Article

Uncertainty in coarse conservation assessments hinders the efficient achievement of conservation goals

March 2012
Biological Conservation 147(1):52–59

March 2012
147(1):52–59

DOI:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.01.020

Authors:

Virgilio Hermoso

Estación Biológica de Doñana

Mark J Kennard

Griffith University

Conservation planning is sensitive to a number of scale-related issues, such as the spatial extent of the planning area, or the size of units of planning. An extensive literature has reported a decline in efficiency of conservation outputs when planning at small spatial scales or when using large planning units. However, other key issues remain, such as the grain size used to represent the spatial distribution of conservation features. Here, we evaluate the effect of grain size of species distribution data versus size of planning units on a set of performance measures describing efficiency (ratio of area where species are represented/total area needed), rate of commission errors (species erroneously expected to occur), representativeness (proportion of species achieving the target) and a novel measure of overall conservation uncertainty (integrating commission errors and uncertainty in the actual locations where species occur). We compared priority areas for the conservation of freshwater fish in the Daly River basin (northern Australia). Our study demonstrates that the effect of grain size of species distribution data was more important than planning unit size on conservation planning performance, with an increase in commission errors up to 80% and conservation uncertainty over 90% when coarse data were used. This was more pronounced for rare than common species, where the mismatch between coarse representations of biodiversity patterns and the smaller areas of actual occupancy of species was more evident. Special attention should be paid to the high risk of misallocation of limited budgets when planning in heterogeneous or disturbed environments, where biodiversity is patchily distributed, or when planning for conservation of rare species.

Spatial conservation prioritization for mobile top predators in French waters: Comparing encounter rates and predicted densities as input

Article

May 2017
DEEP-SEA RES PT II

EU member states have to develop their Natura 2000 networks in their national waters to fulfill their conservation obligations regarding species and habitats listed in the Birds and Habitats directives. In France, a coastal network of Natura 2000 areas exists since 2008 but it had to be completed in offshore waters for some marine megafauna species. The SAMM aerial surveys (Aerial Census of Marine Megafauna) which occurred in winter 2011 and summer 2011–2012 over a large area comprising the whole metropolitan French Economic Exclusive Zone produced sighting data for species listed in the Birds and Habitats directives. These data produced different types of species distribution data: encounter rates and predicted densities by kriging and habitat modelling. Using these species distribution data, the aim of the present study was to compare these different types of inputs in the same conservation prioritization process to complete the existing Natura 2000 network in French waters. We ran prioritization analyses using the encounter rates only (scenario 1) then using the predicted densities provided by kriging and habitat modelling (scenario 2). We then compared the outputs of the two prioritization processes. The prioritization outputs were different but not in contradiction, with similar areas appearing as important to reach the conservation targets. Habitat models were thought to provide better pictures of seasonal species distributions and informed scientists about the phenology and ecology of species. However, the use of encounter rates as input data for the prioritization process in the Natura 2000 program is acceptable provided that sufficient survey effort is available.

Applying species distribution modelling to the conservation of an ecologically plastic species (Papio papio) across biogeographic regions in West Africa

Article

Aug 2015
J NAT CONSERV

Benefits of Earth observation data for conservation planning in the case of European wetland biodiversity

Article

Nov 2012

To evaluate the status of biodiversity and to determine how current conservation efforts can be improved, biodiversity monitoring is crucial. An important aspect of data quality lies in its spatial resolution. It is unclear how finer scale land cover and land value information might further benefit biodiversity conservation. This paper aimed to assess the impacts of scale by modelling the conservation of endangered European wetland species and their corresponding habitats. Fine-scale datasets were derived by integrating existing geographical, biophysical and economic data. A habitat allocation model, based on principles from systematic conservation planning and economic theory, was developed to estimate area requirements and opportunity costs of habitat protection in Europe. Coarse-scale and fine-scale simulations were compared by inputting both resolutions into the model. Habitat locations were restricted either only by historical species occurrence data at UTM 50 resolution or additionally by explicit wetland data at 1-km2 resolution. Coarse country-average land rents were contrasted with spatially detailed land rent estimates at a 5ʹ resolution. Costs of habitat protection and area requirements for reserves may be severely underestimated when conservation planning relies only on coarse-scale data, which may result in notable shortcomings in conservation target achievement. Improvements in conservation benefits far outweigh the additional costs of acquiring fine-scale data.

