Mapping knowledge dark spots to identify priorities for threatened and neglected taxa

Résumé fourni par la source

Global biodiversity is increasingly threatened by environmental change, yet scientific attention remains unevenly distributed across taxa. We applied a multidimensional framework to 1,327 bat species and identified ~21% as “dark species” and 19 countries as “dark spots” across all knowledge indicators. Knowledge was disproportionately concentrated in the Nearctic and Palearctic, whereas species in the Indomalayan, Afrotropical, and Austral-Oceanian regions remained broadly under-documented across indicators. These deficits were greatest in lower-income, bat-rich countries, revealing a “Knowledge–Conservation Paradox” in which scientific attention and biodiversity data are scarcest where conservation needs are greatest. Our reproducible framework provides a transferable approach to identify hidden knowledge shortfalls and direct research, monitoring, and data mobilization toward the species and regions that need them most.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.