Integrated maps of biodiversity in the Qinling Mountains of China for expanding protected areas Yin-bo Zhang a,b , Yu-zhuo Wang a , Nathan Phillips b , Ke-ping Ma c , Jun-sheng Li d , Wei Wang d a Institute of Loess Plateau, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China b Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA c Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China d Biodiversity Research Center, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China abstract article info Article history: Received 26 November 2015 Received in revised form 18 March 2016 Accepted 15 April 2016 Available online xxxx Habitat fragmentation and loss is the main cause of species extinction; thus, the appropriate placement of protected areas is critical for saving vulnerable and threatened species. However, how to expand the existing protected areas network for improving conservation efficiency is a vital concern. We examined the Qinling Mountains — a widely recognized biogeographic treasure in China and East Asia, to identify key biodiversity areas (KBAs) and compare them with existing protected areas. We focused on 259 key protected wild plant and animal species and modeled species distributions with elevation and habitat preference. We then adapted two established algorithms (biodiversity hotspots of species richness [BHSR] and systematic conservation plan- ning [SCP]) to identify priority areas, respectively. Results from these two algorithms addressed two conservation criteria: “represented” single species and “well-represented” species assemblages. SCP showed better perfor- mance (~90%) than BHSR (~78%) using the “represented” criterion covering a small portion (~8%) of the total re- gion; conversely, BHSR showed better performance (~61%) than SCP (~55%) using the “well-represented” criterion. The overlapping priority areas of both methods could achieve an optimal conservation that met dual criteria, which is considered as the candidate KBAs in this study. Surprisingly, we found that 63% of KBAs are not co-occurring with existing national nature reserves (NNRs). We highlight the unoccupied KBAs as deserving additional protection, with a result that the expansion of NNRs to KBAs will increase overall conservation cover- age and efficiency. The integrated method developed here can be used generally as a repeatable and quantitative assessment framework to be implemented in protected areas network expansion and planning, in China and beyond. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Conservation priorities Protected areas Systematic conservation planning Species distribution patterns Qinling Mountains 1. Introduction Protected areas establishment is considered a widespread and effec- tive strategy to conserve natural resources and ecosystems (Guo and Cui, 2015). In the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protected areas system, strict nature reserves are designated as having first priority status (CNPPA/IUCN and WCMC, 1994; IUCN, 1999). Strict nature reserves primarily serve to conserve regionally, na- tionally or globally outstanding biodiversity and ecosystems through a combination of habitat conservation and regulations on human activity (Dudley et al., 2010). Numerous studies have examined the effective- ness of protected areas to capture different levels of biodiversity at mul- tiple scales (Gaston et al., 2006; Hermoso et al., 2015; Zhang et al., 2015a). However, the results confirm that existing protected areas cov- erage does not adequately represent ecological diversity, nor achieve conservation objectives (Brooks et al., 2004; Hoekstra et al., 2005; Scott et al., 2001). Jenkins et al. (2015) found that the United States protected areas do not perform well in protecting biodiversity and they mismatch biodiversity priorities. Wu et al. (2011) concluded that nature reserve system provides low coverage for biodiversity, even though there are numerous reserves in eastern and southern China. Al- though protected areas continued to increase, current strategies failed to achieve the stated 2010 Biodiversity Target of Convention on Biolog- ical Diversity (CBD) to reduce significantly the current rate of biodiver- sity loss (Butchart et al., 2010). Due to habitat fragmentation and loss as main causes of species extinction, the appropriate placement of protected areas is critical for saving remaining biodiversity. At the same time, how to expand the existing protected areas network is a vital concern for improving conservation efficiency. In China, national nature reserves (NNRs) comprise the main collec- tion of China's protected areas system, which seem to fulfill criteria to qualify as strict nature reserves as defined by IUCN. Up to 2014, China had 428 NNRs, covering approximately 10.1% of its total land area Biological Conservation xxx (2016) xxx–xxx E-mail addresses: lijsh@craes.org.cn (J. Li), wang.wei@craes.org.cn (W. Wang). BIOC-06782; No of Pages 8 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.04.022 0006-3207/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/bioc Please cite this article as: Zhang, Y., et al., Integrated maps of biodiversity in the Qinling Mountains of China for expanding protected areas, Bio- logical Conservation (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2016.04.022