Over-the-horizon extinction risk assessment reveals rapidly shifting geographic and taxonomic priorities for conservation

preprint OA: closed CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
📄 Open PDF Full text JSON View at publisher
AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-06 · read from full text

The paper develops an “over-the-horizon” forecasting framework that integrates ensemble species distribution modeling with machine-learning automated threat assessment, using projected changes in climate-driven range dynamics, invasive species distributions, land use, and human population density to predict future IUCN Red List threat status for 1,914 Australian terrestrial vertebrate species to 2100. Under a high-emissions scenario, up to 109 species are projected to lose all climatically accessible habitat by 2100, and the number of threatened species increases, while a moderate emissions scenario (SSP1.26) shows threatened-species numbers remaining relatively stable with up to 19 species losing all climatically accessible habitat. Spatially, threatened-species richness becomes increasingly concentrated in southeastern Australia, partly because extinctions and range contractions disproportionately occur outside protected areas. This paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

A central challenge in conservation is understanding how climate change interacts with other global change drivers to shape future species extinction risk, threatened species hotspots, and the effectiveness of protected areas. Here, we use an integrated over the horizon forecasting framework to jointly model changing species' range dynamics and shifts in extinction risk for 1,914 Australian terrestrial vertebrates to 2100. Our approach links ensemble species distribution models with machine learning-based automated threat assessment, incorporating species traits, changing distributions of invasive species, and projections of land use and human population density. Under a high emissions scenario, up to 109 species are projected to lose all climatically accessible habitat by 2100 and the number of threatened species is predicted to increase, while under a moderate emissions scenario (SSP1.26) the number of threatened species remains relatively stable, and up to 19 lose all climatically accessible habitat. Spatially, threatened species richness becomes increasingly concentrated in southeastern Australia. These shifts elevate the representation of threatened species within existing protected areas, largely because extinctions and range contractions occur disproportionately outside protected areas. Our results highlight that the identity of at risk species and the occurrence of threatened species hotspots will change dramatically, underscoring the need for forward looking conservation strategies that anticipate future biodiversity patterns.
Full text 103,873 characters · extracted from oa-pdf · 6 sections · click to expand

Keywords

automat ed a sse ssmen t, bi od iversi ty, c limate c hang e, ex t i ncti on ri sk, ma chine learni ng 19 20 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint INTR ODUCTION 21 Biodi ver s i t y lo s s in th e Anth r o poce ne i s dr i ven by multiple int erac ting thre at s 1,2 . Y et most f orec a st s 22 of fu tur e ex t i ncti on ri sk foc u s on cli mat e- driven shi ft s in sp ecie s di s trib ution s . A s w ell a s c lima te , 23 ex t i nction ri sk a l s o chang e s in r e s p on s e to c hang es in la nd use, human p o pulati on de ns i ty , and ot her 24 thre ate ning proce s s e s 3,4 , a nd th e ef f ec ts of th e se proc e s s e s ar e medi at ed by s p ec i es biol og ica l 25 trai ts 5 . Alth oug h recen t d evelop m ent s ha ve a dvanc ed the m od elling of speci e s re s pons e s to c lima te 26 ch ange, sub stan tial unce rtai nty r em ain s about how cli mat e-d riven ran ge shi ft s in terac t with oth er 27 glo bal-cha ng e driv er s a nd s p e cie s’ in trin s ic biologic al t rai ts to inf lue nce futu re t hr eat sta tu s 5,6 . 28 Addre s s ing thi s gap r equi re s an int egrat e d unde rst anding of how multip le th rea t s and ri sk fa ct or s 29 inter ac t t o d et ermine how s p ecie s ’ g eogr aphic range s an d extinc tion ri sk ar e li kely to cha nge 30 through tim e. 31 One o f the ma jor cha llenge s c r e at ed by chan ging pa ttern s o f ex tinctio n ri sk i s th at c onse r v ation 32 prioriti e s— bo th spec ie s -level and s pati al —are unlik el y to remai n stabl e . For ex am ple , pro t e ct ed 33 area s ( PA s ) ar e a c ent ral pil lar o f co n s e rva t i on, wi t h loc atio n s w ith high conc en tra t i on s of thre a ten ed 34 or ende mic spec ie s p riori t i s ed for th e e s t abl is hm e nt o f new P A s 7,8 . How ever, g iven c limate -driv en 35 dist r i buti onal c hange a nd s hif ting thr eat s , the id en tit y o f thr ea tene d sp ec ie s and t he locatio n of 36 futu re biodi ve r s ity hot s po t s may chan ge sub s t an t i a lly t hroug h tim e 9 . Pa s t s tudi e s h ave rea che d 37 mix ed c onclusion s abou t w heth er P A ne t wo r k s w ill l ose or g ain e ffe ctiven e ss und er c limate c hang e. 38 Earli er re sea rc h con cluded th at PA s w oul d de cline in e ff ec tivene s s b eca u s e t h ey los e more s pec i es 39 than th ey gai n under c limat e -drive n ra nge shi ft s 9,10 . H ow ever, mo re r e c ent w or k h as r epor t e d that 40 P A ef fe ct i v e nes s has r e c e nt l y i n cr e a s e d 11–13 or is pre dicted t o incre a se und e r mod elled f ut u re 41 scen a r io s 14–18 . T he s e mixe d finding s hi ghl igh t tha t con s ervati on d eci sion s ba s ed o n p r e sen t-d ay 42 patt ern s r i sk being mi s a ligned with futu r e biodi ver s i t y ne ed s—a ch all eng e th at ca n only be 43 addre s sed by forec as t i ng th e joi nt dyna mi cs of s p eci e s dis tribu tion s , t h r e a te ning proc e s s e s, and 44 ex t i nction ri sk. 45 Here we pr e s en t a n int egrat ed appr oach t o fo r e ca s ting fut ure ex ti nction ri sk th at c ombines 46 ens emble s pe ci e s dis tr i bu t i on mod ell ing w ith informa tion on s p ec ie s biolo gy a nd projected cha ng e s 47 in threa ten i ng proce sse s ( FigureSČqF1 ) . O u r a ppr oa ch u se s a ma chin e -l ear ning– ba se d automa ted 48 as s e ssme nt framew or k to cla s s ify spec ie s by thei r predi c ted I UC N Red L ist sta tu s to the end o f thi s 49 ce ntur y . Thi s au toma te d a s s e s s m en t met hod wa s devel o ped to predic t t h e thre at s t atu s o f 50 unc las s i fie d r eptil e spec ie s 6 bu t h a s not p r e viou sly be en app li ed to for ec a s ting fut ur e chan ge s in 51 thre at st a t u s. We u se ou r in t e gr at ed app roac h to inv e stig ate ch a nge s in the di stri bution a nd 52 ex t i nction ri sk in te r r es tr i a l Au st r ali an ve r teb rat e s, a global ly uni que and diver se c ontin en tal 53 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint as s e mbl age o f >2,20 0 s p ecie s. We qu anti fy tempor al chang e s in th e numb er an d propor tion o f 54 thre ate ned spec ie s ac r o s s t he four ve rte brat e c las se s and a sse s s h ow s pati al p at te r n s of 55 t h r ea t en e d-s p e c ies r i ch ness ar e e x p ec t ed t o s h ift . We t h e n ev a l u at e h o w ef fec t i v e ly t h e cu r r e nt PA 56 netwo r k i s pr e dic ted to r ep re sen t indi vid ual thr e at ened spec i e s and th rea ten ed- ri c hness ho t spo ts 57 under f utur e scen ari o s , con side ring c lima t e -driv en r ange s hi f t s and proje cted c ha nge s i n s pe ci es 58 thre at st a t u s simultan eo u s ly . Fina lly, we a nalys e c hange s in cro ss- taxon cong r ue n ce i n hot s pot –P A 59 ove r l ap to ev aluat e w heth er f uture prio ri t y area s ar e l ikely to bec om e more spa tia ll y c oncentra ted 60 or disp er s e d. 61 62 F i g u re 1 . Wo rk f lo w fo r o u r o ver - t he - ho ri zo n f ra me w or k to p re di c t e x t i n c t ion ri s k . C urat e d occurre nce 63 r e c o r d s a r e co up le d w ith e nv i ron m e nt a l la y er s ( bi o cl im a t e , so i l , e t c . ) to t ra in s p e ci e s d is t r ibu ti on m o de l s 64 (SD M s ) , b ot h for a sse ss ed n a ti v e s peci es and in v a si ve s pecies. T hes e are use d t o gen erate fea t ures for 65 m a ch i ne le a rn ing -ba s ed au to m a te d as s es sme n t m ode l s , c on s i st ing o f sp e ci e s t ra it s ( ma ss a n d r a ng e s i z e , th e 66 l a tte r p r oj e ct e d f r om the f i tte d S DM s) and ov e r l a p w ith th r ea t eni ng p ro ce sse s (S D M p r o j ec t i on s o f in t r odu ce d 67 speci es ran ges a n d s o urc ed l aye rs o f h u m a n-pop ulati o n d ens i t y an d m o d ifi e d h ab i ta t). Th ese f e a tures , c oupl ed 68 wit h c urrent I U CN thre a t as s e s s men ts, are us ed t o trai n a n a ut omat ed a sse ss me n t m o de l u s in g nest ed cross -69 vali d at io n . The n, f ut ure p r oj ecti o n s o f cli mat e lay e rs u nd e r differen t So c ioeco n omic Pat hw ays a r e us ed t o 70 pro j ec t t he SDM s an d g enera t e f ut ure ra nge m a ps for t he nati ve s peci e s an d i n v as i v e sp ecie s un de r diff erent 71 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint dis p e rs a l sc e n ari o s . Fut ure project io ns of ra n g e siz e an d o ve r la p w it h thre a t e n ing process es are use d t o make 72 ne w p re dicti ons of f u ture IU CN thre a t as ses s me nts u s i ng t h e aut om a t ed a s ses sm e n t m o d el. 73 74

