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Of significant biodiversity importance, the Mesoamerican herpetofauna now increases at a rate of approximately 35 species annually. As its size increases, however, the global problem of biodiversity decline continues to worsen with time.... more
Of significant biodiversity importance, the Mesoamerican herpetofauna now increases at a rate of approximately 35 species annually. As its size increases, however, the global problem of biodiversity decline continues to worsen with time. Recently, a set of conservation priority levels was established for individual species based on a combination of physiographic distribution and Environmental Vulnerability Score (EVS). The 18 such levels identified range from level one, encompassing species that occupy a single physiographic region and with a high EVS, to level 18, including species that inhabit six physiographic regions and have a low EVS. For the Mesoamerican herpetofauna, the greatest number of species is placed in level one, amounting to 970 taxa with documentable distributions. From one to 149 priority level one species are found in 20 of the 21 physiographic regions recognized in Mesoamerica. Slightly more than three-quarters of the priority level one species of anurans, salam...