Mapping pressures on biodiversity: the contribution of thematic detail to decision making

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2024
BIODIVERS CONSERV

Mapping pressures to species is key to identify where biodiversity is at risk and providing relevant information to direct conservation actions. Decision-making to minimise pressures requires the determination of specific target actions at a high level of detail. However, the trade-off between cost and effort to generate this information often leads to the production of generalised pressure maps, named coarse maps, covering the most relevant pressures and their proxies. Here we aimed to disentangle whether the cost and effort of mapping fine pressures is worthwhile to inform decision making, by comparing how fine and coarse maps identify “where” and “how” management actions should be derived. Comparing the extend of both map types as well as its capacity to identify risk areas. We focused on three main pressures: agricultural intensification, human intensification, and land abandonment. The study was carried out in Catalonia for local decision-making, but the results can be applied in other EU regions or elsewhere, also for local decisions-making. We found that the Jaccard’s similarity index between coarse and fine pressure maps was always below 0.3 indicating low overlap between fine and coarse maps. In particular, the coincidence between coarse and fine thematic maps within protected areas (PAs) was always below 50%. Both maps differed in the identification of risk areas inside three analysed PAs. Moreover, even when there was a total geographical overlap between coarse and fine maps, coarse maps lack information on which concrete pressure was actually present, making decision on actions needed difficult. Thus, we can conclude that fine maps can estimate more accurately both “where” and “how” to target concrete actions than coarser maps. Even in cases where the answer as to “where” to act is the same, fine maps provide more concrete information to provide guidance on “how” to act. Consequently, despite the high cost and effort involved in mapping pressures at a high level of detail, the final trade-off is positive.

Integrating larval connectivity into the marine conservation decision‐making process across spatial scales

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2022
CONSERV BIOL

Larval dispersal connectivity is typically integrated into spatial conservation decisions at regional or national scales, but implementing agencies struggle with translating these methods to local scales. We used larval dispersal connectivity at regional (hundreds of kilometers) and local (tens of kilometers) scales to aid in design of networks of no‐take reserves in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. We used Marxan with Connectivity informed by biophysical larval dispersal models and remotely sensed coral reef habitat data to design marine reserve networks for 4 commercially important reef species across the region. We complemented regional spatial prioritization with decision trees that combined network‐based connectivity metrics and habitat quality to design reserve boundaries locally. Decision trees were used in consensus‐based workshops with stakeholders to qualitatively assess site desirability, and Marxan was used to identify areas for subsequent network expansion. Priority areas for protection and expected benefits differed among species, with little overlap in reserve network solutions. Because reef quality varied considerably across reefs, we suggest reef degradation must inform the interpretation of larval dispersal patterns and the conservation benefits achievable from protecting reefs. Our methods can be readily applied by conservation practitioners, in this region and elsewhere, to integrate connectivity data across multiple spatial scales.

Assessing uncertainty and performance of ensemble conservation planning strategies

Article

Jan 2018
LANDSCAPE URBAN PLAN

Systematic conservation initiatives attempt to cater to the needs of many species via the integration of multiple species distribution models (SDMs), or via the integration of Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) software, such as Zonation. Unfortunately, due to limited data and knowledge, it is often difficult to select the most suitable model for specific species, let alone an appropriate ensemble modeling method for multiple species. In general, model selection criteria are based on either model performance or consensus. The former integrates the highest-performing SDM for all focal species, whereas the latter integrates multiple SDM outputs based on consensus. While higher-performing ensemble models presumably identify high-quality habitats better, many have argued that high consensus ensemble models have less uncertainty originating from sporadic model variability. This study develops and validates seven ensemble-modeling strategies for integrating outputs of the systematic conservation tool Zonation. First, we considered the distributions of 11 bird species via 100 runs of five SDMs across Taiwan. Second, we evaluated the local and global uncertainty of all five models. Third, we used Zonation to obtain conservation priorities. We then used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to quantify different sources of uncertainty. Finally, we used independent third-party habitat data to validate each strategy. On average, the ‘best model’ strategy (based on the highest AUC value) performed best. Based on our modeling exercise we present a comprehensive framework for conservation prioritization, validation and the quantification of uncertainty intrinsic to SDMs according to different conservation scenarios and goals.

