The anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity loss are causing a global decline in biodiversity, yet some species remain overlooked in conservation efforts. In this study, we address the gaps between the current discussions and pressing issues on these species’ conservation. We focused on West Africa and used desiccation-tolerant vascular plants to conduct a systematic review of conservation discussions and a study case to assess their protection and exposure to quarrying and climate change. Our systematic review revealed, for the first time, that these plants are largely neglected in conservation discussions. Most species lack formal evaluations, and only four studies mentioned conservation, although without providing enough evidence to justify it. In our case study, we found biased protection among the species, with varying effectiveness of the protection areas against different anthropogenic threats. The two most exposed species were not present in protected areas, which were more effective at mitigating quarrying impacts than climate change. We highlight the need for conservation-explicit assessments and a mechanistic understanding of species’ conservation needs, such as quantitatively evaluating species vulnerability to threats, to support efficient conservation strategies. We call for conservation initiatives with specific objectives to include overlooked species in protected areas and adjust the conservation objectives to address specific threats.

Alarming trend in biodiversity decline has been observed due to anthropogenic drivers, reinforcing the need to identify priority species for conservation. We discuss the prioritisation of species with small distribution sizes for conservation through two often-neglected perspectives: exposure to human-driven threats and importance to biodiversity. To evaluate species exposure, we estimated the amount of human pressure within their distribution ranges. To estimate species distinctive contributions to ecosystem functions and services, we calculated decreases in phylogenetic diversity after sequential species exclusion. We found that species with smaller distribution ranges are not the most exposed to human-driven threats, as phylogenetic diversity is not always affected by the loss of these species when compared to species with broader distribution ranges. We propose conservation strategies to cope better with species vulnerability and to identify species with higher conservation needs. Species undergoing high exposure to human-driven threats would benefit from conservation initiatives distinguishing the causes of smaller range size. Ecosystem management could focus on species whose distribution is mostly limited by abiotic suitability, while species management could be more adequate for species whose distribution is mostly limited by accessibility. We also discuss the use of a response–effect framework to improve our capacity to identify species more negatively impacted by human-driven threats and with more distinctive effects on ecosystem processes. Species with smaller distribution ranges should be prioritised for conservation when a negative correlation between species ability to cope with environmental change and the distinctiveness of their effects on ecosystem processes is found.

Background and aims Climate change affects global biodiversity, and species such as desiccation-tolerant vascular plants (DT plants) remain largely neglected in conservation objectives and individual initiatives, West Africa is no exception. Our study aims to assess the impact of climate change on DT plant distribution and diversity in West Africa. Material and methods In this study, we use all DT plants described to West Africa and their occurrences, and employ species distribution models to depict changes in their distribution and diversity when comparing present and future climate change conditions. Key results We identified a consistent contraction of DT plants’ distribution ranges and a significant shrinkage of their centres of diversity and endemism. Conclusion It is imperative that future research and on-the-ground conservation efforts should focus on species-specific conservation needs, including closely monitoring DT species with small distribution ranges and assessing the conservation requirements of DT species with broad distribution ranges. It should also be stressed the urgency of integrating climate projections into the conservation planning of DT plants worldwide to ensure that effective conservation strategies include the expansion of protected areas specifically designed to improve stewardship of conserved DT plants.

Anthropogenic drivers of biodiversity loss are causing global declines in biodiversity, yet some species remain overlooked in conservation efforts. In this study, we address the gaps between current discussions and pressing issues on these species conservation. For that, we focused on West Africa and used desiccation-tolerant vascular plants to conduct a systematic review on conservation discussions and to conduct a study case to assess their protection and exposure to quarrying and climate change. Our systematic review revealed for the first time that, despite their diversity, these plants are largely neglected in conservation discussions. Most species lack formal evaluations, and only four studies mentioned their conservation need although without providing enough evidence to justify it. In our case study, we found a biased protection among species, with varying effectiveness of protection areas against different anthropogenic threats. The two most exposed species had no occurrences in protected areas, which were more effective at mitigating quarrying impacts than climate change. We highlight the need for conservation-explicit assessments and a mechanistic understanding of species’ conservation needs to support efficient conservation strategies. Additionally, we call for conservation initiatives with specific objectives to include overlooked species in protected areas, adjusted to address specific anthropogenic threats.