A GIS-based policy support tool to determine national responsibilities and priorities for biodiversity conservation

area, and (iv) the focal area(s) to be analyzed. Instead of having a separate file for the reference area, the biogeographical or ecological unit/region files can be used to define these borders. All GIS layers should be in WGS84 projection for global analyses [51] or in the same region- Fig 1. Task 1 –find data on the distribution of focal species. Here shown for four species of shrews across Europe: Crocidura sicula (endemic in Sicily, Italy), Sorex coronatus with a regional rather closed distribution, Sorex alpinus (disjunct distribution), and Sorex minutus, widely spread across Eurasia (Sources: [43–46]). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243135.g001 PLOS ONE GIS-based policy support tool to determine national responsibilities for biodiversity conservation PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243135 December 3, 2020 5 / 23