Ecologically specialist species are more prone to extinction than generalist species, yet the global distribution and conservation of ecological specialism is poorly understood. Here, we show that the global distribution of avian dietary specialization is roughly congruent with overall bird species richness for resident and breeding species, as well as for non-breeding species. However, some areas harbour a higher number of diet specialist birds than expected given overall species richness (e.g. the Amazon, Gabon and Cameroon in Central Africa, extensive parts of Indonesia and some parts of northern Eurasia, Baltic cost and Mediterranean areas for resident and breeding birds, and tropical zone and south part of subtropical zone in South America for non-breeding birds). These areas represent hotspots of avian specialization that need to carefully be considered in conservation strategies. We found that overall, 49.6% of resident and breeding species and 45.5% of non-breeding diet specialist species are adequately represented by the global protected area system, but that this percentage is lower for the most threatened species. Policies that modify conservation planning approaches to include measures of specialization alongside other more traditional metrics of biodiversity could improve the protection of biodiversity in the face of rapidly accelerating anthropogenic threats.

中文翻译：

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鸟类饮食专业化的全球分布和保护

生态专业物种比通才物种更容易灭绝，但对生态专业物种的全球分布和保护知之甚少。在这里，我们表明鸟类饮食专业化的全球分布与居住和繁殖物种以及非繁殖物种的整体鸟类物种丰富度大致一致。然而，鉴于整体物种丰富度，一些地区的饮食专家鸟类数量比预期的要多（例如中非的亚马逊、加蓬和喀麦隆，印度尼西亚的广大地区和欧亚大陆北部的一些地区，波罗的海成本和地中海地区的居民和繁殖鸟类，以及热带地区和南美洲亚热带南部的非繁殖鸟类）。这些地区代表了鸟类专业化的热点，需要在保护策略中仔细考虑。我们发现，总体而言，全球保护区系统充分代表了 49.6% 的常驻和繁殖物种以及 45.5% 的非繁殖饮食专家物种，但对于受威胁最严重的物种，这一百分比较低。修改保护规划方法以包括专业化措施以及其他更传统的生物多样性指标的政策可以在面临迅速加速的人为威胁时改善对生物多样性的保护。但对于最受威胁的物种来说，这个百分比较低。修改保护规划方法以包括专业化措施以及其他更传统的生物多样性指标的政策可以在面临迅速加速的人为威胁时改善对生物多样性的保护。但对于最受威胁的物种来说，这个百分比较低。修改保护规划方法以包括专业化措施以及其他更传统的生物多样性指标的政策可以在面临迅速加速的人为威胁时改善对生物多样性的保护。