Results

75 Predicted changes in species threat status: taxonomic patterns 76 We impl emen ted a novel , int egrat ed w o rkflow f o r fo rec a sting fut ur e cha nge s in s peci e s t hr ea t 77 sta t u s, by comb ining i ndep ende n t l y proj ec t e d cha nge s in g e ographic rang e s ize o f na t i ve a nd 78 inv as i ve spec ie s (a s a th r e a tening proc e s s ) from S D M s ba sed o n 5 .6 mill ion oc curre nce r ec o rd s , with 79 projec t e d cha nge s in hum an popula t i on den sity a nd land u s e , and bio logic al an d geog r a phic 80 predic to rs of ex t i nction ri sk. We appli ed an XGBoo st automa ted a s s e s sm ent mod e l 6 on thi s 81 integ r a ted da ta s et f or 1,914 Au s tr a lia n t erre s t rial ve rteb ra te speci e s, achie ving high c las s i fica tion 82 ac curac y (0.91 4) when di stin gui shing thr eat ene d ( VU, E N / CR ) ver su s non -threa t e ned sp eci e s ( NT, L C) 83 and N ea r Threa ten ed v s. Lea st C onc ern spe cie s (0.93 7 ), bu t lowe r acc uracy (0 .604 ) w hen 84 d i s ti n g u i s hi n g b e t w ee n t he T h r e at e ne d c a t e go r ies ( Ta b le S1 ) . T he m o s t i mp o r ta nt pr e di c t or s o f 85 cu r ren t thr eat s t a tu s w er e geo grap hic r a nge size and b ody ma ss , foll ow ed by hab itat -r elat ed 86 fea tur es and ov erla p w ith inva s i ve sp eci e s ( F igu re S 1, Tab le s S2 –S 3) . 87 Under th e more p e ssimis t i c S SP5 .85 emi s s ion s scena r i o, t he numbe r of s pec i e s in ea ch of t h e f our 88 ve r teb rat e c la sse s (ma mmal s, bir ds, r e p ti les , amphibi an s) t ha t ar e cl assi fied in a T hr e a tene d ( VU, 89 EN/C R) ca teg or y i s predic ted to increa s e throughou t th e centu ry (F igure 2A , T able S 4). Thi s i s al s o 90 the c a se und er th e op t im i stic SSP 1.26 sc ena r i o when n o disp er s a l i s allow ed, but w ith limited or 91 limi t l e ss dis per s a l , the num b er o f t h rea te ned speci e s i s pr edi ct ed to r emai n rel ati ve ly stabl e. Ou r 92 model s sugg e st tha t s tepwi se p rogre s s i o n through th e Re d Li st lev el s i s common: t he highe r a 93 speci e s ’ c urre nt threa t e n ed lev el i s, t he mo r e likel y it is to be t hre a ten ed ( or go e x tinct) in t h e 94 sub s e quen t time ste p (Figu re 2B, Tab l e S5). H ow eve r, the cha n ging tax onomic pat tern s o f extinc t i on 95 risk ar e a l s o dr i ven by s pe cie s mov ing thr ough t he leve l s o f t h e Red L i s t i n variou s direc tion s, i.e. , 96 speci e s mo ving f rom u nt h rea t e n ed to t h reat ened , t hr ea t e ne d to un thre ate ned, a nd from 97 t h r ea t en e d o r unt h re at en e d t o e xt in c t ( Fi gu r e S 2 ) . C ha n g es i n ra n ge s i ze l ed t o s pe ci es p r ed i ct e d t o 98 bec ome le ss thre a ten ed, on ave rag e (Fig ur e S3) . How ever, c hang e s in most oth er predi cto rs ten de d 99 to c au s e s pe cie s to bec ome mo re t h rea t ene d, pa rticu la rly tho se p redic t ors wi t h high im por tan ce 100 (Fig ure S1 ). P at t e r n s di f fer ed be t w een t a x a: for ex ample , overlap with rabbit s wa s a s t ronger d rive r 101 of hig her thr e at pr edictio ns for rep tile s t han othe r c la s s e s, w her ea s overl a p with c ats wa s a st r on ger 102 drive r o f high er th rea t predic tion s fo r a m phibia n s than o the r cla ss e s ( F igur e S 3) . 103 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 104 F i g u re 2 . F u t u re t h re a t le vel s o f Au s t ra li a n te rre s t ri al v e r te b ra te s. A) Pre d ic ted n um be r s o f s p ecies in 105 diff e ren t threat ene d cat e g ories ( V ul ne ra ble, En dan ge r ed/Critical l y End ang e r ed) un der tw o d iff erent S h are d 106 So c ioeco n omic Pat h w ays (SSP 1 . 2 6, SSP5.8 5) a n d t h ree dis p ersa l s ce na ri os (N one, Li mite d, L im i tle ss) in 2 0-yea r 107 tim e s t e p s fr om 20 20-2 1 0 0. E x ti n c t s pe c i es ar e c olo ure d bl a c k a n d inc l u d e s p eci es th a t w ent ext inct i n pre v i o us 108 tim e s t e p s. B) P re dicte d pr ob abilit y o f assi g nme nt t o ea c h IUC N t hre a t c ate gory a s a func t i o n o f t he t h r e at 109 cate g or y in t he pre vio u s t i m est ep. M ean predicte d p r o babil ities an d 95% C I are es ti mate d fr o m predicti on s 110 across all S h are d S ocio e c ono mi c Pat hw a y s a n d dis p e rs a l sc enarios .111 The model s al so pred ic t an in cre a se in th e number o f ex t i ncti on s (Fig ure 2A), whi c h are inf erred 112 whe n a sp ec ie s’ modell e d cl imatic suit ab i lity from on e t im e pe riod t o the n ext re s ults i n n o 113 cl imatic ally s ui tab le ac c es s i bl e ar ea s . Un der S SP1 .26 , our mod el s predic t 2–7 spe c ies o f amphib ian s, 114 2–4 s p ec ie s of bi rd s, 6–7 s pec i es o f mam ma ls and 9– 17 sp ecie s of rep til e s c ould g o extin ct by the 115 end of t h e ce n t ury. U n d er SS P5. 85 all gro ups ar e pr edic t e d to exp er i ence a sha rp i nc r ea s e in 116 ex t i nction s la te i n th e ce ntu r y , in the p eri od 2080– 2100 (F igure 1A ), w ith 11 –12 spe cie s of 117 amph ibian s, 17– 19 speci e s o f b ir d s , 22 –2 3 speci e s o f mammal s, a nd 45–5 5 s p e cie s o f rep tile s 118 poten tial ly ex tinct by th e end o f t h e cent ury. U nde r b ot h s c ena rio s, all bu t one o f the se pr edi ct ed 119 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 7 ex t i nction s ar e s pec ie s en demic to Au str alia , in a ddi tion to the l o ss o f the sh rill w his t le frog 120 ( Au s t roc ha perina gr a cilip e s ) from the A u st ralian mainl a nd ( the speci e s is a l so p r e sen t in N ew 121 Guinea , whic h is no t inc luded i n our mod els ). 122 The s pa t i al di st r i buti on of p redic t e d exti nc tion s r e flec ts the pa tt ern s o f r a nge c o ntr a cti on. A l t hou gh 123 ex t i nction s ar e pre dic ted in almo s t every bi ome by 2100, t he biome s o f s outh ern and so uthe a st ern 124 Aus t ral i a are e xpec t e d to ca rry a dispr op or tion ately hi gh shar e of sp eci e s lo sse s ( Figure 3A, Fig ure 125 S4). U nd e r SSP5 . 85, th re e ex t i nction h o ts pot s emerg e (F igur e S4 ) : t he dry mon soo nal G ul f Coun tr y of 126 north ern Au strali a , th e Vic to r ia n an d Mu rray M a lle e, and Ta s ma nia , w hich is p red i cted lo se 2 –27 127 ende mic sp ec ie s, d epend ing on the mod elle d di spe rsal s c enari o. 128 129 Figur e 3. Distri buti o n of Au s tr alian ter r e s tri al v e r t e b rat e sp e c i e s pr e dicte d t o g o ex t i nc t by th e end o f th e 130 centur y. A) Ba r pl ot s repres en ti ng f or s pe c ies pre d ic t e d t o s ur v i ve (l e ft) or go ext inct (ri g h t ) t he pr o port ion of 131 s p e c ie s cu r r e n tl y o cc u r r i ng in e a ch b iom e . E x t i n c t sp e c i e s a r e c on s i d e r e d a c r o ss a l l mod e lle d s ce n a r io s o f 132 clima t e c han ge (tw o SSPs a n d t hree dis pe rs a l sc e n ari o s ), t hu s re p r e s en ti n g th e m ost pess imis tic s ce n ari o. 133 Nu mbers nex t t o e ac h b i o me in t he ce n t re m a p repres ent t he t ot al n u m b er o f s pecies wit h th e maj orit y of 134 th ei r ex te nt dis tri but io n i n each bio me . B ) B o x pl ot s how in g t he dist rib uti o n s of curre nt ran ge s i z e (i n k m 2 ; 135 log 10 -tr a n sfor med) of s pe c i e s pre d ic ted t o s u rv i ve or go e x ti n c t un der a ll m o de l led sc e n ari o s of climate ch a n g e . 136 Shifting species distributions under climate change 137 Shi fts in t he cen troid s o f s pecie s ’ g e ogra phic range s (F igur e S5 ) ar e driven by le ad ing-ed ge ex pan si on 138 of th e rang e bo unda r y on on e s id e , t r a ili ng-e dge c on tr a c tion o f the bo undary o n anoth er, or b oth . In 139 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 8 north ern Au strali a , ex panding ar ea s o f cl imatic s ui tab ili ty to th e so uth ea st mea n tha t on av era ge, 140 speci e s rang e s ar e ex pect ed to e xpand (F igure S 6). In s outh ern Au s t ral i a, hard l imi ts to r a ng e 141 ex pansio n at t he e dge s o f th e c ontin ent mean tha t on av erag e, spec ie s r ange s ar e e xpec t e d to 142 co nt rac t (Figu re S6). 143 The pr e dict ed r a nge c ha nge s dif fe r be t w een tax a an d vary over time. T he p at tern of nor thern 144 ex pansio n of r ang e s i s s tr on g es t e a rlier i n the cen tury (20 20–204 0 ), whil e th e pat tern o f sout hern 145 range cont ractio n b eco me s str onger a s t he c entu r y progre s s e s (Fig ure S6 ). Ra ng e c hange s a r e 146 relativ e ly e venly split b etwe e n cont rac t i ons a n d ex pan sion s in th e fir st h al f of t h e 21 st ce nt u r y , bu t 147 co nt rac tion s becom e mor e preva l ent a n d o f grea ter magn i t u de follow ing 20 60 (F ig ure S7). 148 Changing spatial patterns of threatened species richness 149 Curr ent thr e at ho t s pot s (top 10 th pe r c e nt ile of threa t e n ed specie s ric h ne ss) for t h e four c la ss e s are 150 loc ated p rimaril y in the re gion s o f high e st tot al s pec ie s r i chn e ss along Au s t ralia ’ s ea s te rn seab oa r d, 151 wi t h large ho tsp ot s for ma mmal s and r e ptil e s a l s o found in n o r the rn Au s tr a lia , a n d for mammal s in 152 sou thwe ste r n Au strali a (Figur e S 8A) . Und er all e mi ssion s and di s p e rsal sc ena rio s th ese hot s p ot s ar e 153 predic te d to shi ft tow ard s t h e south , t o become conc en tra ted in th e s outh ea s t er n ex t remi t y o f the 154 Aus t ral i an mai nland (a mphibian s , ma mmals & r e p t il e s), and t he ea ste rn/ s ou the a stern co a stal s t rip 155 (bird s), by the en d of t he c en tury (Fig ure S8B– D). T hi s gene ral s hif t pa tte rn ac ro ss the f our c la sse s i s 156 refl ec t e d in the h o tspo ts f o r c ombin a t io ns o f o ne, two, t h ree a nd fou r c la sse s, w hi ch a r e pr e dicted 157 to c ont r ac t f r om nor t he r n A u st ralia and t he c entra l- ea st co as t regio n t ow ard s t he s ou the a ste rn 158 e xt r e m it y of A us tr a l ia , pa r t i c ula r l y u n de r S S P 5. 8 5 ( F i gu r e 4 A) . 159 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 9 160 Figur e 4. C han ges in c o n gr u en c e o f thr e a t h otsp ots. A ) M a ps r ep re s e nt ing ho tspo ts o f t hr e a te n ed sp e c i e s 161 richnes s f or the f o u r c l as s e s of t errestrial ve r t ebrates . C ol ours r epres e nt d eg r ee o f c on gr uence, i.e. , ho w man y 162 c l a s s e s h a v e h ot sp ot s in tha t c el l . L e ft p ane l sho w s cu rr e nt ho tspo t s b a sed on a ut om a t ed a s se ss me n t o f 1 ,9 1 4 163 speci es, a nd ri gh t p anels s ho w pro j ect ed hot s pots a t 21 0 0 u nd e r t w o diffe r ent Sh ared S o c i oec on o m ic 164 Pa t hw a y s (c ol u m ns) an d t hre e differe nt dis p ersal s cenario s (r ows). B ) Box pl ots s h owi ng t he d egree of 165 c o ng r u en c e i n th r e a ten e d spe c i e s r i c h n e s s und e r two d i f f e re nt S ha r e d S o ci o e c ono m i c P a th wa y s ( us in g the 166 Limit e d di s p ers a l scen a r i o) over 20-y e ar ti m e ste ps ( 202 0 r e pre se n t in g pre se nt co nditi o n s ) , c a lcul ated usi ng 167 spa ti a ll y c orrect e d Pearso n’ s correlati o n c oef ficient s. Co lo u re d l i nes represe n t tren ds i n di ffere n t pairs of taxa 168 ( e.g. , t h e oran ge li ne s h ows i ncrea s in g c ongr ue n c e be tw een bi r d s a nd re pti l es). 169 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 10 Some more idio s yn cra tic p at t e rns o f ho t spo t shi ft s are a l so e vident . I n bir ds and mamma ls, t he 170 co ncentr ation o f th rea ten e d s p ecie s on the isl and of T a s ma ni a in t e n s i fi es to ho ts pot lev el und er 171 SS P1.26 (F igu re S 8B –D ). Thi s hot s p o t int e ns i fi cati on i s no t see n under SS P 5.85, h o w eve r , due t o a 172 predic te d large wav e o f ex t i ncti on s of e n de mic T as ma nian thr eat ene d s p e cie s le a ving most ly non-173 thre ate ned spec ie s remainin g. H ot s po t a rea s f or ma mmal s and rep tile s i n no rt h e rn A u strali a are 174 ex pected to contr act a nd di sap pea r a s sp ec ie s expa nd th eir di st r ib ut i o ns sou thwa r ds an d r e duc e 175 their thre at sta t u s (Fi gu re S8B -D ). In amp hibia n s a nd, t o a limited ex tent , in ma mmals, the W et 176 Tropic s in th e f ar nor th -ea s t of Au s tr alia emerge a s a t hr e a ten ed spec ie s ho tspo t (Fi gure S8B – D). 177 Bec au se cl a sse s a re pr edic te d to r esp ond diff eren tly to clima te chan ge, the se c ha nges le ad to an 178 inc r e a s e in spa tial congru en ce o f thr eat e ne d richne s s ho tspot s o f mamma l s and r eptile s w ith bi rd s , 179 and a reduc t io n in spati al congruen c e be t w een a mphibi an s and mammal s (F igur e 4B; T able S6) . 180 The area o f th rea ten e d s pe cie s ric hn e ss hot spot s, a s a perc entag e of Au s t ral i a’ s l and a r e a, i s 181 predic te d to d ec r e a se by 210 0 for s i ngle - c las s ho ts pot s ( fr om 9.1 3% to 3.4 3–7 .42 % , summed ac ro ss 182 all four cla ss es and dep e nding o n SSP an d di s pe r sal scen a r i o) , and f or hot sp ot s sh ared by two c la s s e s 183 (4.42% to 1.24 – 2.94% ) ( Figure 4 A). H ow e ver, a s thr eat ene d s p e cie s rich ne ss in ge neral becom e s 184 more c once n t ra ted in s o uthe a stern Au st r a lia, h o tspot s s ha red by thr ee c la s s e s (1. 06% to 0.67 –185 1.58 %) and all f our c la s s e s (0 .21 % to 0–2 . 95%) a r e p r e dict ed to incr ea se in s ize un de r mo s t 186 scen a r io s. 187 Overlap between threatened species and Protected Areas 188 Threat en ed sp ecie s ric hne ss ho t spot s a re pr e dict ed to con trac t an d bec om e con centr ate d in 189 sou thea s t e r n A u st ralia, e s pe cial ly ma inla nd upland a re a s and th e isl an d o f Tasma nia , are a s wh ich 190 hav e rela tiv ely h igh PA c overag e . Thi s le a ds to a predic ted inc re a s e in ove r l ap be t we en hot spo ts an d 191 cu r ren t prot ect ed are a s by 20 40, and throug hout th e c entu r y (Fig ur e 5 A) . For spe cie s p redi ct ed to 192 be thr eat en ed , we predic t in crea s es in th e mea n ove r la p of speci e s rang e s with P As, b ut no i ncr ea se 193 for pr edic te d non -th r e a ten ed sp ec ie s (Fi gure 5 B). There a re al so p redict ed incre a se s in t he 194 propor tion o f thr ea tene d s p ec ie s th at ov e r la p s u b s t anti al ly w ith the cu r r ent PA n e t w ork, wh ile for 195 non- thre at ened s pec i e s the ov e r l ap inc re a s e i s only pr e dic ted un d er a ze ro - d i s pe rsal mo d el (Fi gur e 196 S9). U nd e r ze ro -di sper s a l model s, th e nu m ber of s p e cie s predic ted to re ac h 50% overlap o f thei r 197 range s w ith P As i s g r e at er th an the num b er of s p e cie s wh o s e level o f overl a p will decrea s e t o below 198 50% (Fig ur e 6, uppe r p a nel s ). Howeve r , b eca u s e t h e no -di sper sal model do e s n o t a llow r a nge 199 ex pansio n, thi s e s sentia lly m ean s tha t ra nge c ontrac tion s ar e predi c ted t o be more exten siv e ou ts i de 200 PA s tha n wi t h in th em. Th is p at t e r n i s mo re variabl e and i ncon si sten t und er th e model s tha t a llow 201 limi t e d or limitl e s s disp ersal (Figure 6 , mi ddle and lo wer p ane l s ) , si nc e unde r the s e scen a r i o s r ang e s 202 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 11 ca n also ex pand o ut o f P A s , red uc ing s p e c ies’ co ve rage within P As, or c urren tly un-re pre se nt e d 203 speci e s c an e xpand t h e ir r a ng es in to P A s, inc r ea s in g thei r co verage . For amph ibi a ns and rep t il e s , 204 more s pec ie s ar e ex pect ed to l o se t h e 50% level of overla p with P As th an g ain th e m, r e ducing the 205 ove r a ll pro tecti on fo r th es e tw o t axa. Co nvers ely, many mor e bird speci e s a r e expec ted to re ac h the 206 50% overla p lev el than l o se it . 207 208 F i g u re 5 . De g ree of ov er l ap wi th p ro te c t ed ar ea s . A) Box p lots s how in g t he degree of over l ap betw ee n 209 thre a te n e d s pecie s hots p ots a n d pr otect ed a rea s u n de r a l l c on si de r ed cli m a te c han ge sc enari o s o v e r 2 0-y e a r 210 tim e s t e p s, calc ulate d as t he pr o port ion of ho tsp o t a r ea overlap pin g w it h a ny p r ot e c ted a r e a. T he horiz o n t a l 211 blue d as he d li nes re prese nt c u r rent lev el s of o v erlap wit h p r o t ect ed a reas b a s ed on aut o ma t e d as se ss ment of 212 1,9 1 4 s p eci es. B) M ean l evels of o v erlap wi th PAs pre di c te d t hro u gh time, f a c e t ed by diffe re nt S o c ioeco no m ic 213 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 12 Pa t hw a y s a n d dis persa l s ce narios. Soli d li n e s repre s en t pre d ict io ns f or no n-t hreate ned sp ecie s , a nd das hed 214 lines re pre s ent pre d ict i o ns f or t h r e a te n e d sp e c i es. 215 216 Figur e 6. C han ges in l e vels o f pr o t ec ti o n f or thre a t en e d sp ec i es. Ba r plo ts s how i n g t h e p r oport io n of 217 thre a te n e d s pecie s in ea c h terrestria l ve r t ebrate c la ss t h a t ei t her dr o p be l ow t he 50 % ove rla p wit h P A level (i n 218 red) or gai n t hat pr o t e c ti on level (i n gold). R e sul ts are f acete d b y diffe r ent Soc ioeco n o m ic Pa t hw a y s a n d 219 d i spe r sa l s ce na r i os. 220 221