Identification of priority cetacean areas in the north‐east Atlantic using systematic conservation planning

Article

Oct 2023

Mobile marine protected areas have been proposed for the conservation of highly seasonal or mobile marine megafauna. However, seasonal data on the distribution of marine wildlife to inform protected areas are generally scarce worldwide, especially for cetaceans, which makes dynamic solutions difficult to implement. Furthermore, conservation objectives are often set at the level of individual species rather than at the community level, despite many species having similar or overlapping habitat requirements, and a comparison of the effectiveness of mobile vs. static Marine Protected Areas options has rarely been done. Systematic conservation planning was used to identify priority areas of cetacean biodiversity in the north‐east Atlantic accounting for seasonal changes in distribution. Consistent hotspots across seasons at a community level, in particular along the shelf edge, suggest that fixed priority areas for cetacean biodiversity may be appropriate. The area required for protection to meet conservation targets (i.e. 20% of a population occurring within a protected area) is minimized when considering populations at basin scale rather than national level. Highly mobile megafauna normally exploit persistent and predictable oceanographic features, so a habitat suitability rather than a jurisdiction‐based approach is more appropriate.

Expanding protected areas to encompass the conservation of the endangered common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) in the Alboran Sea

Article

Mar 2021
MAR ENVIRON RES

The Natura 2000 network is the centerpiece of the European Union conservation strategy to safeguard priority species and habitats. The question of whether other co-occurring species of conservation concern may also benefit from this network, however, remains largely unknown. Here, we used a systematic approach (MARXAN) for i) evaluating if the current Natura 2000 network in the Alboran Sea (western Mediterranean Sea), initially proposed to protect the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and priority habitats, is also spatially protecting the endangered common dolphin (Delphinus delphis), and ii) identifying additional marine areas that should be protected to reach adequate conservation targets for the common dolphin. While the current Natura 2000 network encompass ca. 22% of predicted abundances for common dolphins, this percentage might be enhanced by protecting coastal areas nearby the Strait of Gibraltar. However, dolphins and fisheries largely overlap spatially nearby the coastline, and only segregate in offshore areas that represent the marginal distribution of the species. Thus, conservation decision-makers must achieve a trade-off between cetacean conservation and fisheries by combining an area-based approach (i.e., new protected areas close to the Strait of Gibraltar) together with a basin-wide threat-based approach (e.g., regulation of fisheries).

Integrating dynamic processes into waterfowl conservation prioritization tools

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2020
DIVERS DISTRIB

Aim Traditional approaches for including species' distributions in conservation planning have presented them as long‐term averages of variation. Like these approaches, the main waterfowl conservation targeting tool in the United States Prairie Pothole Region (US PPR) is based primarily on long‐term averaged distributions of breeding pairs. While this tool has supported valuable conservation, it does not explicitly consider spatiotemporal changes in spring wetland availability and does not assess wetland availability during the brood rearing period. We sought to develop a modelling approach and targeting tool that incorporated these types of dynamics for breeding waterfowl pairs and broods. This goal also presented an opportunity for us to compare predictions from a traditional targeting tool based on long‐term averages to predictions from spatiotemporal models. Such a comparison facilitated tests of the underlying assumption that this traditional targeting tool could provide an effective surrogate measure for conservation objectives such as brood abundance and climate refugia. Location US PPR. Methods We developed spatiotemporal models of waterfowl pair and brood abundance within the US PPR. We compared the distributions predicted by these models and assessed similarity with the averaged pair data that is used to develop the current waterfowl targeting tool. Results Results demonstrated low similarity and correlation between the averaged pair data and spatiotemporal brood and pair models. The spatiotemporal pair model distributions served as better surrogates for brood abundance than the averaged pair data. Main conclusions Our study underscored the contributions that the current targeting tool has made to waterfowl conservation but also suggested that conservation plans in the region would benefit from the consideration of inter‐ and intra‐annual dynamics. We suggested that using only the averaged pair data and derived products might result in the omission of 46%–98% of important pair and brood habitat, respectively, from conservation plans.

