A dark side of conservation biology: Protected areas fail in representing subterranean biodiversity

Biodiversity conservation is a central imperative of the 21st century. Subterranean ecosystems deliver critical nature's contributions to people and harbour broad diversity poorly understood specialised organisms. However, subterranean biome still largely overlooked in global biodiversity targets. We assessed how well represented protected areas (Natura 2000 Emerald networks) two hotspots (the Pyrenees Alps). For this, we used comprehensive databases terrestrial taxa, that is, leiodids (beetles) from spiders Alps, identified priority each region using both species richness geographic rarity patterns. Our results show incapacity surface-protected area networks represent biodiversity, as more than 70% 90% (and 40% 22% species) are not effectively covered by respectively. These findings call for developing an urgent plan within European Strategy 2030.