Discussion

222 Metho ds for fore ca sting spec i e s extinc t i on ris k over d e cada l time scale s a r e beco m ing inc reasingly 223 importan t a s c on s e r v a tion shif ts to b e ing more proac tive 4,6,19,20 . Robust extinc t i on -r i sk fo rec a s t in g 224 requir e s method s that con sid er t he man y fa ctor s th at a r e like ly to in flu enc e a s pe cie s ’ c ha ng ing 225 thre at st a t u s: thi s inc lude s not only clim ate cha nge d r iv en di s tr i bu tion shi fts, bu t a ls o proje cted 226 ch anges in thre at suc h a s human p opul at ion, l and u se, a nd inva s iv e sp ecie s , and t he w ay that 227 speci e s ’ i ntrin sic biolog y medi ate s re spo nse s t o t h rea ts. W e ha ve pre s ent ed the fi r s t (to our 228 kno wledg e) int egra ted forec as t i ng meth odolo gy that c ombin e s the s e fac t o rs t o si multaneou sly 229 ex amine s hi ft s in speci e s d istribu tion a n d cha nges in t hrea t sta tu s . Our model s pr edic t pro found 230 ch anges in the con tine n t -w id e tax onomi c and spa tial pa tte r n s of ex tinction r isk in Australi a n 231 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 13 terre s t rial v erte bra t e s to th e end o f thi s cen t ury . The s e c hange s re sul t in thr ea te ned t e r re s tr ia l 232 ve r teb rat e s bec oming m or e conc e ntra te d within t h e curr ent n etw or k o f pro tect e d a r e a s . 233 Our model s indic a te a s ha rp ri se in extinc t i on s a f t e r 2 080 unde r the wor s t -c a s e cli ma te s c ena rio 234 (SS P5 .85) . Th is incr ea se i s drive n by sub s t a nti al w arming l ate r t hi s c en tury ( from 2.4SČqF° C i n 2041–235 2060 to 4.4SČqF° C in 2081–2 100 unde r S SP5 .8 5 21 ) a nd a ma r k ed dec lin e in rain fal l ac ros s s ou thern 236 A u st r a lia 22 . O v erall , proje ct ed ex tinc tion s by 2100 rang e from 19–3 5 s pe cie s und e r S SP1.2 6 237 (dep en ding on di s pe rs al a s s umption s ) to 95–10 9 s p eci e s unde r SS P5. 85 (Tabl e S7 ) . T his may be an 238 undere s timat e g iven the incr ea sing f r e qu ency and sev e r i t y o f ex t rem e , cli mate -lin ke d s t oc ha st i c 239 ev ent s such a s t h e Au s tr alia n 2019/202 0 Blac k Su mmer mega f i re s, w hich could r e s ult in t h e 240 ex t i r pa ti on o f thr eat ened sp ec ie s long b e fore cha nge s in mea n cl imatic condi tion s mak e area s 241 inhospi tabl e 23 . Furt h er m ore, many mor e extinc tion s ar e lik ely a cro ss th e fou r g r ou p s w e ana ly sed 242 bec au se th e 577 s p e cie s th at w e were u nable t o mod el ar e a non -rand om sampl e of Au s t ral i a’ s 243 ve r teb rat e s, wi t h s ma ller ge og r a phic r a n ge size s a nd high er curr ent thre at s t atu s, on a verage (Figu re 244 S10 ). Of c our s e , our pr edictio ns are a sso ci ated wi t h con sid erabl e unce rtain ty ( e. g . , mod elling 245 as s u mp t i on s , di s pe rsal c apa bili tie s, a da p t i ve c apac ity) in a d dition to tha t c apt ure d by t he range o f 246 scen a r io s w e model l ed. N one thel e ss , the s e r e s ul ts hav e two i mporta nt implic a tio ns. Fi r s t, the 247 predic te d su r g e in e xtinc tion s la te t h i s c e ntury unde rsco re s th e imp ortanc e o f a lo ng-te rm outlo ok 248 for con se rva t i on pl anni ng to mini mize bi odiv ersity lo ss. Se con d, t h e se re sul t s sug ges t t ha t doze n s o f 249 Aus t ral i an ve r t ebra te sp ec ie s coul d be sa ve d fr o m extinc ti on by global -sca l e ac tio n to av oid the 250 fo s s il- fu el led de vel opme n t s c enario imp li ed by SSP 5.85. 251 Our model s a s s ume that in ge n eral , s pec i es t ha t s u f fer the g r e a t e st lo s s of s ui t a bl e c limate a re a wil l 252 be m ost lik ely t o expe r i e nce a s e ve re c on tr a cti on in t he i r di s trib ution . The ex te nt t o whic h this i s 253 true for any give n s pe cie s w ill dep end on spec ie s- spec i fic f a ctor s such a s habi ta t s peci ficity, t he 254 av ailab ility of sui tabl e habit at in to whic h a spec i e s can migrat e, or c hangin g spati a l ov erlap w ith 255 i n t e ra ct in g sp e c ies s u ch as c o m p e t it or s, p r e d at o rs o r pa t h o ge ns ( e. g. , 24 ). Our foc us in t hi s st udy is 256 on a ggrega te t a xonomi c an d s pa t i al pa tt ern s of extinc tion ri sk, w hich a re like ly to be r e la tivel y 257 robu st to s uc h vari a t i on in sp eci e s - sp ec ifi c resp on se s t o clima t e cha nge . Non eth el e ss, o ur model s 258 also rev eal pa r tic ula r s pecie s o f conc er n , whic h are c onsi sten tly predict ed t o b eco me extinc t unde r 259 diff er ent c limat e-c h ange sc ena rio s (Tabl e S7). S om e are na r row - ran g ed ha bit at spe cial i s t s th at ar e 260 alrea dy th rea ten ed ( e. g. , a lpin e bog - s k in k [ P seu de m oia c r y odroma ], Howa r d Rive r toadl e t [ Upe rol eia 261 dav ie sa e ] o r nor ther n hairy- no sed w omb at [ L a s i orhi n u s k ref ft i i ]). O t her s a re no t c ur ren tly 262 recog nized a s thre ate ned ( e. g. , we s t ern f als e pip i s tr elle [ Fl as is t r e l lu s m ac k en z i ei ], Karri fr og 263 [ Ge ocrin ia ro s e a ] or s i lk y mo us e [ P s e u do mys apo de m oide s ]) , and henc e unlike ly t o be consi der ed a 264 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 14 hig h priority f or con serva tio n, ye t our m ode l s s ug ge st th ey cou ld bec ome ex tinct , sugge s ting t h e s e 265 speci e s c ould be prio ritized fo r re s earc h or early int er v en tion. 266 While t h e IUC N t hrea t c la s s ific a tion sche me all ows for fut u re t h rea t s to be i nclud e d in a ss e ssment s 267 under c rite r i o n D2 25 , t he r e i s no curr ent provision for h ow alrea dy ex i s tin g th r e a t ening pr oc e s s e s 268 mig ht s hi ft in ext ent an d magni t ude , and ho w this may chan ge a s se ssmen t outc o mes. O ur 269 integ r a ted fr a m ework repr e sen t s t h e fir st att empt to mode l pr ojected clim a te -dr i ven c hange s i n 270 speci e s di stribu tion s and p roje ct ed c han ges in s pec ie s thre at s t atu s simult aneou s ly and c an ide nt i f y 271 whi ch c hange s i n th r e a tening proc e sse s drive future pre dict ed thr ea t le vel s on a s pe ci e s-by - speci e s 272 basi s (Figu r e S3 ). Whil e t h i s i s no r e place ment fo r empiric al , ex per t- l ed a s s e ssme nts, whic h requir e 273 periodi c upda t i ng a s new thre a ts em er g e and s p ec ie s’ c ir c um st a nc es c h ange, our approac h pr ovide s 274 a robu st fir s t s tep f or over -t he -horizo n cons ervati on planni ng. 275 Early work f o cus ed on pr edi cte d c hange s in s pec ie s di s tr ib u t io n s i n re s p on se to c li mate chang e 276 sugge st ed tha t th e e f f e ctiven e ss o f P A n etw or k s m ay de crea s e unde r c limate cha ng e 9 . Howev er, ou r 277 re sult s sugge s t t hat the r epre s ent ation e ff ec tiven e ss o f th e P A ne t w o rk is pr edic te d to incre a s e for 278 thre ate ned spec ie s (ei ther cu rren tly or p r e dict ed to b ec ome t hr ea t e ne d), bu t not for unt hre ate ned 279 speci e s . T hi s can be ex plain ed by the alig nme nt o f se veral fa ct ors. F ir st, th e prev ai ling pressu re o f 280 cl imate c hange in Au s t ral i a is ex pected t o d r iv e shi ft s i n s pe ci e s dis tr i bu t i on s t ow ard s the s ou th a nd 281 ea st o f the c on tine nt, so t hat the seve re or c omple te lo s s o f spec i e s ’ suita bl e cl imate en vel ope s i s 282 ex pected to be mo st pre vale n t clos e to t he ha r d boun dary of t he s ou th -ea stern c o ast (F igur e s S4 & 283 S6). Sec on d, th e ea s t an d south -e a s te rn co astal r e gi on s are pa r t s o f Au s t rali a wit h h igh 284 co ncentr ation s o f nar row- range en demi c speci e s, whic h are mor e li kely to bec om e thre at ened tha n 285 the mor e b r oa dly di s t ribut ed speci e s o f i nland a nd nor the rn Au s t ralia , eve n if the y are curren tly not 286 thre ate ned. Thir d, south -e a s t ern Au s tr a li a ha s a high d en sit y of PA s compa re d to other are as o f t he 287 co nt i nen t, and many o f t he se a r e in upl a nd region s tha t ha ve t raditi ona lly be en le s s like ly to be 288 dev eloped f o r a gr icultur e. T hu s , a t ende nc y for rang e exp an s i on s a cro ss inl and, w es t ern, a nd 289 north ern Au strali a , co mbined w ith a ten de ncy f o r ra ng e c ont r ac tion s an d eme r g ence of n ew 290 thre ate ned spec ie s in the sou thea s t, lea ds t o the con trac tion and c once ntr ation o f t h rea t e n ed 291 speci e s ric hne s s ho ts pot s in th e P A- rich s outhe as t. Si mila r pat te rn s underlyin g ob se rved or pr edi cte d 292 inc r e a s e s i n P A rep re s e nt a t i on o f s pecie s ha ve be en de scrib ed in ot her c oun t rie s i n whic h area s of 293 co oler cli mat e are mo r e likel y to b e t he re cipie nts o f l ea ding -e dge ex pan sion o f s pec ie s r a nge s from 294 wa r me r are a s 11–13,17,26–28 . 295 Our int egrat ed f ramew ork pr edic ts w ide sprea d cha nge s in e xtinc tion r i s k acro s s Aus tr a li an t e rre s t ria l 296 ve r teb rat e s, inc luding an inc re a sed r epre s e n ta tion o f thr eat ened s p ec ie s within t h e curren t PA 297 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 15 netwo r k . Som e auth or s ha ve in te r p ret ed simila r finding s in a po sitive l ight , rep re se nting an incr ea se 298 in the e ff ectiv en e s s o f r e serve s und er c li mate -drive n r ange shif t s. Howeve r , in ou r re sults, the 299 inc r e a s e d r epr e s e n t a t i o n of thre at ened s pec ie s in PA s in t he sout hea s t is mir ror e d by sharp 300 inc r e a s e s i n extinc tion s in region s w ith fe wer PA s ac r o ss s o u t he r n and nor the rn A us t rali a (Fig ur e S4 ) 301 and r a nge c on tr a cti on s and shif t s into ar ea s with higher de nsi tie s o f P A s along Au s t ralia ’ s s ou the a st 302 (Fig ure s S 5 -S6) . T he s e re sult s sugge st th a t pat tern s o f extinc t io n ri s k will be hig hly dy namic , so tha t 303 the c urren t P A s ys tem mu st al so c on s id e r f u t u re ri sk. Au stra lian governme nt p olic y is to expa nd t he 304 co verage of the co un t ry ’ s P A sy st em fr o m the c ur ren t ~ 24 .5% t o 30% of t h e land a r e a by 2030. T hi s 305 ex pansio n sh ould c on s i de r dynam ic thre at pa tte rn s and stage d plannin g o f new P A es tabli shm ent in 306 area s t hat ma y not ye t be pri oriti e s but a re predic ted to bec ome p riori ty a r e a s. Thus, futu r e -pro of 307 co ns e rva tion p olic y c an be achi eved by c are fully incorpor ating pr i ncipl e s of ove r- the -h or i zon thre at 308 as s e ssme nt 4 . Mo re br oadly , our r e s ul ts h ig hlight the i mpor t a nce o f con se rvation a ction s not 309 co nnected t o t h e e sta bli s h men t of r e s e rv es , incl uding g lobal a c tion on clim at e ch a nge a nd pro activ e 310 loc al in t e r v e ntion s s uc h a s inv a s iv e pred ator c on tr ol o r cons ervat ion fe ncing to se cure speci es 29 . 311 312

