At resolutions less than 2° (≈200 km), range maps overestimate the area of occupancy of individual species and mischaracterize spatial patterns of species richness, resulting in up to two-thirds of biodiversity hotspots being misidentified.
This foundational study showed that species-richness patterns derived from range maps are strongly scale-dependent: at coarse resolutions (~200 km), up to two-thirds of biodiversity hotspots can be misidentified. It provides the baseline for evaluating high-resolution biodiversity projections, including the DestinE Climate DT–based Iberian Bombus chain. The key question is whether finer Climate-DT resolutions eliminate or merely reduce this scale dependence.
Paper annotation: At resolutions less than 2° (≈200 km), range maps overestimate the area of occupancy of individual species and mischaracterize spatial patterns of species richness, resulting in up to two-thirds of biodiversity hotspots being misidentified.