Global maps of species richness for different categories of species.

                                           Click on the map to enlarge it

                                          

Jenkins et al. have come up with a new map that will come in handy to make quick conservation decisions. Many more areas needs to be brought under protected ares category on an urgent basis.

The top row shows the richness of all species in the taxon. For birds the researchers used breeding ranges only. The middle row shows the richness of threatened species (vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered in the IUCN Red List). The bottom row shows the richness of species whose geographic ranges are smaller than the median range size for that taxon. Maps use a 10 × 10 km grid and the Eckert IV equal-area projection. Maps courtesy of Jenkins et al.

For more information have a look at the paper

Clinton N. Jenkins, Stuart L. Pimm, and Lucas N. Joppa. Global patterns of terrestrial vertebrate diversity and conservation. PNAS. 2013.