How decisions about fitting species distribution models affect conservation outcomes

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2021
CONSERV BIOL

Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly used in conservation and land‐use planning as inputs to describe biodiversity patterns. These models can be built in different ways, and decisions about data preparation, selection of predictor variables, model fitting, and evaluation all alter the resulting predictions. Commonly, the true distribution of species is unknown and independent data to verify which SDM variant to choose are lacking. Such model uncertainty is of concern to planners. We analyzed how 11 routine decisions about model complexity, predictors, bias treatment, and setting thresholds for predicted values altered conservation priority patterns across 25 species. Models were created with MaxEnt and run through Zonation to determine the priority rank of sites. Although all SDM variants performed well (area under the curve >0.7), they produced spatially different predictions for species and different conservation priority solutions. Priorities were most strongly altered by decisions to not address bias or to apply binary thresholds to predicted values; on average 40% and 35%, respectively, of all grid cells received an opposite priority ranking. Forcing high model complexity altered conservation solutions less than forcing simplicity (14% and 24% of cells with opposite rank values, respectively). Use of fewer species records to build models or choosing alternative bias treatments had intermediate effects (25% and 23%, respectively). Depending on modeling choices, priority areas overlapped as little as 10–20% with the baseline solution, affecting top and bottom priorities differently. Our results demonstrate the extent of model‐based uncertainty and quantify the relative impacts of SDM building decisions. When it is uncertain what the best SDM approach and conservation plan is, solving uncertainty or considering alterative options is most important for those decisions that change plans the most.

To clean or not to clean: Cleaning open‐source data improves extinction risk assessments for threatened plant species

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2020

Plants are under‐represented in conservation efforts, with only 9% of described species published on the IUCN Red List. Biodiversity aggregators including the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the more recent Botanical Information and Ecology Network (BIEN) contain a wealth of potentially useful occurrence data. We investigate the influence of these data in accelerating plant extinction risk assessments for 225 endemic, near‐endemic, and socioeconomic Bolivian plant species. Geo‐referenced herbarium voucher specimens verified by taxonomic experts comprised our control data set. Open‐source data for 77 species was subjected to a two‐stage cleaning protocol (using an automated R package followed by a manual clean) and threat categories were computed based on extent of occurrence thresholds. Accuracy was the highest using cleaned GBIF data (76%) and uncleaned BIEN data (79%). Sensitivity was the highest for cleaned GBIF (73%) and BIEN (80%) data suggesting our cleaning protocol was essential to maximize sensitivity rates. Comparisons between the control, GBIF and BIEN data sets revealed a paucity of occurrence data for 148 species (66%), 72% of which qualified for a threatened category. Balancing data quantity and accuracy must be considered when using open‐source data. Filling data gaps for threatened species is a conservation priority to improve the coverage of threatened species within biodiversity aggregators.

Marine protected areas for demersal elasmobranchs in highly exploited Mediterranean ecosystems

Article

May 2020
MAR ENVIRON RES

Marine ecosystems are complex socio-ecological systems where sustainable solutions can be best gained by satisfying both conservation and socioeconomic demands. Concretely, the Mediterranean Sea is facing a huge demand of resources and marine activities while hosting abundant and unique biodiversity. It is considered an important elasmobranch hotspot where seventy-two elasmobranch species are present in the basin. Despite the recognised importance of elasmobranchs as umbrella species, to date only a small number of marine protected areas have been designated towards their protection. The paucity of spatially-explicit abundance data on elasmobranchs often precludes the designation of these areas to protect these marine predators. Here, we aimed to identify marine areas to protect elasmobranch species by means of a systematic spatial planning approach. We first estimated the spatial distribution of five elasmobranch species (three sharks and two rays) in the western Mediterranean Sea and then applied Marxan decision support tools to find priority marine conservation areas. We found that the five elasmobranchs are distributed in coastal and slope areas of the southern waters of the study area while in the northern region they are abundant in the continental slope and towards offshore waters. Conservation priority areas were identified in the southern part of the western Mediterranean. Adding more complex cost layers and zoning to the analysis did not alter conservation priority areas, confirming such areas are highly consistent and highly important for elasmobranch protection. The marine conservation priority areas identified here can contribute to designate a proactive area-based protection strategy towards elasmobranch conservation, related species and the habitats that they depend in the western Mediterranean Sea.