Methods

313 Data Collec tion – S pecies 314 We dow nload ed globa l s h ap efil e s of the di s t ribut ion s of n on-ma rine mammal s a n d amphib ian s from 315 the IU CN R ed L ist 30 , of bi r d s from Bi rdLif e Int erna tional 31 , an d no n-ma rine reptil e s f rom the G lob al 316 Ass es s m e nt o f Rep tile Di str i b ution s ( GA R D) ini tiativ e v1. 7 32 . The se sha pe file s w er e then c r opp e d and 317 filt ered i n R v4. 5.0 33 t o o nly i nclude polyg ons t ha t ove rlap Au strali a in thei r nativ e range s, a nd , for 318 birds , in thei r re sid ent, b ree ding or non - breed ing r ange s . We r e moved 8 2 s pe ci e s of s eabi rds tha t 319 are no t k nown t o br e ed in ma inland Au s t ralia or Ta smania . Thu s, our da ta se t did not i nclude 320 inv as i ve, v agran t, or mi gra tor y s pe cie s , but on ly sp eci e s t ha t have e stabl i s he d nati ve population s in 321 Aus t ral i a (n = 2,156 ). 322 We re trieve d occ ur renc e da ta fo r s p ec ie s fr o m th e Atl as o f Liv ing Aus trali a (AL A 34 ) using t h e gal ah 323 pac kag e v2. 1.1 35 . We fil te red oc cur rence s ba s ed on the ALA d at a qual ity pro fil e (r emov ing dup lica t e 324 record s, r eco r d s wi t h s pa tia l or taxon omi c i s s ue s, fo ssil a nd ab se nce reco rd s, and po ssibl e o ut l i er s ) , 325 wi t h year of rec ord > 199 0 to en sure we i nclude only r e la tivel y rece n t r e co rd s wit h hig h s p ati al a nd 326 taxo nomic cert ainty. As an additio nal qu ality control , w e then p rune d o ut all occ u r renc e s t ha t fell 327 out side a 100 km buf fer applie d to eac h speci e s’ rang e p oly gon to remov e oc cu rre nce s tha t we r e far 328 out side kn own spec ie s ra nge s and a re t h e r e f o re likel y to be e r ron eo u s (n = 2,132 s pe ci e s wi t h 329 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 16 oc currence re cord s f o llowin g dat a c lean i ng). We repe a te d the sam e proc e ss o f do w nloadin g 330 oc currence d ata (but wi t h o ut f i lte r i ng wi t hi n buf fe red r ange polyg on s ) for fiv e inv as i ve spec i e s t ha t 331 are k nown to have la rge ne ga tive impac ts on Au s tr a li a’ s te rre strial v er t e b r a te f au na 36 , to be u s ed a s 332 predic to r v ariabl e s for thr eat a s se ssm ent : ca ne to ad s ( R h in el la m a r i na ), cat s ( Fe li s ca t u s ) , r ed f o x es 333 ( Vulpe s v ul pe s), c am e ls ( Ca melu s dr ome d ariu s ), a nd Europe a n rabbi t s ( O ryc t o lag u s cun iculu s ). 334 We ac quir ed c urr e n t I UCN R ed L is t a sse s s me n ts fo r all s p e cie s from th e IU CN Re d Li s t u sing t he 335 taxi z e p ack age v 0.10.0 37,38 . We manuall y upda t e d the sta t u s o f seve n t ur tl e spec ie s ( C helo dina 336 long icol li s , C. st e ind ac hneri , El s ey a de nta ta, E m y d ur a ma c q uar i i , E. su bglo s sa , E. v ictoriae , and 337 Myuc hely s l ati s ter num ) th a t d o no t hav e listi ngs on the I UC N websi te bu t w ere a s s e sse d by t h e 338 Turtle T axonom y Working G r oup 39 . For s pec ie s lis t e d un der Au s t rali a’ s Environme nt Pr o tec tion and 339 Biodi ver s i t y C on ser v a tion Ac t 1999 (E PB C Act ), we opt ed to u s e thei r EPB C listin g s 340 ( ht tp s : // w ww .environm en t.g ov.au / c gi -bi n/ s pra t/p ublic / pub lic thr eat ened li st.pl ) in l i e u o f t he i r g l o b al 341 I U CN as sess m en t , as t hes e a re b as e d o n t h e s am e s et o f c r it er i a a s t he IU C N R ed Li s t , b ut m o r e 342 ac curate ly refl ect th e s ta tu s of Au s tr alia n popula t i on s o f wider -r anging sp ecie s ( e.g. , th e c ur l ew 343 sandpi pe r, C alidri s f err u gi nea , i s g lobal l y list ed a s N ear Thr eat ene d [N T ], but n atio nal ly a s C ritic ally 344 Enda ngered [ CR] ). 345 Fi nally, we c ollec ted d ata on b ody s ize of Aus tr a li an te rre s t ria l ver teb rat e speci e s f rom p ubli sh ed 346 sou r c e s 40–56 for th e autom ate d a s s e s s me nt pr oc edu re ( s ee b e low) bec au s e s ize h as be en i den ti fied 347 as a k ey p red ictor of ex t i nc tion ri sk in ver tebr ate s 57 . W e u sed th e nat ur a l log a rit h m of mean adul t 348 body mas s (g ) for al l sp eci e s t o main tain c omparabi lity be tw een our f oc al tax a. 349 Data Collec tion – E nvironment 350 For the b ase line c ur r e n t c lima t i c c onditi o ns, whic h we u s e d t o model s pec ie s r ang es ( see sec tion: 351 Spe cie s Di s t ribu tion Mod elling – tr aining ), we used hi s t oric al c limat e da ta fo r 1970–2 000 from 352 World Clim v 2.1 58 . To e ncapsul a te t h e me an, variati on, and e xt r e me s in cl imatic va riation , we c hose 353 the f oll owing W orld Cl im va r ia bl es : BI O1 ( annual mean tem pe ratu r e ; °C), B IO 4 ( te mp er a tu r e 354 se as onali ty; SD * 10 0 ), BI O 1 0 (mea n tem p era tur e o f warme s t quar ter ; ° C) , BI O 1 1 (mean 355 temper atu re o f c olde st qu ar ter ; °C ) , B IO12 (annual pr ecipi t a t i on ; mm), BI O15 (pr ec ipita tion 356 se as onali ty; coef fic ie nt o f va r i ati on) , BIO 16 (prec ipi tati on of w e tte st qua rte r; mm), a nd B IO17 357 (preci pi ta tion o f drie s t quar ter ; mm). Th es e da ta were downlo a ded a t a 2.5 -minu te re s olution . 358 Animal s p e cie s di st r i butio ns are no t de te rmined sole ly by cli mate, bu t ma y also b e limited b y 359 phy s ic al la nd s c ap e fe atu r e s th at i n f l uenc e dis t ribu tion s o f pl ant s p e cie s and vege ta t i on typ es . We 360 ther ef ore inc lud ed top og r a phic and ge ol ogic al da t a in our S D M s ( se e sec tion: S p e cie s Dis tr i bu tion 361 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 17 Modell ing – train ing ). W e obtai ned a Dig ital El evatio n M o del (DEM ) at 2 .5-mi nu t e re s ol ut i o n f r om 362 World Clim v 2.1 58 , whi ch w as derived fro m the Shut tle Rad ar Topogra phy Mis s io n ( S RTM) glob al 363 ele vatio n da ta . We o btain e d th e foll ow ing soil at t ribu te s from th e S oil and Land sc a pe Gri d of 364 A u st r a lia 59,60 : AW C ( Av ail ab le W ate r Cap a city; % ), B DW (B ulk Den si ty – W ho le ear th; g/c m 3 ), CLY 365 (Clay con ten t; % ), pHc (pH - C a Cl2 ), SL T ( Si lt conte nt; % ) , SN D (Sand c on ten t; %), S O C ( or g anic 366 ca r b on; %) . We downlo a ded the se d ata a t a 3 sec ond re s o lu tion a t a dep th o f 0-5c m and then 367 ag gregated the m by a veragi ng ac r o s s 2.5 -minut e r e solu tion cell s t o ma t c h th e re s olution o f th e 368 cl imatic data . 369 For a nt h ropog enic condi t i on s , w hic h we u s e d t o model sp ec ie s t hr ea t stat us ( s e e s ec tion: Sp ecie s 370 Automa ted A s se ssm ent ), we downloa d e d bas eli ne pr ojec t i on s for 20 10 of h uma n populatio n d en sity 371 ( H PD ) at 3 0 se c o nd r es o l ut ion 61,62 , a ggrega ted by averag ing ac ro ss 2.5 -mi nute re solu t io n cel l s , a nd 372 lan d use (LU) at 30-min u t e re s olu tion 63 . We fi l t e re d th e LU ra st er t o o nly i nclude cel ls c od ed a s 373 “c ropland_ bio ene rgy ”, “ croplan d_oth er” , a nd “bu ilt_up” and c on s i d er e d the s e a s human-modi f i ed 374 lan ds (no te t h a t t hi s do e s no t i nclud e th e impac ts o f exte nsive r a ngela n d grazing w hich cove r s a 375 large amoun t of l an d are a in Au st r al ia ). 376 For fu ture p rojec tio ns o f cli mat e ( s e e s e c tion: S p eci e s Di s tr i buti on Mod elli ng – p roje ction s) a nd 377 anthro poge nic c onditi on s ( se e s ectio n: Automa te d A sse s s men t) , w e c ons id e re d t wo Sh ared 378 Soc ioec onomic Pa thwa y s (SS P1. 26 and S SP5. 85) u nder the Had GEM3 -G C31-L L gl o bal c ircula t io n 379 model , whic h has the b e st fi t f or Au strali a’s clima t i c pa ttern s 64 , t o ca ptur e unc er t ainty in projectio ns 380 of fu tur e cl imate s, H P D , and L U . The S S P s r e pr e sent up p er and low e r extrem e s in m odelled 381 trajec torie s in clima te , demog ra phic s, ec onomy, and la nd u se, ba s ed on di ff er e n t clima t e cha nge 382 mitiga tion strat egi e s . The s e range fr om S usta inabili t y (low chall enge s to mitig ati o n and adapt ation ; 383 SS P1) t o Fo s sil-F uell ed Deve l opment (hig h chal lenge s to mitig a tion and l ow c hall e nges t o ada p t a t i on; 384 SS P5) . For e ach S SP w e obt ain ed p rojec t i o ns a t f o u r 2 0-ye ar in terv al s (2021–20 40 ; 2041 –2060; 385 2061 –2080; 2081–21 00) for H P D 61,62 , L U 63 , an d downsca l ed Cou p led Mod el In ter c ompari son P rojec t 386 Pha se 6 ( CMI P6 ) 65 c lima t e dat a fr om Wor ldClim v 2.1 58 . 387 Spec ies Dis tribution Modelling – tr a ining 388 We u sed th e fil t e r ed s pe ci es oc cu rrenc e data t o ge ner at e SDM s f o r e ach sp ec ie s i n the d a ta s e t w ith 389 at le a st 10 occ urr en c e rec ord s 66 (n = 1 ,928; Ta ble S 7) . To reduc e spa tial non -ind ep end ence o f 390 pre sence p oint s we pe rfo rmed spa tial thi nning by samplin g a sing l e point p e r g r i d cel l in the 391 env ironmen tal ra s ter re s olu tion (i f more than on e wa s pr e sen t) u sing th e `g r id Sa mple ` function i n 392 the di s m o p ack age v 1.3.5 67 . 393 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 18 Uneven s a mpling ef f o r t in pre s enc e poi n ts c ould l ea d t o bia s in m odelle d distribu tion s if no t 394 ac counted for w hen s elec ting ba ckg r ou n d point s 68,69 . T o get a n unbias ed m ea su r e acros s spac e of 395 how many s am ple s ar e repo rt ed fo r eac h s i te , we sele c ted ba ckg r ou nd p oint s whil e ac counting f or 396 sampling bia s by t r ea t i n g all occ urr en c e da t a in th at t ax on (amphi bi an s, bird s , ma mmal s , o r repti le s ) 397 as t he ba s el i ne bac kground f o r the ta xon. We pe rf o rmed s pa t i al thin ning 70 o n the bac kground point s 398 by r a ndomly s el e cting 10% of t h e r e co rd s fo r m ammal s, rep tile s , an d amphibi an s, and 1% of the 399 record s for bird s (due to th e muc h hig her number o f bird oc curr enc e s in ALA ). 400 F o r ea c h s p e ci es ( n = 1 ,9 2 8) , w e f it t e d e ns e m b le SD M s 71 usi ng the bi omo d2 pa cka ge v 4.2-6-2 72 . W e 401 fit ted five dif fe rent alg or i t hm s u sing th e `BIO M OD_ modeling ` func tion (Bo o sted R eg r e ssion Tre e s 402 [G BM], Gen era li sed Addi tive Mod el [ GA M], G e ne rali se d L inear Mod el [ G L M ] , Ma ximum Entropy 403 [MAXENT ], and R andom F ore st [RF ]) w ith t h e `bigbo ss` pr ede fin ed m odel pa ram e t e r s . We a ss e ssed 404 good ne ss- of - fit o f indiv idual mo del s via spatia lly e xplic it bloc k v alida t i on 73 using th e bloc kCV pa cka ge 405 v3. 