A novel index to aid in prioritizing habitats for site-based conservation

Funding biodiversity conservation strategies are usually minimal, thus prioritizing habitats at high risk should be conducted.  We developed and tested a conservation priority index (CPI) that ranks habitats to aid in prioritizing them for conservation. We tested the index using 1897 fish species from 273 African inland lakes and 34 countries. In the index, lake surface area, rarity, and their International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List status were incorporated.  We retrieved data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), and IUCN data repositories. Lake Nyasa had the highest species richness (424), Tanganyika (391), Nokoué (246), Victoria (216), and Ahémé (216). However, lakes Otjikoto and Giunas had the highest CPI of 137.2 and 52.1, respectively. Lakes were grouped into high priority (CPI > 0.5; n=56) and low priority (CPI <0.5; n=217). The median surface area between priority classes was significantly different (W = 11768, p<0.05, effect s...