Assessing biodiversity patterns and conservation gaps in Mexican Opuntia: Integrating species richness, endemism, and protected area coverage

Approximately 5.09 % of Mexico's territory harbors priority areas for conserving Opuntia , an ecologically and culturally relevant genus facing escalating threats from anthropogenic pressures and climate change. Despite the importance of the genus, its biodiversity remains largely underrepresented within Mexico's Protected Areas (PAs). This study employs an integrative approach, combining Species Distribution Models (SDMs) calibrated with environmental and soil variables and Diversity Range Analysis (DRA), to map biodiversity patterns for 51 Mexican Opuntia species. Our approach reveals critical conservation gaps. Only 12 out of the 31 wide-ranging Opuntia species analyzed in this study exceeded the 10 % protection threshold recommended by traditional conservation measures. Furthermore, High Endemism/High Richness (HE/HR) areas show minimal protection (6.71 %) by Mexico's PAs. We propose aligning Opuntia biodiversity patterns with IUCN management categories to facilitate the translation of analytical insights into actionable policy measures to safeguard Opuntia biodiversity.