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Conservation of freshwater biodiversity in North Africa under future climate and land-cover changes

Authors:
Abla Belhaj at Abdelmalek Essaâdi University
Abla Belhaj
Mario Mingarro at Spanish National Research Council
Mario Mingarro
David Sánchez-Fernández at University of Murcia
David Sánchez-Fernández
Nard Bennas at LESCB URL CNRST 18 FS Abdelmalek Essaâdi University
Nard Bennas
  • LESCB URL CNRST 18 FS Abdelmalek Essaâdi University
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Abstract and Figures

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened worldwide. A great part of this threat comes from climate and land cover changes. This situation is specially worrying in areas and ecosystems that are highly relevant in terms of biodiversity but severely impacted by these two factors, such as water bodies in North Africa. Using water beetles as surrogates of freshwater biodiversity, we present a novel approach to identify priority basins for the preservation of freshwater biodiversity in Morocco, using Species Distribution Models to identify potential biodiversity hotspots under future climate change scenarios, and estimates of future Land Cover dynamics. The mountainous areas of the Rif and Prerif, Middle Atlas and northern Central Plateau areas, as well as some Atlantic coastal basins were identified as priority areas for water beetles conservation and will play a crucial role for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Indeed, these areas can act as a dead end for a number of African species in the future. However, most of these areas are poorly covered by the national protected areas network (i.e., protected area extent < 10%). In addition, our analyses revealed a general negative trend of the natural vegetation coverage in the study area, and an increase of non-irrigated cropland. Finally, we identified specific areas that need special attention because are priority for conservation but are expected to suffer intense land cover changes. These results, which consider not only biodiversity values, but also the potential threats driven by climate and land cover changes, can provide a solid scientific basis to policy-makers to define specific conservation measures to anticipate freshwater biodiversity loss in North Africa.
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Received: 27 June 2023 / Revised: 20 December 2023 / Accepted: 21 January 2024 /
Published online: 7 February 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024
Communicated by Francesca Della Rocca.
Extended author information available on the last page of the article
Conservation of freshwater biodiversity in North Africa under
future climate and land-cover changes
AblaBelhaj1· MarioMingarro2,3· DavidSánchez-Fernández4· NardBennas1·
BrahimChergui1· SusanaPallarés5
Biodiversity and Conservation (2024) 33:1145–1163
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-024-02790-4
Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened worldwide. A great part of this
threat comes from climate and land cover changes. This situation is specially worrying
in areas and ecosystems that are highly relevant in terms of biodiversity but severely
impacted by these two factors, such as water bodies in North Africa. Using water beetles
as surrogates of freshwater biodiversity, we present a novel approach to identify priority
basins for the preservation of freshwater biodiversity in Morocco, using Species Dis-
tribution Models to identify potential biodiversity hotspots under future climate change
scenarios, and estimates of future Land Cover dynamics. The mountainous areas of the
Rif and Prerif, Middle Atlas and northern Central Plateau areas, as well as some Atlantic
coastal basins were identied as priority areas for water beetles conservation and will
play a crucial role for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. Indeed, these areas can
act as a dead end for a number of African species in the future. However, most of these
areas are poorly covered by the national protected areas network (i.e., protected area
extent < 10%). In addition, our analyses revealed a general negative trend of the natural
vegetation coverage in the study area, and an increase of non-irrigated cropland. Finally,
we identied specic areas that need special attention because are priority for conservation
but are expected to suer intense land cover changes. These results, which consider not
only biodiversity values, but also the potential threats driven by climate and land cover
changes, can provide a solid scientic basis to policy-makers to dene specic conserva-
tion measures to anticipate freshwater biodiversity loss in North Africa.
Keywords Coleoptera · Freshwater ecosystems · Protected areas · Priority conservation
areas · North West Africa
1 3
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