1.5 74 . For ea ch spec ie s, we rand omly di vided t he s a mpling spac e in to h exag on al bl ocks, w hich 406 we r e di s tri bute d a mong k fold s. Bl oc k size (in m) wa s d ete r mi ne d a s the lo w er va l ue of ei t he r the 407 es timat e s s p a t i al autoc o rr el atio n range ( estima te d u s i ng the `c v_ spa tial_ autoco r` func t i on ) or th e 408 squa re ro ot o f th e are a of the speci e s’ ra n ge shap ef il e. The numb er o f fol ds k w a s then de termin ed 409 in a s t epw is e f a shion, st art i n g with 4 and a t tem p t i ng to ge n er a t e s pa t i al blo ck s us ing the ` c v_spa tia l` 410 func t i o n, and d ecr ea sing k by 1 until spa t ial block s wer e succ e ss fully gene rat ed . I f no bloc ks we re 411 succ e ss fully genera ted with k = 2 , SDM fit t ing for thi s speci e s w as s k ipped a nd it wa s ex clu ded in 412 dow ns t ream a n alys e s (n = 4 s pe ci es , al l r eptile s ). A f t e r i ndividu al mod el s w ere fit, an ense mble 413 model was ge n era ted by calc ulati ng a w eighted mean o f a ll mode l s, w eighi ng mode ls by th eir 414 ca lcul ated Tru e S kill Sta tis t ic (TS S; a m e a s u re of mod el a cc ur a cy calc ulat ed from t he s um o f 415 sen s i t i vity [ true p osi tive r a t e ] and speci f i city [tru e ne ga tive r a te ] ), a f t e r f i lt er i ng o ut indi vidua l 416 model s w it h nega t i ve v alu es of TS S, w hic h are indic a tive of pr edicti on s no bet t e r t han r a ndom 417 ch ance . Fiv e specie s (fo ur rep tile s , one bi rd) had no indivi du al mode l s with po sitiv e TSS value s. 418 Ensembl e model fi tting faile d f o r a n addi tion al four speci e s (on e amphibi an, one mammal, two 419 reptil e s) for unknow n r ea son s (e r ro r in r unni ng the `BI OMOD_mo de ling` func tion ). All n in e we r e 420 ex clude d fr o m down s tr e am an a lys e s . En sembl e mod el s wer e c onstruc ted f o r a t o t a l of 1,9 14 sp ecie s 421 (Tabl e S8) . 422 Spec ies Dis tribution Modelling – project ions 423 For e ach m odell ed s pec ie s , we use d th e ens emble mode l to ma ke pr edi ction s o f cl imatic s ui tab ility 424 ac r o ss Au s tr alia f or curr ent cond i t i on s a n d for futu r e condi ti on s i n eac h tim e st e p ( up to 2040 , 2060, 425 2080 , 2100) u nder t he two S S P s exa mine d. We conv erted p r e dict ed suita bi lity int o bi nary pre se nce -426 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 19 abs enc e pr edic t i on s u s ing a th re shol d va lue, w hich was selec ted for each spec ie s by maximi s ing its 427 TS S using the `bm_Fi ndOp timSta t` func ti on. Sum marie s o f SD M s fo r ea ch spec ie s , incl uding sampl e 428 size s, e valua t i on met rics and thr e shold v alue s, c an be fou nd in Ta bl e S 9. 429 We u sed th e bi nary pr edic t ed oc curre nce laye rs f rom the S DM s a s proxie s for pr e dic t e d exte nt o f 430 oc currence in futu re tim e st e p s. How ever , trea ting t h e enti re r ange abov e -t h e - thr esh old a s fu tur e 431 ex t e nt o f occ urrenc e do e s not t ak e int o a cco unt s pe cie s’ di f feri ng abilitie s to di sp er se t o track 432 shi fting c limatic cond i t i on s . In reali ty, cli ma tical ly “ s uit ab le” are a s t h a t are too fa r to re ac h wil l be 433 out side a f u t u re e xt ent o f oc curr ence . There for e, f or fu tur e predic t io n s o f p r e s enc e, we e st a b lis hed 434 an addition al pipeli n e to mak e sure t h at r a nge shif t s were po s s i bl e w ithin re a son able di s p ers al 435 limi t s, d efi n ed by seque n tially apply ing d ispe r sal bu ff er s to s ui t a bili ty l ayer s in ea c h time step . In 436 order to be c oun ted a s pr e senc e ce l ls in a futu re ex t ent o f occ urre nce m ap, c ell s that exc eeded t h e 437 pre sence t h res hold al s o ne eded t o be wi t hi n the limi ts of di sp er sal bu ff er app li ed to the p rev iou s 438 time ste p. 439 Due t o li mited da ta for di s pe r sal c apabi li tie s fo r mo s t o f Au st r a lia t err e s t rial vert e brat e sp ecie s , w e 440 brac ket ed unc er tain ty by consideri ng thre e dif fe ren t di sper sa l sce nario s to ge ne ra te bu ff er s . I n th e 441 fir s t (“ none” ) , t h e di sp er s al bu ff er wa s s e t to 0, di sall owing any r a nge ex pansi on s i n sub s e q uent 442 time ste ps, r e f l ec tive of sp ecie s tha t c ann ot tr ack range shif t s due t o li mited in trin sic di sper s al 443 ca pabili t i es o r h ard ge ograp hic ba rrie rs . I n the sec ond (“l imited” ) , we e stimat ed a fixe d dis per s al 444 limi t f o r a ll sp eci e s b a s e d o n av ailab le m amma l data . W e cal cula t e d t h e di spe r s a l buff er by 445 es timating maxima l di sper sa l rat e per ge nera tion f or Au strali an mamma l s f rom b ody ma ss, tro phic 446 lev el, a nd home r an ge size 75 usi ng publis hed pow er law s 76 . We t hen d ivided t h e max imal rate by 447 gen era tion leng t h (u s ing yea r a t fi rst bir t h as a sur r o gat e 75 ) t o a rr i ve at a p er ye a r dis p e rsal r a t e o f, 448 on a verage , ~7km 77 , or ~ 140km o ver a 2 0-year in t e r v al . We then round ed thi s valu e to 150k m and 449 appl ied it a s the d i s pe rsal bu ff er. S inc e t his value i s aver ag ed ove r sev e r a l mamma l sp eci e s (t he only 450 taxo n fo r whic h the req uired d ata we r e a vai lable), t hi s li kely repre s en t s an u nde re s tima t e o f 451 disp er s a l ca pabili t y fo r highly mobile ani ma ls ( e. g. , la r g e mamma ls, bat s , b i r d s), a nd an ov ere s t ima t e 452 for s p eci e s w ith low mobility ( e.g ., le gle s s l iza rds , fr ogs ). In the third di s p er sal sce na r i o (“unl imit ed”), 453 the di spe r sal buf f er s were d e s ig nat ed a s the e n t ire l andma s s in wh ich spec i e s are pre sen t, only 454 disall ow ing overwate r di sper sal . 455 The s a me S DM pr oce dure s w ere r epe ate d for th e f i ve in va sive spec i es , tre ati ng th e e nti r e pool o f 456 oc currence d ata for the inv a sive s pec ie s as th e bac kground p oi nt s , t o e s tima te cu rr e n t and fu tur e 457 range s ize s f or eac h o f th e inv a sive sp ec i es . We then c alcu la ted for eac h nativ e sp ecie s , a cro ss it s 458 cu r ren t an d pre dicted fut u re ext ent s o f o cc ur renc e, the ran ge size (km 2 ), p erc en ta ge of r a nge 459 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 20 ove r l ap wi t h cell s th at ha ve ov e r 50% human-modi fie d lan d, perc entag e of r ange overlap with c ell s 460 that hav e ove r 100/km2 hum an popul a ti on den sity, me an % o f human -modi fi ed l and ave r a ged 461 ac r o ss the e ntir e rang e , mea n human po pulation d e n s ity ave r a g ed ac ro ss th e ent i re rang e (cut -o ff 462 va lues for t he human pop ulati on d en s i ty and l and u se f ea ture s a s in 5 ), a nd p e r ce nt a ge of r a n ge 463 o v er la p w it h e a c h of t he f i v e i n v a s i ve s p ec i es . Th es e v a lu es w e re t h en u se d a s fea tu r es f or t h e 464 automa t e d a s s e s s m en t algori thm. 465 Automated As sessment of Th reat S t a t us 466 We u sed a machi n e lea r ni ng-ba s ed aut o ma t e d a s s e s s m en t meth od origi nally dev el oped to inf er 467 cu r ren t thr eat s t a tu s for Dat a De fic ien t ( DD) or Not Ev aluat ed (NE) r eptil e s p e cie s 6 , and extende d i t 468 to all ow it t o predi c t IU CN t h rea t c at egor ies (L C: Lea st Co nc ern ; NT: N ear Thr eat e ne d; V U : 469 Vulne rab le ; EN: Enda ng ered ; CR : Cr i t ic all y Enda ngered) und e r futu re c limat e c han g e scena rio s. Due 470 to a l ow sampl e s ize o f C R s p ec ie s in ou r da ta s e t (T abl e S 8), we combi n ed EN and CR into a sing le 471 c at e g o r y . O u r a ut o m a te d as s ess m ent us e s e X t r e me G ra d i e n t B oos ti n g ( X G B oos t 78 ), an e ffic ie nt and 472 hig hly a ccurate s upe rv is e d mach ine le a rni ng al gorithm 79 . The a pproa ch reli e s o n tr a ining a model t o 473 perf orm hier arc hical bina ry clas si ficati on t a s k s in a dec i sio n tre e: fir s t s epara ting t hr e a tene d ( VU, 474 EN/C R) f rom non -t h rea t e n ed (L C, N T ) s p ec ie s; th en, sep ara ting LC fr om NT sp ec ie s; then, se para ting 475 EN/C R from VU spec i es ( s e e det ailed flo wc hart in Fig ure 5 in 6 ). Each bina ry c las si ficatio n t a s k 476 inv olves hy perp arame te r tuning a nd mo del fit t i ng, u sing n e s t ed c ro ss -vali dati on t o te st pre dicti on 477 ac curac y (s ee bel ow). In a dditi on to spec i es omi tte d due t o fa ilu re t o fi t SDM s, we d id not tr ain th e 478 model on s peci e s w ho se pr edic ted r a nge s grea tly exc eede d r a nge shap e f i l e s (≥ 3 t imes la rge r or 479 smalle r; n = 226) . Thi s is t o r e duc e e rror s in cl assific a tion du e t o in fla ted ra ng e si zes , bec au se r ange 480 size i s on e of the k ey pre di ctor s for IUC N thr e a t leve l (ba sed o n c rit e r i on B ). Al tho ugh the se spec i es 481 we r e exc luded f rom mo del t raining , we us e d t he XGb oo s t mod e l to pr edic t the ir t h r e a t leve l s , a nd 482 the se we re u s ed in t he dow n s tr eam anal y s e s. I n t o tal , we train ed X GBoo st mo del s on 1631 spe cie s, 483 76% of Aus t r ali a’ s te r r e str i a l ve r t ebra te f au na (Tab l e S8). W e no te th at speci e s o mi t ted from t raini ng 484 for au toma ted a sse s s me n t ( n = 525) a re disprop ortiona lly t h rea ten e d and na rr ow -r a ng ed (F igur e 485 S10 ), so our a sse s s me nts li kely r e p r e s en t a conse rvativ e e s t i mat e of futu re th rea t lev els . 486 To p r ed ict th rea t st a t u s fo r ea ch speci e s , we inc luded sev en fe a t u re s f or eac h sp e cie s: ma ss (g), 487 range s ize (k m 2 ) , percen tag e o f ra nge overlap with c ell s t hat hav e ove r 5 0% huma n-modi fied land , 488 perce n tage o f ran ge ov e r l ap wi t h cell s t h at ha ve ov er 100 /km 2 huma n popula t i o n den sity, me an 489 perce n tage o f h uman -modifi e d land a ve r age d ac r o s s t h e enti re ra nge , mean hum an pop ulati on 490 den sity a verage d ac r o s s t h e enti re ra nge , and pe r c en tage o f ra nge o verlap w it h e ac h of th e fiv e 491 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 21 inv as i ve spec ie s. G i ven t he r e l atively sma ll numb er of fea tur e s , we di d not p er for m feat ure sel ec t i on 492 as in 6 , so a ll f ea ture s a re inc lude d in the mode l to pr edic t spec i es thre at . 