Geographical distribution patterns of endangered fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals and their hotspots in China: a study based on “China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals”

Abstract: The “China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals” lists 535   
endangered species in China according to their   
conservation status,as well as describing their degree of threat, population size, threatening factors and approaches to conservation. Supported by GIS, a literature based analysis was carried out on the geographical distribution patterns of the endangered vertebrates in China (birds were excluded, but for simplification we refer to “endangered vertebrates” hereafter). The endangered vertebrates are distributed unevenly. The densest areas are located in Hengduan Mountains,Hainan Island,Xishuangbanna and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. In contrast, the Northern China Plain, the eastern part of the Inner Mongolia Plateau, the Loess Plateau and the Northeast Plain lack endangered animals.   
Topographical factor is key to the distributions of the endangered vertebrate species. Mountains are often habitats for many ancient species. Many species rely heavily on specific moisture and temperature conditions, which limit their distribution ranges. Human activity is another important factor that affects the present   
geographical distributions of the endangered vertebrates. Those places with a long history of human exploitation   
lack endangered vertebrates. Modern environmental problems such as pollution, and impoldering of wetlands also pose great threats to wildlife. A total of 168 endangered vertebrates, which accounts for 51.5% of all endangered vertebrates (excluding coastal species and species endemic to Taiwan and Hongkong) occur in nine counti   
es comprising only 0.9% of China's terrestrial area. All endangered vertebrates can be found in just 94 counties, as revealed by the algorithm based on the principle of complementary used by Dobson et al .(1997).