Identifying possible hotspots of human pressure on European gastropods

Abstract Human activities are impacting the biosphere, driving unprecedented rates of species loss. Yet, little is known about the ranges of these threats and how they impact invertebrate species. Despite the extensive efforts to preserve biodiversity globally, most of the strategies are designed for vertebrates, whereas invertebrates are seriously underrepresented. European gastropod species, in particular, are a taxon of high conservation interest given the high number of threatened species and the high levels of endemism. Yet the distribution of their threats remains largely unmapped. In this study, we intersect individual ranges of European threatened and near-threatened gastropods with seven human pressure layers to estimate the cumulative overlap between each species and the pressure to which it is sensitive. We found that about one-fifth of the species have their entire distribution range overlapping with at least one relevant pressure, and about one-third of the species coexist with multiple pressures somewhere within their distributions. Our analyses unveil hotspots of impacted and coolspots of unimpacted gastropod biodiversity, providing information for future conservation planning.