493 In a dditi on to t he se fea tur e s, we al so co nsid ered whic h high er t a xon (c la s s) ea ch spec i e s belong s to , 494 and whic h biome eac h s pe cie s’ di s tribu ti on is pr edomina n t l y found i n . To a s s ign s pec ie s to biom es 495 we overla pped sp ecie s rang e s with sha p efil e s o f terr e st ri a l ec oreg ion s in Au stral i a 80 , and a ssigne d 496 eac h sp eci e s t o t he biom e i n whic h the h i ghes t pr op o r tio n of i ts di stribu tion li e s. We t h e n 497 parti tioned all sp ec ie s int o thre e biome c ateg or i e s , t o en s ur e e nough spec ie s in e a ch c ombination o f 498 biome , cla ss, and t h r ea t leve l . The t hr ee biome c atego rie s ar e: t ropic al (T ropic al a nd Subtropic al 499 Mois t Br o a dlea f F o re s t s ; Tropica l and Su btropica l Gr a sslan ds , Sa vanna s , a nd Shru bla nds), tem pe r a te 500 (Tempe ra t e Br o adl ea f a nd Mixe d For e st s; Te mpera te gra s s l an ds , Sav anna s, an d Shrublan d s ; 501 Montan e G r a s s la nd s and Sh rubl and s), an d dry (Med i t e rrane an For es t s , W o odl and s, and S cr ub; 502 De se r t s and Xeric S h r ub land s ). In te ractio ns amo ng f ea ture s , cl ass e s, and b iome s were ful ly al lowe d 503 in mo del traini ng , sinc e t hr ea ten ing proc e ss es in Au st r al ia va r y regiona lly a cro ss h a bita ts 81 and 504 cl asse s 82,83 . 505 We tr ained t he XGB oo s t mode ls u s ing th e x g bo os t p a cka ge v 1.7.10. 1 84 . We t un ed the fol low ing 506 hyp er p ara met er s : l e arning ra te, maxi mu m tr e e d epth, mi nimum c hild w eight, r o w s am pling, column 507 sampling , we ight b ala ncing , and the re gulari satio n pa r a m ete rs γ , α , and λ, by rand omly s a mpling 508 10,0 00 diff ere nt va lue s for e ac h parame t er. G ive n the size of ou r dat a set we a ppli ed ne sted cro ss-509 va lidation (rat her than s e tting a s i de a pr oporti on of the da ta se t a s vali dati on dat a and te s t dat a as in 510 6 ): the d ata s et w a s f i rs t s pl it in to N f old s; eac h fold w a s u s ed a s t e st d ata with the other N -1 fold s 511 use d as traini ng data to fi t mode l s . The s e N -1 fo l ds w e r e f u rt h e r s p l it i n t o n fol d s; ea ch o f t he s e n 512 fold s wa s us ed a s v alida t i on dat a w ith th e othe r n -1 fol d s u s ed a s trai nin g data to tune 513 hyp er p ara met er s . T hi s ne sted cro ss -val id ation e n s u red t hat traini ng, v alid ation , a nd te st da ta ha ve 514 no ov erlap. 515 We c r e a ted cu st om c ode to en sure tha t diff er ent fold s hav e roughly similar num be rs of sp ec ie s in 516 eac h c ombinatio n of biom e, c la s s , and t h reat l e vel. Wh en t h e number o f spec ie s i n a c ombina t i on 517 wa s small er t h an N , we set a s id e the se spec ie s to t he t e st da ta, so th at t he se und erre pre s ente d 518 speci e s w ill no t cau se mode l in s t a bili ty, a nd the p redi ction a ccu r a cy c an ref le ct ho w much 519 informa tion the ot her s pe ci e s ca r ry on th e thre at ening proce s s o f th ese unde rrep r esen ted spe cie s . 520 For the d ata se t to sepa ra t e t h rea te ned fr om non-t hre aten ed s pec ie s , we set N = n =5. The d ata se ts t o 521 sep ara te L C fr o m N T s pe cie s a nd t o s ep a r a te CR / E N a nd VU s pe cie s w ere much smal ler, so f or t h e m 522 we s e t N =5 an d n =3 (LC f rom NT) an d N = 4 and n =2 ( CR /EN from VU ). 523 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 22 At th e end o f t h e n e ste d cro s s -v alid ation , the mean s o f th e be s t fit hy pe rpar amet er s fo r e ach o f the 524 N fold s wer e us ed a s th e hyperp arame t e rs for t he fi nal model fit ting us i ng all the data . T he av erage 525 of th e predi c tion a ccu r a cy o f each o f th e N te s t d a t a wa s u sed a s the pr edi ction a ccurac y of t he final 526 model (Table S1 ). T o a s s e s s mod el s tabili ty , we r ep e ate d the w hol e proc edu re t hr ee time s, and all 527 replic at e s gav e simila r fi tt ed mode l s a nd predic tio n ac curac y. 528 We th en a sse ssed rel at ive fe a tu r e impor tance for pred iction i n the final model , ra nk ing fe atu r e s by 529 es timat ed g ain ( frac tiona l co n t ribu tion o f eac h fea ture to th e mod el ba s ed on t h e tot a l ga in o f thi s 530 fea tur e’ s sp lit s ) . T hi s r ep re sen t s the con tribution o f e ac h fe atur e to mod el predic t ions, repr e sen ting 531 its r e la tive import ance in a s s i gning s p ec i es to thre a t ca t e go rie s . Fin a lly, w e us ed t he fin al mod el to 532 predic t I U C N thr eat l e vel s. To set a ba s e li ne a gain st whic h to c ompa re fu tur e pred ic t e d th r e a t lev el s , 533 we us e the same me thod to pr e dic t c urrent th rea t l evel s f or all 1,914 spec ie s wit h mod elled 534 dist r i buti on s (1 ,631 spec i e s used t o t rai n the model a nd 28 3 s p e cie s tha t w ere eit her not a s s e s s ed 535 [NE ], a s s e s se d a s data d efici e nt [ D D ], or we r e dropp ed due t o havin g predic t e d ra nges muc h large r 536 than shap e f i l e s ; s ee a bove ) . This i s bec au s e cur ren t IU CN t h rea t l evel s ar e d e ter m i ned empi r i call y by 537 ex pert a sse s s o r s ba sed on a ddition al inf o r m ation (su ch as o bs erved ra te s o f po pul ation c hange ) s o 538 wou ld not be dire ctly comparab l e to mo del - b a s e d in fer ence s o f thr eat l evel. We made pred ic tion s 539 for futu r e th r e a t s ta tu s unde r al l exa min ed c limate chan ge and di s p ers al s c e nario s u s i ng the 540 ca lcul ated va lu es o f th e f eat ure s for e sti ma t e d future r a ng es for a ll 1,914 sp ec ie s . We cla ssifi ed a 541 speci e s a s e xtinct i f it wa s not pr edic t ed t o occ ur in a ny c ell in t h e corr e sponding t i m estep, a f t e r 542 ac counting fo r di spers al a s de s c ribed ab ove. 543 Analysis of chang ing tax onomic a nd s pat ia l patter n s of th reat 544 To e xplore w heth er specie s a r e pre dict e d to move through t he I U C N Re d Lis t s e q uentiall y ( i. e . , 545 inc r e a s e in t hre at th rough time ) , we fitt e d a n order ed log i s tic r egre ssion to t he p re dicted IU C N 546 t h r e a t s ta tu s u s i n g t h e MA SS pa cka ge v 7.3.65 85 . The re s pon se v ari able wa s th e pr edic ted IUC N 547 thre at st a t u s in 2040, 2 060, 208 0 and 2100 as in fe rred f rom a utom at ed a s s e ssme nt. The 548 inde pend ent va r i able s we re t he IUC N thr eat st atu s in th e previ ou s time s t ep, th e modelli ng sce na r i o 549 (com binati on of S S P a nd di sp er s a l s c ena r io; e. g. , S S P2.1 n o di spe r s al ), and th e ta x onomic Cla s s. 550 To e xplore g ene ral p at t e rn s ac r o s s s pe ci es in t he way range s ar e p r ed i cted to shif t with c lima t e 551 ch ange, we c alc ulat ed th e fol lowing th r e e metric s f or pr edic t e d r a nge s in e ach ti me s t ep and und e r 552 eac h c limate c hang e and di s per s al sc en a rio: 553 1. Direc tion o f r a nge shi ft : We c alcul a ted th e rang e ce n t roid f o r the pre dict ed rang e of ea ch 554 speci e s a t e ach t i me s t ep. W e th en c alcul ated the azimu th of e ach cent roid c omp ared t o the 555 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 23 ce ntr oi d in the pr ev iou s t i me ste p f or all predi ct ed rang e s i n 2040, 2060, 2080, a n d 2100, 556 wi t h 0° being due n orth . 557 2. Di st a nc e shi f ted: We c alc ula ted th e Eucli dean di s ta nc e in k m betwe en eac h c en troid to th e 558 ce ntr oi d in the pr ev iou s t i me ste p f or all predi ct ed rang e s i n 2040, 2060, 2 080, a n d 2100, 559 aft er pr ojec t i ng al l rang es to an eq ual a re a Au strali a Alb er s pr ojection ( E PS G:357 7). 560 3. Magn it u de of r ange cont rac t io n / ex pan si on: We c alc ula ted the a r e a in k m 2 of all p r e dict ed 561 range s a fte r projec ti ng to a n equ al are a Aus tr a li a Albe rs projec t i on (EP SG:357 7 ). W e th en 562 ca lcul ated log ( a re a in e ach time step / a rea in the p r e viou s time s t e p ) t o gen era te a 563 symmetrica l in dex whe r e nega tiv e va lue s indic ate ra nge contr ac t i on a nd po sitiv e val ues 564 indi cate r ang e ex pan sion . 565 We ex amined how spa tial pat te rn s of thr eat ene d s p eci e s ric hne ss c hange acr o ss Aus trali a w ith time . 566 For e ach tim e step an d c limate c hange s c enario w e ov e r l ayed all pr edi ct ed rang e s of spec ie s 567 predic te d to b e thr eat ene d in that time step on a map o f Au s t ralia in a n equal -ar e a Austral ia n Alb er s 568 projec t i on (EPS G:357 7) a nd tal li ed th e n u mber of thr e at ened spec i e s per 50x5 0km c ell. Con s e rv ation 569 pla nning i s o ft en ba s e d o n iden tify ing a rea s w ith co ncent rati on s of thre at ened sp ec ie s from 570 diff er ent hig he r-l evel t a xa ( e. g. , 7 ), so the c ongruenc e o f pat tern s o f th r ea t e n ed sp eci e s ric hne s s —571 the de gre e t o whi ch a n area tha t c ontain s many thre at ened sp ec ie s fo r one taxo n is al so exp ect ed to 572 co nt a in many thr eat ened sp ec ie s o f oth e r taxa—ma y hav e impor tant impl ica tion s for th e e ffic i enc y 573 of pla nning for pr otec t e d a rea s t o max imize biodiv er s i ty prot e c tion . We a sse s sed c ongruenc e in 574 thre ate ned spec ie s richne s s by c alc ulatin g s pa t i a lly c orr e ct ed P e ar s o n’ s co r r ela t i o n coef fic ien ts 575 (Tjos theim's c oe f ficie n t 86,87 ) using the `co r. s p ati al` func t i on f rom the S pat ial Pa c k pac kag e v0.4 .1 88 . 576 We c alcu lat ed c ongrue nce be twee n t hr e aten ed s pec ie s r i chn e ss of e ac h pair o f te rre s t rial ver tebr at e 577 cl asse s in e ach time s t ep and c limat e c ha nge s c en ario a fte r om itting double - zero c ells . We u sed an 578 ANC O V A to a s s e s s wh e t h e r congruen c e ( Tjo s the im’s c o ef ficie n t ) b etwe en dif fe r e nt t a xa c hang e s 579 ove r year s. 580 Fi nally, we d efin ed ho ts pot s o f t hr ea ten e d speci e s ric hne s s f or ea ch v erteb rat e cla s s a s th e ce ll s in 581 the to p 10 th perc entil e of thre at ened spe c ies richn e s s. W e down loade d a lay er o f prot e c ted a rea s i n 582 Aus t ral i a fr om Colla bora tive Au st r a lian P r otec ted A rea Dat aba se (C AP AD 89 ) . W e ca lc u l at ed o v e r l a p 583 of th rea ten ed spec ie s ho t s p ots wi t h cur r ent pro t e c ted a rea s a s th e pr op o r ti on o f hotspot s cel l s 584 who s e cen troi ds fall w ithin p rot ecte d are as . We t hen c ompar ed th e ov erlap o f th r eat ene d s p eci e s 585 hot spots w ith p rote cte d are a s in dif fer en t time ste p s a nd cli mat e c hange sc ena rio s t o as se s s t he 586 ade quacy of Au st r ali a’ s curr ent n etwork o f pr o tec t ed ar ea s f or pro tec ting s p e cie s in the fu t u re a s 587 t h e i r ra n g e s an d th r e at l e ve ls c h a n ge d ue t o c l i m at e c h an g e . 588 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 24 589