IJEAS0212003(1)

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2019

This paper reviews the major contributions to the systematic conservation planning in landscape with Marxan software throughout a 11-year period from 2005 up to 2015. After surveying many papers in this field, the volume of the existing works is identified and classified. The paper summarizes all of the reviewed papers in two tables. These tables determine the region of study, year of study, selected information for planning, and main contributions in papers. The socioeconomic information along with the biophysical information is considered in the majority of papers for planning, which shows the vital function of this information for decision. It is also demonstrated that more attention is paid to systematic conversation planning using toolboxes based on optimization algorithm such as Marxan in recent years. It concludes with comparative graph demonstrating the frequency of applying Marxan software in systematic conservation planning in landscape. So, it can be used as a guideline for researchers in this field. Index Terms-Chronological, MARXAN, protected area (PA), Systematic conservation planning.

Evaluation of habitat protection under the European Natura 2000 conservation network – The example for Germany

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2018
PLOS ONE

The world´s largest network of protected areas—Natura 2000 (N2000)—has been implemented to protect Europe´s biodiversity. N2000 is built upon two cornerstones, the Birds Directive, which lists 691 bird species (plus one additional bird genus with no further classification) and the Habitats Directive, which lists next to a variety of species, 233 habitat types to be protected. There is evidence of the positive impact of the Directives on the EU´s biodiversity, although the overall improvement reported for species in favourable condition in the last assessment was low. However, most of the assessments are species focused, while habitats have received very little attention. Here we developed a generic workflow, which we exemplified for Germany, to assess the status of habitat coverage within the N2000 network combining information from publicly available data sources. Applying the workflow allows identification of gaps in habitat protection, followed by the prioritization of potential areas of high protection value using the conservation planning software Marxan. We found that, in Germany, N2000 covers all target habitats. However, common habitats were proportionally underrepresented relative to rare ones, which contrasts with studies focussing on the representation of species. Moreover, the German case study suggests that especially highly protected areas (i.e. covered by more than 90% with N2000 sites) build an excellent basis towards a cost-effective and efficient conservation network. Our workflow provides a generic approach to deal with the common problem of missing habitat distribution data outside of N2000 sites, information which is however crucial for managers to plan conservation actions appropriately across Europe. To avoid a biased representation of habitat types within N2000, our results underpin the importance of defining qualitative and quantitative conservation targets which will allow assesment of the trajectory of habitat protection in Europe as well as adjustment of the network accordingly—a future necessity in the light of climate change.

Learning to fly: integrating spatial ecology with unmanned aerial vehicle surveys

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2018

Despite the increasing importance of new survey tools such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the implications of how their spatial deployment may interact with species detection errors have not yet been assessed. Acknowledging and incorporating these errors are crucial for accurate population estimation and improved management. To address this important gap in our knowledge, and to discover how flight plans should be selected to reduce overall error, we simulated contrasting UAV flight surveys over a range of population densities and dispersion patterns using different detection errors. We found that if a survey is carried out using an individual transect that low and slow flights consistently provide the best estimates of abundance and occupancy. However, the greater sampling area afforded by higher or faster flights resulted in more complex guidelines for estimates of abundance or occupancy over larger study areas. For highly clustered populations, especially those at low densities, a high and fast survey is preferable, as its greater area coverage best enables detection of local occupancy. The performance rankings of flight plans were sensitive to the underlying species detectability and, to a lesser extent, population density and aggregation. This suggests that UAV survey plans need to account for the spatial and movement ecology of target species, and that flight plans should adapt as an invasive species spreads, or a threatened species contracts. We encapsulate our results in a decision tree to guide flight planning for given survey objectives, detectability, and ecological context. Importantly, these findings provide guidance to other fields with transect‐based surveys such as manned aviation and road or ground transects that trade‐off sampling area and precision of estimates. Promising new technologies such as UAVs will be best utilized by ecologists if detection errors, and their interaction with the spatial ecology of the species, are carefully assessed.

