Fig 1.
Map of the UAE showing topographical relief and names of relevant toponyms. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.
Fig 2.
Grids of 10 arc-minutes (~18x18 km) with observations (red cells). Empty grids can be either no observations or no sampling. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.
Fig 3.
Two-dimensional climatic space of the UAE (grey dots) defined by the annual mean temperature (BIO1) and annual mean precipitation (BIO12).
Red dots represent the distribution of the 5,535 occurrence records of all 60 species of terrestrial reptiles of the UAE.
Fig 4.
Principal component analysis (PCA) of the climatic space of the UAE (grey dots) using 19 bioclimatic variables from WORLDCLIM.
Red dots represent the distribution of the 5,535 occurrence records of all 60 species of terrestrial reptiles of the UAE in this climatic space. Dashed lines delimit climatic clusters that group 20% of the explained variance of PC1 and PC2.
Fig 5.
Climatic variability of the UAE.
A) Map showing the distribution and extension of the six UAE climatic clusters; B) Principal component analysis (PCA) of the climatic space of the UAE (grey dots) using 19 bioclimatic variables from BIOCLIM with the climatic clusters numbered from one to six and colored with the same colors as in the map. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.
Table 1.
List of all six climatic clusters that group 20% of the explained variance of PC1 and PC2 of the principal component analysis (PCA).
The table shows the cluster denomination; the number of species present in each cluster, the number of observations detected in each cluster, the sampled percentage of each cluster and the total area of each cluster.
Fig 6.
Species richness map of the UAE terrestrial reptiles.
A) Species richness by emirate inferred with the occurrence point data; B) Species richness by 10 arc-minutes grid cells inferred with the occurrence point data; C) Species richness by emirate inferred with the species distribution models; D) Species richness by 10 arc-minutes grid cells inferred with the species distribution models. Only the 57 native species have been included in the analyses. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.
Fig 7.
Threatened species richness map of the UAE terrestrial reptiles.
A) Threatened species richness by emirate inferred with the occurrence point data; B) Threatened species richness by 10 arc-minutes grid cells inferred with the occurrence point data; C) Threatened species richness by emirate inferred with the species distribution models; D) Threatened species richness by 10 arc-minutes grid cells inferred with the species distribution models. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.
Fig 8.
Principal component analysis (PCA) of the climatic space of the UAE (grey dots) using 19 bioclimatic variables from BIOCLIM.
Dashed lines delimit climatic clusters that group 20% of the explained variance of PC1 and PC2. Green dots represent the climatic space occupied by the protected areas.
Fig 9.
Percentage of the species’ distribution area included within a protected area.
Dashed lines indicate the Aichi biodiversity conservation targets of 17% and 12%. A) Results of the analysis using the area of occupancy (AOO) taking into account all the observed records at a resolution of 2x2 km (4 km2); B) results of the analysis using the species potential distribution (SPD), calculated by the sum of all 4 km2 cells inside the potential distribution of each species inferred with species distribution models (SDMs). For the species for which it was not possible to infer SDMs (see Results), the area used for the analysis was that comprised within the minimum convex polygon of their occurrence point data. Red dots indicate the threatened taxa. Only the 57 native species have been included in the analyses.
Fig 10.
Maps of phylogenetic diversity (PD).
A) PD by grid cells of 10 arc-minutes of longitude and latitude, using the area of occupancy of each species calculated with the occurrence point data; B) PD by grid cells of 10 arc-minutes of latitude and longitude inferred with the species distribution models; the terrestrial protected areas of the UAE are shown in light green; black stars represent the cells with values of PD significantly different than the expected by random. Only the 57 native species have been included in the analyses. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.
Fig 11.
Maps of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED).
A) ED by grid cells of 10 arc-minutes of longitude and latitude, using the area of occupancy of each species calculated with the occurrence point data; B) ED by grid cells of 10 arc-minutes of latitude and longitude inferred with the species distribution models; the terrestrial protected areas of the UAE are shown in light green. Only the 57 native species have been included in the analyses. Credits: OpenStreetMap contributors, SRTM.