Abstract Identifying priority areas for biodiversity conservation requires systematic approaches and integrated ecological and biological information. Here, we applied a range of ecological criteria to assess areas of biodiversity importance in the Coral Triangle region, a priority region for marine biodiversity conservation because of its high species richness and endemicity. We used distribution data of three biogenic habitats to assess the criterion of sensitive habitat, modeled geographic distributions of 10,672 species ranges and occurrence records of 19,251 species to evaluate the criterion of species richness, distributions of 834 species of special conservation concern to examine the criterion of species of conservation concern, distributions of 373 reef fish species to assess the criterion of restricted-range species, and distribution of nesting sites and migratory route of six species of sea turtle to evaluate the criterion of areas of importance for particular life history stages. We identified areas of biodiversity importance by superimposing each of the different criterion. We performed two tiers of multi-criteria analysis: (1) a Coral Triangle regional level analysis to identify “clustered hotspots” (i.e., groups of cells) of biodiversity significance, and (2) a site-based analysis to identify the specific sites (cells) of greatest biodiversity importance. We found that approximately 13% of the Coral Triangle was clustered into hotspots of high biodiversity importance. These areas occurred along the southern part of the Philippines, the north-eastern part of Malaysian Sabah, central to eastern reaches of Indonesia, the eastern part of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. By comparison, the site-based analysis identified seven sites of highest biodiversity importance in the Coral Triangle include: (1) the northern tip of Sulawesi Island, (2) Ambon Island, (3) Kei Islands, (4) Raja Ampat Archipelago of Indonesian Papua, (5) the Verde Island Passage, (6) the southern part of Negros Island, and (7) Cebu Island. This information is useful to inform participatory decision-making processes in the Coral Triangle region to identify priority areas for conservation and management.

中文翻译：

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划定珊瑚三角区海洋生物多样性保护的优先区域

摘要 确定生物多样性保护的优先领域需要系统的方法和综合的生态和生物信息。在这里，我们应用了一系列生态标准来评估珊瑚三角区的生物多样性重要性区域，珊瑚三角区是海洋生物多样性保护的优先区域，因为它的物种丰富度和地方性高。我们使用三个生物栖息地的分布数据来评估敏感栖息地的标准，模拟 10,672 个物种范围的地理分布和 19,251 个物种的发生记录来评估物种丰富度的标准，834 个特殊保护物种的分布以检查敏感栖息地的标准。受保育关注的物种，373 种珊瑚鱼物种的分布，以评估限制范围物种的标准，以及六种海龟的筑巢地点和迁徙路线的分布，以评估特定生活史阶段的重要区域标准。我们通过叠加每个不同的标准来确定生物多样性的重要性区域。我们进行了两层多标准分析：(1) 珊瑚三角区域水平分析，以确定具有生物多样性重要性的“聚集热点”（即，细胞组），以及（2）基于站点的分析，以确定特定站点（细胞）具有最大的生物多样性重要性。我们发现大约 13% 的珊瑚三角区聚集成具有高度生物多样性重要性的热点。这些地区发生在菲律宾南部、马来西亚沙巴东北部、印度尼西亚中部至东部、巴布亚新几内亚东部和所罗门群岛。相比之下，基于地点的分析确定了珊瑚三角区生物多样性重要性最高的七个地点，包括：(1) 苏拉威西岛北端，(2) 安汶岛，(3) 凯岛，(4) 拉贾安帕群岛印度尼西亚巴布亚、(5) 佛得岛航道、(6) 内格罗斯岛南部和 (7) 宿务岛。该信息有助于为珊瑚三角地区的参与式决策过程提供信息，以确定保护和管理的优先领域。(5) 佛得岛航道，(6) 内格罗斯岛的南部，和 (7) 宿务岛。该信息有助于为珊瑚三角地区的参与式决策过程提供信息，以确定保护和管理的优先领域。(5) 佛得岛航道，(6) 内格罗斯岛的南部，和 (7) 宿务岛。该信息有助于为珊瑚三角地区的参与式决策过程提供信息，以确定保护和管理的优先领域。