Proposed biodiversity conservation areas: Gap analysis and spatial prioritization on the inadequately studied Qinghai Plateau, China

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2018

Global biodiversity priorities are primarily addressed through the establishment or expansion of conservation areas (CAs). Spatial prioritization of these CAs can help minimize biodiversity loss by accounting for the uneven distribution of biodiversity and conservation considerations (e.g., accessibility, cost, and biodiversity threats). Furthermore, optimized spatial priorities can help facilitate the judicious use of limited conservation resources by identifying cost effective CA designs. Here, we demonstrate how key species and ecosystems can be incorporated into systematic conservation planning to propose the expansion and addition of new CAs in the biodiversity-unique and data-poor region of Qinghai Plateau, China. We combined species distribution models with a systematic conservation planning tool, MARXAN to identify CAs for biodiversity on Qinghai Plateau. A set of 57 optimal CAs (273,872 km2, 39.3 % of this Province) were required to achieve the defined conservation targets in Qinghai Province. We also identified 29 new CAs (139,216 km2, 20% of Qinghai Province) outside the existing nature reserve (NRs) that are necessary to fully achieve the proposed conservation targets. The conservation importance of these 29 new CAs was also indicated, with 10 labeled as high priority, 11 as medium priority, and 8 as low priority. High priority areas were more abundant in the eastern and southeastern parts of this region. Our results suggest that many species remain inadequately protected within the Qinghai Plateau, with conservation gaps in eastern and northwestern regions. The proposed more representative and effective CAs can provide useful information for adjusting the existing NRs and developing the first National Park in China.

Proposed biodiversity conservation areas: gap analysis and spatial prioritization on the inadequately studied Qinghai Plateau, China

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2018

Genome-Wide SNPs Identify Limits to Connectivity in the Extreme Freshwater Disperser, Spangled Perch Leiopotherapon unicolor (Terapontidae)

Article

Nov 2017

The utility of restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RADseq) to resolve fine-scale population structure was tested on an abundant and vagile fish species in a tropical river. Australia's most widespread freshwater fish, the "extreme disperser" Leiopotherapon unicolor was sampled from six locations in an unregulated system, the Daly River in Australia's Northern Territory. Despite an expectation of high connectivity based on life history knowledge of this species derived from arid zone habitats, L. unicolor was not a panmictic population in the tropical lower Daly. Using ~14,000 polymorphic RADseq loci, we found a pattern of upstream versus downstream population subdivision and evidence for differentiation among tributary populations. The magnitude of population structure was low with narrow confidence intervals (global FST = 0.014; 95% CI = 0.012, 0.016). Confidence intervals around pairwise FST estimates were all non-zero and consistent with the results of clustering analyses. This population structure was not explained by spatially heterogeneous selection acting on a subset of loci, or by sampling groups of closely related individuals (average within-site relatedness ≈ 0). One implication of the low but significant structure observed in the tropics is the possibility that L. unicolor may exhibit contrasting patterns of migratory biology in tropical versus arid zone habitats. We conclude that the RADseq revolution holds promise for delineating subtle patterns of population subdivision in species characterized by high within-population variation and low among-population differentiation.

Landscape-scale conservation design across biotic realms: Sequential integration of aquatic and terrestrial landscapes

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2017

Systematic conservation planning has been used extensively throughout the world to identify important areas for maintaining biodiversity and functional ecosystems, and is well suited to address large-scale biodiversity conservation challenges of the twenty-first century. Systematic planning is necessary to bridge implementation, scale, and data gaps in a collaborative effort that recognizes competing land uses. Here, we developed a conservation planning process to identify and unify conservation priorities around the central and southern Appalachian Mountains as part of the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (App LCC). Through a participatory framework and sequential, cross-realm integration in spatial optimization modeling we highlight lands and waters that together achieve joint conservation goals from LCC partners for the least cost. This process was driven by a synthesis of 26 multi-scaled conservation targets and optimized for simultaneous representation inside the program Marxan to account for roughly 25% of the LCC geography. We identify five conservation design elements covering critical ecological processes and patterns including interconnected regions as well as the broad landscapes between them. Elements were then subjected to a cumulative threats index for possible prioritization. The evaluation of these elements supports multi-scaled decision making within the LCC planning community through a participatory, dynamic, and iterative process.

