A macroecological and biogeographical multicriteria approach to identify high-priority conservation areas in Patagonia using riparian Patagonian beetles

The main goal of this study is to identify high-priority conservation areas across Patagonia and adjacent regions with strong biotic affinities, using an integrative framework centered on 40 Bembidion species. This genus is ideal for such analyses because many species have limited distributions, are established biogeographic model taxa, and are specialized to riparian habitats in freshwater ecosystems. Their distributions closely track habitat dynamics, making them sensitive indicators of environmental change and reliable proxies for riparian habitat quality and associated arthropod communities. Focusing on species distributed across Patagonia, we analyse macroecological and biogeographical patterns. Using ecological niche models, we identified refugia from the Mid-Holocene to the near future (2021–2040). We further characterized biogeographical patterns using diversity and endemism metrics. Congruence among macroecological and biogeographical patterns was evaluated through Zonation-based prioritization, and the resulting high-priority areas were assessed for their current conservation status using fragmentation and connectivity analyses. Our results reveal a network of short- and long-term refugia concentrated mainly in Patagonia, which also harbours the highest species richness and strongest endemism. Importantly, Bembidion patterns closely align with those of numerous other taxa, revealing strong cross-taxonomic congruence in Patagonian biodiversity. Five high-priority conservation areas were identified, most of which exhibit substantial habitat loss, fragmentation, and declining connectivity, underscoring their increasing vulnerability. Because these high-priority conservation areas represent climatic refugia and core hotspots of species richness and endemism across multiple taxa, while at the same time experiencing increasing habitat degradation, enhanced protection is critical to securing the long-term resilience of Patagonian biodiversity.