597
Mean 174.28 336.90 381.60 433.58 489.80 531.34 574.19
Median 202 338 382 434 492 532 576
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Avian species richness in Strictly Protected Areas

0 800000
1600000

1600000
Avian species richness in
Natural Stricted Protected Areas

Protected Areas

Avian richness species

80 - 217
218 - 359
360 - 407

800000
800000

408 - 461
462 - 510
511 - 552
553 - 597
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Total and protected area for each category

of avian species richness

Species Total area % National SPA (Km2) % SPA /

richness (Km2) surface Total area
80-217 4,082.50 0.45 434.03 10.63

218-359 235,541.84 25.81 12,140.49 5.15

360-407 116,775.19 18.27 13,004.61 7.80

408-461 91,187.87 9.99 25,654.85 28.13

462-510 168,203.17 18.43 41,952.94 24.94

511-552 203,222.72 22.27 29,133.37 13.84

553-597 43.657.48 4.78 29,083.14 66.62

 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Endemic birds 45 spp (3.5%)

Some areas of high

levels of endemisms =
areas of highest bird
species richness
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Map of terrestrial mammalian species richness

0 800000

1600000
1600000

Map of mammalian
species richness

Species richness
1 - 151
152 - 160
161 - 169

Max spp. = 330

170 - 178
800000

800000
179 - 187
188 - 196
197 - 205
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Distribution of mammalian species richness by area

6% 2% 1%
9%

1-151
25%
152-160
26% 161-169
170-178
179-187
188-196
197-205

31%

Species richness
Statistics 1-151 152-160 161-169 170-178 179-187 188-196 197-205
Mean 10.78 158.00 164.62 173.86 182.67 190.79 200.23
Median 38 158 164 174 183 190 200
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Mammalian species richness in Strictly Protected Areas

0 800000
1600000

1600000
Mammalian species richness in
Natural Stricted Protected Areas

Protected Areas
Species richness
1 - 151
152 - 160
161 - 169

800000
800000

170 - 178
179 - 187
188 - 196
197 - 205
0 800000
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Total and protected areas for each category

of mammalian species richness

Species Total area % National NSPA % NSPA /

richness (Km2) surface (Km2) Total area
1-151 7,483.45 0.82 593.07 7.93

152-160 83,416.18 9.14 7,566.04 9.07

161-169 237,559.24 26.03 10,144.43 4.27

170-178 289,943.22 31.77 21,300.74 7.35

179-187 228,043.67 24.99 78,281.22 34.33

188-196 50,590.93 5.54 26,480.17 52.34

197-205 15,634.08 1.71 6,037.76 38.62

 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Endemic mammals 15 spp (4.5%)

Areas with more

endemisms are not
the same that areas
of highest species
richness
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Avian species richness Mammalian species richness

0 800000

0 800000
1600000

1600000

1600000
1600000
Map of avian Map of mammalian
species richness species richness
Avian richness
Species richness
80 - 217 1 - 151
218 - 359 152 - 160
360 - 407 161 - 169

800000
800000

408 - 461 170 - 178

800000

800000
462 - 510 179 - 187
511 - 552 188 - 196
553 - 597 197 - 205

0 800000 0 800000

 Areas with the highest species richness are different between birds and
mammals, with one exception: the south east area
 The surface occupied by areas of highest species richness are bigger in
birds than mammals (27.05% vs. 7.25% of the country's surface area)
 Areas of apparent low diversity may actually represent areas with little
available data
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Avian species richness in SPA Mammalian species richness in SPA

0 800000
0 800000

1600000

1600000
1600000

1600000
Avian species richness in Mammalian species richness in
Natural Stricted Protected Areas Natural Stricted Protected Areas
Protected Areas Protected Areas
Avian richness species Species richness
80 - 217 1 - 151
218 - 359 152 - 160
360 - 407 161 - 169

800000
800000
800000
800000

408 - 461 170 - 178

462 - 510 179 - 187
511 - 552 188 - 196
553 - 597 197 - 205
0 800000
0 800000

 The current SPA are more effective in conserving areas of the highest
avian richness than areas of highest mammals richness
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

CONCLUSIONS:
 Differences exist between protected status of birds and
mammals richness categories
 Additional efforts in conservation policies should be directed
to protect the highest areas of mammalian species richness
and the second highest class of avian species richness
 The protection of these two groups require different
conservation strategies
 Areas of the highest mammalian richness contain 62.1% of
mammals known in Venezuela. However, endemic species
area are not necessarily well represented there
 However, areas of the highest avian richness include less than
50% of total avian species reported (46.4%). Therefore, the
protection of areas of highest richness is not enough for
adequate conservation of birds in Venezuela
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

Learned Lesson:

Even when the maps of richness for every major taxonomic

group are essential tools in defining and assessing
conservation policies for a country, it is relevant reminding
that the distribution of each major group is the result of
different biogeographical histories. Thus, it is important to
incorporate as much information as possible for different
major groups, in order to adjust the policies and make
decisions that allow preserving different taxonomic
dimensions of the biodiversity of a country
 Are the areas of highest species richness protected in Venezuela?

This project was supported by:

- Conservation International
- CIET – UNESCO
- IVIC

Acknowledgements:
- SCB for Travel Grant

Additional thanks to:

- Rebecca Miller
- Omar Cornejo
- Stephanie Dashiell
- Barbara Han
Manuel Armas, María A. Oliveira, Jon Paul Rodríguez, Rodrigo Lazo,
Sergio Zambrano, Augusto Ruiz, Eliécer Gutiérrez, Efraín Tapiquén