Development and field validation of a regional, management-scale habitat model: A koala Phascolarctos cinereus case study

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2017

Species distribution models have great potential to efficiently guide management for threatened species, especially for those that are rare or cryptic. We used MaxEnt to develop a regional-scale model for the koala Phascolarctos cinereus at a resolution (250 m) that could be used to guide management. To ensure the model was fit for purpose, we placed emphasis on validating the model using independently-collected field data. We reduced substantial spatial clustering of records in coastal urban areas using a 2-km spatial filter and by modeling separately two subregions separated by the 500-m elevational contour. A bias file was prepared that accounted for variable survey effort. Frequency of wildfire, soil type, floristics and elevation had the highest relative contribution to the model, while a number of other variables made minor contributions. The model was effective in discriminating different habitat suitability classes when compared with koala records not used in modeling. We validated the MaxEnt model at 65 ground-truth sites using independent data on koala occupancy (acoustic sampling) and habitat quality (browse tree availability). Koala bellows (n = 276) were analyzed in an occupancy modeling framework, while site habitat quality was indexed based on browse trees. Field validation demonstrated a linear increase in koala occupancy with higher modeled habitat suitability at ground-truth sites. Similarly, a site habitat quality index at ground-truth sites was correlated positively with modeled habitat suitability. The MaxEnt model provided a better fit to estimated koala occupancy than the site-based habitat quality index, probably because many variables were considered simultaneously by the model rather than just browse species. The positive relationship of the model with both site occupancy and habitat quality indicates that the model is fit for application at relevant management scales. Field-validated models of similar resolution would assist in guiding management of conservation-dependent species.

Distribution de la diversité génétique dans les réseaux dendritiques: patrons, processus et implications pour la conservation de la biodiversité.

Thesis

Full-text available

May 2014

Ivan Paz-Vinas

The objective of this thesis is to characterize the distribution of genetic diversity in dendritic networks. First, we identify a general spatial pattern of genetic diversity on these ecosystems, as well as the effects of asymmetric gene flow, differential in effective population sizes and colonization processes on this pattern. Second, we characterize patterns of genetic diversity of four freshwater fish species (Gobio occitaniae, Squalius cephalus, Barbatula barbatula and Phoxinus phoxinus) at the Garonne river basin, so as to identify priority areas to protect. Third, we explore the effects of gene flow asymmetry on the inference of populations’ demographic histories. Finally, we combine genetic and demographic approaches to evaluate the status of a threathened species (Parachondrostoma toxostoma).

Identification of Priority Areas for the Conservation of Stream Fish Assemblages: Implications for River Management in France

Article

Full-text available

May 2017

Financial and human resources allocated to biodiversity conservation are often limited, making it impossible to protect all natural places, and priority areas for protection must be identified. In this study, we applied ecological niche models to predict fish assemblages in the stream network of France. Four non-correlated conservation objectives were derived from these species assemblages: taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, natural heritage importance and socio-economic value. We proposed a multi-objective prioritization method based on the Pareto optimality principle to rank the planning units (i.e. 6097 subcatchments) according to their inherent trade-offs between the four conservation objectives. Four types of hydrosystems of great conservation importance presenting specific fish assemblages were identified: (i) the most upstream areas of large catchments; (ii) the most downstream areas of large catchments; (iii) the small coastal catchments of the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean; and (iv) the Mediterranean streams of medium altitude. The fish assemblages characterizing these hydrosystems were complementary and representative of the entire fish fauna of France. Most of these priority subcatchments were found to be practically suitable for the implementation of conservation actions, which is very promising for the protection of river biodiversity.