Acknowledgements

590 T h i s r ese a r c h w as f u nd e d by t h e C o ll e ge of S c ie n c e, A us tr a l i a n N at ion a l U n i v er s it y . B CS w a s 591 suppo rte d by T he Au st r ali an Re s earch Co unci l (AR C) th r ou gh a Di scov e ry Ea r ly Car eer Re s earc h 592 Awa r d (DE2 00100121 ) and a Fu ture F el lo wship (F T250100 113) . 593 594 AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS 595 Conc ep tualization – AS, M C, L B, XH, BCS ; D a ta curati on – AS ; S of t w are – AS , XH; F ormal analy s i s – AS ; 596 Fun ding a cquisi tion – MC , LB, XH , B CS; In v es tig a tion – AS ; Visu aliza tion – AS ; Wr i ti ng – origi nal dra ft 597 – AS , M C, LB, XH, BSC ; Wri ting – review & edit ing – AS, M C, L B, XH, BS C . 598 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 25

References

599 1. John son, C. N. et al. Bio dive r sity lo s s e s a n d conse rvatio n r e s pon s es in the An thr o poc ene. 600 S cie nce ( 1 979). 356 , 270–2 75 (2017 ). 601 2. Día z, S . et al . Pe rva sive human- drive n de cl ine of l i fe on Ea rth po in ts to th e n e ed f or 602 tran s for m a tive c hange . Sc ienc e (1979 ). 366, e aax3 100 (201 9). 603 3. F oden, W . B. et a l . Cl imat e c hange vulner abi lity a ss e ssment o f spec i es. W I REs Clim ate Ch a ng e 604 10 , (2019). 605 4. Ca r d ill o, M. , S chee l e, B. C . & T ulloc h, A. I. T . Forec a s ting extinc tion ri sk f or fu ture -p r oof 606 c onse r v ation d e ci sion s. Tren d s Ec ol. Ev ol. 41 , 112–1 19 (2026). 607 5. Ca r d ill o, M. , S keel s , A . & Dinna ge , R. P r io r itie s for c on s e rvi ng the w orld’ s t e rre stri a l mamma ls 608 ba sed on ove r-t he -horizon ex t i ncti on ri sk. Cu r ren t Bio lo gy 33 , 1381 –1388 ( 2 023). 609 6. Ca e tano , G. H . de O. et a l. Au tomat ed a sse ssmen t rev e al s tha t the ex t i nction risk of rep til e s i s 610 w idely undere stim ate d ac ro ss sp ace and phy logeny . PL oS Biol . 20 , e 3001544 (202 2). 611 7. Grenye r , R. et a l. Glob a l dis tr i bu t i on and c onse rvation o f r are and thr eat ened ver te br a t e s . 612 Nat ure 444 , 93–96 (2006 ). 613 8. My er s , N. , Mit term eier , R. A. , Mit t e rmei er, C . G ., Da F on s ec a, G. A . B. & Ke nt, J. B iodiv ersity 614 ho tspot s for c on se r v ati on priori tie s . Na t ur e 403, 853–858 (2000) . 615 9. Araújo , M . B., Ca be za , M ., Thui ller , W. , Hannah , L. & Willi am s , P . H. Wo uld c limat e c hang e 616 driv e sp ecie s ou t o f res erve s? An a sse s sme nt of exis ting re se rve- s elec ti on metho ds. Glo b. 617 Ch an g. Bio l . 10 , 1 618–162 6 (2004 ). 618 10. Hanna h, L . e t al. P r o tec t ed ar ea ne ed s in a chang ing c limate. Fro nt . Ec ol. En viro n. 5 , 131–138 619 (20 07). 620 11. T homas, C. D. & Gilling ham, P. K. The p e rforman c e of p rot ec t e d a rea s for bio div er s ity und er 621 c limate chang e . Biol o gica l Jo urna l of the Linn ea n S ocie t y 115, 7 18–730 (2015). 622 12. T homas, C. D. e t a l. P rot ect ed a r e a s fa cili t a te s p e cie s’ r ange expa n s i on s. P r oc eed i ng s of the 623 Nati onal Acade my o f S cie nces 109 , 14063 –14068 (2012). 624 13. L ehik oinen, P . , San ta ngeli , A . , Jaa tinen , K., Raja s ä r k kä, A. & L ehikoi nen, A . P rot ec te d are as ac t 625 a s a bu f fer aga in st de trimen ta l e f fect s o f cl imate c hange — Ev idenc e fr om large - sca le, 626 l ong-t erm abund a nce da t a . Glob . Ch a ng . Biol . 25 , 30 4–313 ( 2 019 ). 627 14. Co ldre y, K. M . & T urpi e, J. K. T he futur e r epre se nt a t i vene s s o f Mad aga s c ar’ s pr o te c ted ar ea 628 ne t w ork in th e fac e of cli ma te cha nge . Af r. J. E col. 59 , 253– 263 (202 1 ). 629 15. Po pe s c u, V. D., R ozyl owic z , L ., Cog ălnic ea nu, D. , N ic ulae , I. M . & Cucu, A . L. M ov ing i nt o 630 protec t e d a rea s ? S et t in g con s erva t i on pr ioritie s for R o manian rep t i l e s and amph i bians a t ri sk 631 from c limat e c hang e. PL oS O ne 8 , e7933 0 (2013). 632 16. Critc hl ow, R. et al. Mul t i- tax a spati al con se rvation p la nning r e veal s simila r p r i or i ti e s b e t w e en 633 tax a an d improved pro t e c ted a rea re pre s enta tion with c limat e c hange . Biodi v ers. Conse r v . 634 31 , 683– 702 (2022 ). 635 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 26 17. Hole , D. G. et al . P roje cted im pac t s of cl i mate c hange on a c on tine nt -wide pro t e c ted ar ea 636 ne t w ork. Ec ol. L et t. 12 , 4 20–431 ( 2 009). 637 18. Mi, C. e t al. G l obal Pro tec ted A r e a s a s r ef ug es for a mphibi an s a nd re ptile s und er c l imate 638 c hange . N at . Co mm un. 14 , 138 9 (2023 ). 639 19. Pe ng, S . et a l. Incorp ora ting g lobal chang e reve al s extinc t i on ri s k beyo nd the cu r r ent Red Li st . 640 Cu r rent Bi olo gy 33 , 3669 –3678 ( 2 023). 641 2 0 . V is c on t i, P . et al . Fu tur e hot sp ot s o f te rre strial mamma l lo s s . P hilo so phic al Tran s a ction s of the 642 Ro yal S ocie t y B: Biol ogica l Sc ienc es 366, 27 02–296 3 (2011). 643 21. Ca lvin, K. et al. I PCC, 20 23: Clim a t e Ch an ge 2023: Synthe s is R epo rt. Co n t ri bu t i o n o f Workin g 644 Grou ps I, I I an d II I to the Six th A sse ssme n t Repor t o f th e In te r go vern men tal P ane l on Clim a t e 645 Ch an ge [C ore W riti ng Tea m, H . L ee a nd J . Rome r o (E d s . )] . IPCC , Gen ev a , S witz e r l an d. (2023 ) 646 do i:10.593 27/IP C C/AR6-978 9291691 647. 647 22. CS IR O & Bu rea u o f M ete orology . Climat e C hange in Au strali a . P repri nt a t 648 http: / / w ww.c lima t e chang ei nau st r a lia .g o v.au/ (2023 ) . 649 23. Hea r d, G . W. et a l. D rought , fir e, a nd r ain for es t e nd emic s: A c a se st u dy o f two t h r ea ten ed 650 frog s impa ct ed by Australi a ’ s “ Blac k S ummer”. E col. Evol . 13 , e 10069 (20 23 ). 651 24. S opniew s k i, J. , Sc heel e , B. C. & Ca rdil lo, M. Pr edic ting th e di s tri bution of Au s tr a li an frog s and 652 thei r o ve rlap w ith B atrach oc hytrium d en drobati di s under c lima te c hang e . Div ers . Distrib . 28 , 653 12 55–126 8 (2022). 654 25. IUC N. I U CN R e d Lis t C at ego r i es a nd C r i t er i a : Ver s i on 3. 1 . (In te rnati onal U ni on for 655 Co n s e rva t i on o f Na ture , Gl and, S witze r l a nd, 201 2). 656 26. Ande rson , B. J. & Ohlemül l er, R . Cli ma te cha nge a nd pro tect ed a re a s : how w ell d o Br iti sh ra re 657 bryo phyte s f are ? in Br y ophyte Ecol ogy a n d Clima t e Ch ang e (ed s. Tuba, Z ., Sl ack , N . G. & S ta r k , 658 L . R.) 40 9–425 ( Ca mb r i dge Univ ersi ty P r e s s, C ambridg e, UK, 2010 ). 659 27. T huiller, W . et a l. Ar e dif fe ren t fac e t s o f p lant div ersi ty w ell pr otec ted ag ai ns t cli ma t e and 660 l and c over ch ange s? A te st study in the F r e nch Al p s . E cogr aphy 37 , 1 254–126 6 (2 014). 661 28. Virk kala , R ., P öy r y , J., H eikk inen, R . K., L e hikoi nen, A . & Valk ama, J. P r ot ec te d are as al l evia t e 662 c limate chang e e f fec ts on n o r th ern bi rd s pec ie s of co n serva t i o n conc ern . Ec ol. Ev o l. 4 , 2991–663 30 03 (2014 ) . 664 29. S chee le, B. C . et al . How to improve t hr e aten e d s pecie s ma nag eme nt: An Au strali a n 665 pe rspec t i ve. J . E nviro n. Man a ge. 22 3, 66 8– 675 (201 8). 666 30. IUC N. The I U C N Red Lis t o f Threa ten e d S pec ie s. Ver s i o n 6.2. ht tp s: //ww w.iuc nred list. or g . 667 Dow nload ed on 02 July 2022 . Pr eprin t at (2019). 668 31. Bi r dL ife Int erna tiona l & H a ndb ook o f t he Birds o f t h e Wo r ld . Bir d sp ecie s di st ribut ion map s o f 669 the world . Ve r sion 202 2.2. Pr eprin t at (2 02 2). 670 32. Rol l, U. e t al. The g lob al di stribu tion o f t e trapod s r evea l s a ne ed fo r ta rge te d re ptil e 671 c onse r v ation . Na t. Ec ol. E vo l. 1 , 1677– 16 82 (201 7). 672 33. R Cor e Te am. R: a l a nguag e and e nviron ment fo r s ta ti s tic al c ompu ting. P r e pr i n t a t (2025) . 673 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 27 34. Be lbin, L ., W alli s, E ., Hob ern , D. & Zerger , A. T he Atl a s of Li ving A us trali a: H i st ory, c ur ren t 674 st at e and fu t ur e dir e c tion s. Bi odi v ers. Da t a J. 9 , e65 023 (202 1) . 675 35. We stga te, M ., Kellie , D. , Steve nson, M. & New man, P . gala h: Bio div ersity Data fr o m t he GBI F 676 Node Netwo r k . R pac kag e ve rsion 2. 1 .1. Prep rint a t ht tp s:// CRA N .R -677 proje ct. org/p ack age=g ala h (2025) . 678 36. John son, C. N. A u strali a’ s Mam mal Extin c tions : A 50,000 - Y ear Hi s tory . ( Camb ridge U niv er s ity 679 Pre s s, Cambridge , UK, 2006). 680 37. Ch ambe rlain, S . & Szöc s, E. t a xize - tax on omic s ea r c h and r e tri ev al in R. F100 0Re s. 2 , 191 681 (20 13). 682 38. Ch ambe rlain, S . et a l . taxi ze : T axono mic i nfor ma t i on fr o m ar ound th e w eb. P rep ri nt at 683 http s: //github .c om/rope n s c i / tax ize (202 0). 684 39. T ur tle Tax onomy Working Group . Tur tle s of the Wor l d : Anno tat ed Ch ec kli st and Atla s o f 685 T axonomy , Sy nonymy , Dis tribu tion, and Con se rvation S tatu s ( 9 t h Ed. ). in C ons er v a t i on 686 Bi ology o f Fres hwater Tu rtle s an d Tort oise s : A C ompil ati on Pr oject o f th e I UCN /SS C Tortois e 687 an d Fre shw ater T urtle Spec iali st Gro up (e ds. R hodin, A . G. J. et al .) 1 –472 (Ch e loni an Re s ea r c h 688 Monog r a ph s 8, 2021 ). 689 40. Co on ey, C. R . & Thoma s, G. H. H et erogen eou s rela t io n s hip s b etw e en rat e s of sp ec ia t i on and 690 bo dy size evolu t i on ac ro s s vert ebra te cl a des . N at . E c o l. E v ol. 5 , 10 1–110 ( 2 021 ). 691 41. Ite scu , Y. A bio geogra phi c pe rspec tiv e on turtl e ev olutio n. (20 12 ). 692 42. T homs on , S . & Georg e s, A. A new s p ecie s of fr e shwat er tu rtl e of t he g enu s El seya 693 (Te s tudin a t a : Pl eurodi ra: C helid ae ) fr om t he N o rth ern Te rrito ry of Au s tr a li a. Zo ota x a 4061, 694 18 –28 (201 6). 695 43. Oliv eira, B . F ., S ã o- Pe dro, V. A ., S an to s-B a r re ra, G ., P e non e, C . & Co st a, G . C. Amph iBIO , a 696 g lobal datab a se f or amphi bia n ec ologi cal t rai ts . Sc i. Dat a 4 , 1–7 (20 17 ). 697 44. S lave nko, A. e t al. Ev olut ion o f s ex ual size dimorphi sm in te trap od s is d riven by v arying 698 pa t t ern s o f s ex- speci f i c s elec tion on size . Nat. Ecol . Evo l. 9 , 4 64–473 (2025 ). 699 45. Mei r i, S . Trai ts o f th e l iza r d s o f th e w orld : va r ia t i on around a s uc ce s s ful evo lu t i on ary de s ig n . 700 Glob a l Ec ology and Bi og e ogr aphy 27 , 116 8–1172 (2018). 