Reappraising the Mediterranean hotspot [temp. title]

 Reappraising the Mediterranean hotspot [temp. title]
Jan Perret, Océane Cobelli, Adrien Taudière, Julien Andrieu, Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas, Jean-Michel Bellanger, Jamila Bensouissi, Guillaume Besnard, Gabriele Casazza, Pierre-André Crochet, Thibaud Decaëns, Françoise Denis, Philippe Geniez, Michael Loizides, Frédéric Médail, Vanina Pasqualini, Claudia Speciale, Vincent Battesti, Pierre Chevaldonné, Christophe Lejeusne, Franck Richard.
submitted to Conservation Letters (a journal published by the Society for Conservation Biology).

 Article abstract:

Two decades ago, 34 worldwide biodiversity hotspots were designed using the distribution of continental plants and vertebrates, propelling the Mediterranean basin among the hottest places for conservation stakes.
Using the Mediterranean basin hotspot as a case study, we here compile the taxonomic range and the geographical patterns of public DNA sequences and their associated metadata, together with published research on the Mediterranean to 1/ characterize the temporal dynamic of molecular data acquisition and scientific production related to lineages included in the hotspot definition as compared to orphan groups of invertebrates, fungi and the marine biota; 2/ unveil the geography of biodiversity research efforts and of the available molecular-based taxonomic corpus underlying the Mediterranean hotspot.

On the Mediterranean island of Corsica, Lotu beach, in Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda (France), July 21^st 2016, Vincent Battesti