Abstract

The Coastal Range in Chile contains many endemic and endangered species and forest ecosystems and has a high human footprint; despite of this, it is poorly represented in the designated protected areas. We defined explicit conservation targets for 358 conservation features based on threatened and other species of concern and dominant species occurrence and related distribution models, to assess the performance of current protected areas and other conservation initiatives. We used systematic conservation planning methods to select a set of sites that achieved the targets while minimizing the estimated cost of implementing and maintaining the features. Finally, we propose 28 priority sites based on how frequently they were selected in optimal solutions and the estimated degree of anthropogenic threat. The results and methods presented here provide the basis for improving the eficacy and eficiency of biodiversity conservation in the area.