Alternative approaches
In comparing the ERM data to models and polygons derived from the point data, clear differences can be seen (Figure 3). Even untrimmed, MCPs capture the hotspots highlighted by advanced models better than the ERM data, and the ERM maps continue to show clear political borders even when trimmed (Figure 3b, d, e) and too little information exists in the IUCN for the assessment of many species. Following trimming, the MCPs show much higher richness than either of the two trimmed ERM maps, with only a maximum of 18 richness for the ERM data based on the limited species assessments possible using just IUCN data (73 species included- Figure 3d) in bats, upto 70 coexisting species from the “integrated assessment” ERM filtered data (260 species- Figure 3e), and 128 species from the MCPs (340 species- Figure 3f). Simple MCPs not only include many more species, but also recreated the patterns recovered by Maxent and other published studies better than the ERMs (Li et al., 2019).