701 46. S t o r r , G. M . G eograp hic r ac e s of the ag a mid li zard Am ph ib olur us cau dicin ctu s . J . R. So c. Wes t. 702 Au st. 50 , 49 –56 (19 67) . 703 47. F uery, C . J . , W i t h e rs, P. C ., Hobb s , A. A . & G upp y, M. Th e rol e o f prot ein synthe si s during 704 me t a bolic de pre ssion in the Au s t ral i an d es ert fr o g N eob atr achu s c entrali s . Comp . Bi oche m. 705 Ph ysiol . A Mo l. I nte gr. P hy s iol . 119, 4 69– 476 (1998). 706 48. Iv er s on, J. B. , Enne n, J . & Lov ich, J. Life -hi st ory and ecolo gy da ta fo r t he turtle s o f t he world. 707 C he l o n ian C on se r v at i o n and B i o l o g y 24 , (2025). 708 49. Mei r i, S . Squ amB a s e — A da ta ba se o f sq uamat e (R e pt i li a: S quama ta ) t rait s. 709 Glob a l Ec ology and Bi og e ogr aphy 33 , e1 3 812 (202 4). 710 50. Pa r i s h, S ., Ric har ds, G. & Hall , L. A N a tura l Hist ory of Au stral ia n Ba tsWi0[ : Workin g t h e N ig h t 711 Sh i f t . ( CSIR O Publi s hing , M elbou rne, VI C, Australi a , 2012 ) . 712 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 28 51. Pa r n aby, H. E . A t axono mic rev iew of Au stralia n G r ea te r L ong- ea red Ba ts p r ev iou sl y k nown a s 713 Nyc tophilu s ti morie n s i s ( Chi ropt era : Ve s pertili onida e ) and some a ss oci at ed taxa . Au st rali a n 714 Z oologi st 35 , 39 –81 (20 09) . 715 52. Re ardo n, T. B. e t al. A m olecul ar a nd mor phol ogica l inv estig ati on of sp eci e s bound arie s and 716 ph yloge netic r ela t i on s hi p s in Au s t ralia n f r e e -ta iled ba ts Morm op teru s ( Chiro pte ra : 717 Molo s sidae ). A u st . J. Zo ol . 62 , 109–136 ( 2014). 718 53. Re ardo n, T. B. , Adam s, M ., McKe nzie , N. L. & Jenk in s , P. A n ew s p e cie s of Au stra li an fr eet ail 719 ba t Mormo p t e r u s e leryi sp . nov . ( Chir opt era: M olo s s i dae ) an d a tax onomic r e ap pr aisal of M. 720 no r f ol ken si s ( G ray ). Zoot ax a 1875, 1–31 ( 20 08). 721 54. Ri chard s, S. J. & Alf ord, R . A . S tr u ctu re an d d ynamic s of a r ain fore s t f r og ( Litori a 722 ge nim ac ula ta ) p opul a tion in no rthe rn Q ueen sland . A u st. J . Z ool. 53 , 229 –23 6 (20 05). 723 55. S illa, A. J., McF a dden, M. & By r n e , P. G . Hormone -induc e d sp awni ng of th e c ritic al ly 724 e ndange red northe rn c orr o b or e e f r o g P s eudo ph r y ne pe n gill ey i . Rep r o d uctio n, Fer ility and 725 Dev el opm e nt 30 , 13 52–135 8 (2018) . 726 56. S lave nko, A. , Tallow in, O. J. S . , It e s c u, Y., Raia, P . & M eiri, S . Late Qu ate rnary r eptil e 727 e xtinction s: size matt er s , i n s ul a r i t y domi na t e s. G l ob al E co l o g y a nd B i oge og r a ph y 25 , (2016 ). 728 57. Ca r di ll o, M. & Bromh am, L. Body size an d risk o f ex tinctio n i n Au s tr alia n mamma l s . 729 Co nse r v a tio n Biol o gy 15 , 1435– 1440 (200 1). 730 58. F ick , S. E . & H ij mans , R. J . Wo rldClim 2: n ew 1km spatial re s olu tio n cli mat e su r f ac es for globa l 731 l and are as . In te r n ati o n al Jo urnal o f Clim a tolo g y 37 , 4302–43 15 (2017). 732 59. Vi sca r r a Ro ssel, R . A. et a l . So il a nd La nd sc ape Grid Nati onal Soil A t t ribut e Map s (3 " 733 re soluti on) - Re l ea se 1. v 6. CS IR O. Da ta C o llec t i on . 734 http s: //doi. org/h ttp s:/ / doi .or g / 1 0 .4225/ 08/546ED604 ADD8 A (2014 ) 735 do i:ht t p s: // d oi. o r g / 10. 4225 /08/546E D60 4AD D8A. 736 60. Mal one , B. & S e arl e, R. S oil a nd La nd s c ap e Grid N atio nal Soil Attrib ute Map s (3 " re s ol u t i on ) - 737 Re lea s e 2. v 4. CS IRO. Dat a C ollec t i o n. (20 22 ) . 738 61. Jone s , B . & O’N eill, B . C. Sp a t i ally expli cit gl obal pop ulat ion scen ari o s c onsi sten t w ith the 739 S hared S ocio ec onomic P athwa y s. Env iro nmen tal Re s e a r c h L ett e rs 11 , 84003 (2 01 6). 740 62. Gao, J . G l ob al 1-Km D o wn scale d Pop ula t i o n Ba se Yea r a nd Projec tio n Grid s B as e d on th e 741 S hared S ocioe cono mic P ath ways, Re v isi o n 01 . (NASA S ocio e conomi c Da ta a nd Ap plic ation s 742 Ce n t e r (S EDA C ) , Pali s ade s, NY, 2 020). 743 63. F ujimori, S ., Ha segaw a , T., I t o , A ., Tak aha shi, K . & Ma s ui, T. Gr i dd ed emi ssion s and la nd-u s e 744 da t a for 2005-210 0 und er div er se soc ioe co nomic and c limate mi t i ga tion scen a r i o s . Sci . Da t a 745 5 , 180210 (2018). 746 64. Adhi kari, R . K., Yilm az, A. G . , Mainal i , B. & Dy s o n, P. P e rformanc e ev alua tion o f C MIP6 mod el s 747 for a ppl ica t i on to hydrolog ica l mod ell ing stu die s – A c a se study of A ustrali a . Sc ien c e of T he 748 T ot a l Env ir onm ent 945 , 17401 5 (2024 ). 749 65. E yring, V. et al. Ove rvi ew of th e Cou pled Mode l In terc ompa r i s on P r oje ct Pha s e 6 ( CM I P6) 750 e xperiment al de sign a nd org aniza tion. G eo s c i. Model D e v. 9 , 1937 –1 958 (2016 ). 751 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 29 66. S antini, L ., Ben í t e z-Ló pez, A . , M aior ano, L ., Če ngić, M . & H uij bre gt s , M. A. J. A sse ssing th e 752 reli abili ty of s pe cie s di s tr i bu tion projec t i o ns i n cli mat e ch ange r es earc h . Di vers . D is tri b. 27 , 753 10 35–105 0 (2021). 754 67. Hijma ns , R. J., Phil lip s , S . & Elith , J . di s m o : Spec ie s Di stribu tion Mod e ling. P r e p r in t a t (2021) . 755 68. Ph illip s, S. J . et al. S ampl e sel ec tion bi a s and pre senc e -o nly di stribu tion mode l s: i mplica t i on s 756 for ba ckg r ou n d and p seudo -a b senc e da t a. Eco logic al Ap pli cati on s 19 , 1 81–197 (2 009). 757 69. E lith, J. et a l . A sta ti stica l exp lan ation o f M a xEnt for ec ologi s t s . Di v e r s . D i st r i b . 17 , 43–57 758 (20 11). 759 70. Krame r-S chadt , S . et al. The i mporta nc e of corre cting fo r sampl ing bia s i n MaxE nt s pec ie s 760 di s t ribut ion mode l s. Di v e r s . Di st r i b . 19 , 1 366–1 379 (2013 ). 761 71. Araújo , M . B. & N e w, M . E nsemb le f orec a sting of s pe ci e s dis tr i bu t i on s. Tr e nd s Eco l. Ev ol. 22 , 762 42 –47 (200 7). 763 72. T huiller, W . et a l. biomo d2: En sembl e Pla tfo rm for Sp ec ie s Di stribu tion Mod el ing. R pack age 764 v ers io n 4.2-6 -2. Pr eprin t a t ( 2 025 ). 765 73. Rob ert s, D . R. et al . Cro ss -val idati on s tr a te gies for d ata w ith tempo ral, spa tial , hi e rarchi cal, o r 766 ph yloge netic st r uc ture . Ec ogra phy 40 , 913– 929 (201 7). 767 74. Va lavi, R ., Eli t h, J., La hoz-M onf ort , J. J. & G ui ller a- Arroita , G . bloc k 768 C VSČqF : An r pack a ge f o r g en era ting s p atia lly o r e nvironme ntal ly 769 sep ara ted f o ld s for k - fold c r o s s-v alida t i o n of sp ecie s di st ributi on mode l s . M et h ods Ec o l . E v o l. 770 10 , 225– 232 (2019 ). 771 75. Jone s , K. E. et al. PanT H ER I A : a sp ecie s -l e v el da t a ba se of li fe h i s t ory, e colog y, an d geog r a phy 772 of extan t and re cently extinc t mammal s. E colog y 90 , 2648 (200 9). 773 76. S antini, L . et a l. Ec ologic al c or r el a te s o f d is p e rsal di s ta nc e in t e r re s tr ia l mamma l s. Hy st r i x : th e 774 Ital i an J our nal o f M a mmal ogy 24 , 18 1–1 86 (2 013). 775 77. S chlos s, C. A ., Nuñ ez, T. A. & L awl er, J. J. Di s pe rsa l w ill l imit abil ity of ma mmal s to tr a ck 776 c limate chang e in th e W e ster n Hemi sphe re. Proc eedin g s o f t he N a t i on al Ac ade my of Sc ienc es 777 10 9, 8606 –8611 ( 2 012). 778 78. Ch en, T. & Gu e st ri n, C . XGBoo st: a s c alab le tre e boo s ting sy st em. in P r oc ee di ng s o f th e 22n d 779 ACM S IGKDD In tern ati on al Con fe r e nce o n Know ledg e D i s c overy and Da ta Mi nin g 785–79 4 780 (AC M, N ew York, NY, USA, 2016 ). doi :1 0. 1145/2939 672.2939 785. 781 79. Niel sen , D . Tre e boo s ting w ith XGBo ost - w hy doe s XGBo o st win ‘every’ mach in e lea r ni ng 782 c ompetiti on? ( N orwe gia n Univ er s ity o f S ci ence and Te chnolo gy, T r on dh eim, No r way , 2016). 783 80. Ols on, D . M. e t a l. Te rre strial ecoreg ion s of th e world: a n ew map of l if e on Ea rth. B io s ci e n ce 784 51 , 933– 938 (2001 ). 785 81. Cre s s w ell, I. D ., J anke , T. & John s t o n, E. L . Au st r ali a Sta te o f t he Envi r o n me nt 2021 : O v erview , 786 In de pen d en t Rep ort to t he Au s tr a lia n G o ve r n me nt Mi nis ter for th e Env iro nme nt, 787 Co mmo nwe alt h o f Au s t ral ia , Can be r ra . (2 021). 788 82. Duc at ez, S. & Shin e , R. D river s o f extin cti on risk in te r r e str i a l vert ebra te s . Con serv . L ett. 10 , 789 18 6–194 ( 2 017). 790 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint 30 83. Harf oot, M . B. J. e t al. U sing th e IU CN R e d L ist to map thr eat s to t e rre s t ria l ver teb rate s a t 791 g lobal s c al e. N at . Ec ol. E vol. 5 , 1510– 151 9 (20 21). 792 84. Ch en, T. et a l. x gboos t : Extreme Gradi ent Boo sting. R pac kage ver si on 1.7. 10 .1. P r eprint a t 793 http s: //doi. org/10 .326 14/C RAN.pa cka ge . xg boos t (20 25 ). 794 85. Ve na ble s, W . N. & Ripley , B . D . Mod ern A ppl ied S ta t i s tics w ith S . (S pr i nger , New Y or k , USA, 795 20 02). 796 86. T jøs th ei m, D . A mea sur e of a s soci a t io n f or s p atia l va r i a ble s . Biome t rik a 65 , 1 09– 114 ( 1 978). 797 87. Hubert , L . & Goll edge , R. G . Me as ur i ng a s s o cia tion be tween s pa tia lly de fined v ari able s: 798 T jøs th ei m’ s c oef fic ie nt index and some e xtensi on s. Ge ogr . An al. 14 , 273– 278 (198 2). 799 88. Va llejo s, R ., O so r io , F . & Bev ilac qu a, M. S pati al Re la tio ns hip s Be twee n Two G e oref erence d 800 Va r i abl es : W it h Ap p l i cat io ns i n R. (S p r in g er, N ew Yo r k , NY, USA, 202 0 ). 801 89. Co mmonwea l th of Au s tr alia . Coll a b orat i ve Au stra lian Pro tec ted Ar ea s D at a ba s e ( CAPA D ) 802 20 20 . (2021 ). 803 804 .CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licenseavailable under a (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made The copyright holder for this preprintthis version posted April 16, 2026. ; https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.13.718320doi: bioRxiv preprint

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-pdf

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Citation neighborhood (no data yet)

We don't have any in-corpus citations linked to this paper yet. This is a recent paper (2026) — citers typically take a year or two to land, and the OpenAlex reference graph may still be filling in.

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-05-20T01:45:00.602351+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-05-22T02:00:06.705733+00:00
License: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0