Effective conservation policies require comprehensive knowledge on biodiversity. However, knowledge shortfalls still remain, hindering our possibilities to improve decision making and built such policies. During the last two decades, conservationists have made great efforts to allocate resources as efficiently as possible but have rarely considered the idea that if research investments are also strategically allocated, it would likely fill knowledge gaps while simultaneously improving conservation actions. Therefore, prioritizing areas where both conservation and research actions could be conducted becomes a critical endeavor that can further maximize the return on investment. Relying on conservation planning tools and geographical distributions of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles we suggest and compare priority areas for conservation and research focused on terrestrial vertebrates worldwide. We also evaluate the degree of human disturbance within both types of global priority areas. While the spatial concordance between priority conservation and research areas was low, comprising 0.36% of the world's land area where both priorities overlap, such consensus areas represent a unique opportunity for simultaneously conserving and acquiring knowledge for threatened and data deficient species of vertebrates. In this combined area (0.36% of the world's land), it would be possible to protect almost half of the currently threatened species and to gather biological information for nearly 42% of the known data deficient species. We also found that 6199 protected areas worldwide are already located in such places, although only 35% of them have strict conservation purposes. We have taken a first step towards promoting a positive feedback between filling knowledge shortfalls and defining spatial conservation priorities, aimed to help the strategic allocation of conservation and research resources at a global scale. While the picture is not the most encouraging yet, joint efforts are possible and should be fostered to save vertebrate species from our own ignorance and from their extinction. Article impact statement: If research investments were strategically allocated, knowledge gaps could be filled and conservation actions improved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

中文翻译：

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重点保护和研究陆生脊椎动物的优先领域

有效的保护政策需要全面的生物多样性知识。然而，知识短缺仍然存在，阻碍了我们改进决策和制定此类政策的可能性。在过去的 20 年里，环保主义者做出了巨大努力来尽可能有效地分配资源，但很少考虑到如果研究投资也被战略性地分配，它可能会在改善保护行动的同时填补知识空白。因此，优先考虑可以开展保护和研究行动的领域成为一项关键的努力，可以进一步最大限度地提高投资回报。依靠保护规划工具和两栖动物、鸟类、哺乳动物的地理分布，和爬行动物，我们建议和比较重点保护和研究世界范围内陆生脊椎动物的优先领域。我们还评估了两种类型的全球优先领域内的人为干扰程度。虽然优先保护区和研究区之间的空间一致性较低，占世界陆地面积的 0.36%，其中两个优先事项重叠，但这种共识区域代表了一个独特的机会，可以同时保护和获取受威胁和数据不足的脊椎动物物种的知识。在这个合并的区域（世界土地的 0.36%），将有可能保护近一半的当前受威胁物种，并收集近 42% 的已知数据不足物种的生物信息。我们还发现，全球已有 6199 个保护区位于这些地方，尽管其中只有 35% 有严格的保护目的。我们迈出了第一步，以促进填补知识短缺和确定空间保护优先事项之间的积极反馈，旨在帮助在全球范围内战略性地分配保护和研究资源。虽然情况还不是最令人鼓舞的，但共同努力是可能的，应该培养起来，以拯救我们自己的无知和灭绝的脊椎动物物种。文章影响声明：如果对研究投资进行战略性分配，则可以填补知识空白并改进保护行动。本文受版权保护。版权所有。我们迈出了第一步，以促进填补知识短缺和确定空间保护优先事项之间的积极反馈，旨在帮助在全球范围内战略性地分配保护和研究资源。虽然情况还不是最令人鼓舞的，但共同努力是可能的，应该培养起来，以从我们自己的无知和灭绝中拯救脊椎动物。文章影响声明：如果对研究投资进行战略性分配，则可以填补知识空白并改进保护行动。本文受版权保护。版权所有。我们迈出了第一步，以促进填补知识短缺和确定空间保护优先事项之间的积极反馈，旨在帮助在全球范围内战略性地分配保护和研究资源。虽然情况还不是最令人鼓舞的，但共同努力是可能的，应该培养起来，以拯救我们自己的无知和灭绝的脊椎动物物种。文章影响声明：如果对研究投资进行战略性分配，则可以填补知识空白并改进保护行动。本文受版权保护。版权所有。共同努力是可能的，并且应该得到促进，以从我们自己的无知和灭绝中拯救脊椎动物物种。文章影响声明：如果对研究投资进行战略性分配，则可以填补知识空白并改进保护行动。本文受版权保护。版权所有。共同努力是可能的，并且应该得到促进，以从我们自己的无知和灭绝中拯救脊椎动物物种。文章影响声明：如果对研究投资进行战略性分配，则可以填补知识空白并改进保护行动。本文受版权保护。版权所有。