The Philippines, long recognized as one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots, could lose nearly a quarter of its unique land-dwelling vertebrate species unless urgent conservation action is taken, according to a new study. In a paper published in Science of The Total Environment, researchers assessed 1,294 species of amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. They calculated extinction risks and knowledge gaps by analyzing conservation status data, studying threat patterns using statistical models, and mapping species distributions with geographic information systems to identify underresearched species and their protection status. Results showed that 15-23% of land vertebrates included in the study are at risk of extinction. Amphibians are the most threatened, with 24% of spec

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