Conservation planners tend to ignore improved accuracy of modelled species distributions to focus on multiple threats and ecological processes

Article

Jul 2016
BIOL CONSERV

Limited conservation resources mean that management decisions are often made on the basis of scarce biological information. Species distribution models (SDMs) are increasingly proposed as a way to improve the representation of biodiversity features in conservation planning, but the extent to which SDMs are used in conservation planning is unclear. We reviewed the peer-reviewed and grey conservation planning literature to explore if and how SDMs are used in conservation prioritisations. We use text mining to analyse 641 peer-reviewed conservation prioritisation articles published between 2006 and 2012 and find that only 10% of articles specifically mention SDMs in the abstract, title, and/or keywords. We use topic modelling of all peer-reviewed articles plus a detailed review of a random sample of 40 peer-reviewed and grey literature plans to evaluate factors that might influence whether decision-makers use SDMs to inform prioritisations. Our results reveal that habitat maps, expert-elicited species distributions, or metrics representing landscape processes (e.g. connectivity surfaces) are used more often than SDMs as biodiversity surrogates in prioritisations. We find four main reasons for using such alternatives in place of SDMs: (i) insufficient species occurrence data (particularly for threatened species); (ii) lack of biologically-meaningful predictor data relevant to the spatial scale of planning; (iii) low concern about uncertainty in biodiversity data; and (iv) a focus on accounting for ecological, evolutionary, and cumulative threatening processes that requires alternative data to be collected. Our results suggest that SDMs are perceived as best-suited to dealing with traditional reserve selection objectives and accounting for uncertainties such as future climate change or mapping accuracy. The majority of planners in both the grey and peer-reviewed literature appear to trade off the benefits of using SDMs for the benefits of including information on multiple threats and processes. We suggest that increasing the complexity of species distribution modelling methods might have little impact on their use in conservation planning without a corresponding increase in research aiming at better incorporation of a range of ecological, evolutionary, and threatening processes.

Ecoregional Planning and Climate Change Adaptation

Chapter

Full-text available

Dec 2015

Patrick J. Comer

Methods for selecting places at regional scales to conserve biodiversity have advanced in recent decades. However, with a rapidly changing climate, new methods will be required to adapt as ecosystems change. Ecoregional planning steps are reviewed, and potential alternatives are identified for adapting to climate change. Common planning steps include defining the planning region, selecting focal targets, mapping target distributions, assessing current conditions, establishing representation objectives, designing regional scenarios, identifying conservation strategies, and measuring success of regional plans. Since decisions that are implemented today will be revisited into the future, an iterative approach of increasing frequency is required.

The influence of differing protected area status and environmental factors on the macroinvertebrate fauna of temperate austral wetlands

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2015

One means of conserving wetlands is to designate the area around them as 'protected'. Although many different types of protected areas exist, ranging from international (Ramsar-listed) to local importance, there is little information on how the type of protection influences biodiversity conservation. Studies of the effectiveness of protected area systems are a priority, if we are to understand their importance and design systems effectively. Many Tasmanian wetlands are regarded as having high to very high conservation values with more than 60% located within protected areas. This study tested macroinvertebrate richness and assemblage responses to a range of environmental attributes and differing types of protected area status at 66 protected Tasmanian (Australian) wetlands. Two hundred and eighteen taxa were identified with an average of 33 species (or morphospecies) and 18 families recorded per wetland. The wetland assemblages were idiosyncratic, four families contributed 21% of the total recorded and only two families contributed greater than 10%. Wetlands were not significantly nested on the basis of the composition of their macroinvertebrate assemblages. No single environmental attribute had a strong relationship with macroinvertebrate richness or assemblage composition and neither species richness nor assemblage composition varied significantly between different types of protected areas. Although the majority of protected area types were designed to support terrestrial conservation objectives rather than wetland values, our results suggest that the latter were also afforded protection. The state of the proximal zone (the terrestrial zone within 50m of the wetland edge) and the type of aquatic habitat present (macrophyte or sediment-dominated substrates) were the most important determinants of macroinvertebrate richness and assemblage composition across all types of protected wetlands. These results suggest that for temperate austral wetlands located within protected areas, the macroinvertebrate fauna will be best conserved by minimal disturbance of proximal lands.

Uncertainty in Various Habitat Suitability Models and Its Impact on Habitat Suitability Estimates for Fish

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2015

Species distribution models (SDMs) are extensively used to project habitat suitability of species in stream ecological studies. Owing to complex sources of uncertainty, such models may yield projections with varying degrees of uncertainty. To better understand projected spatial distributions and the variability between habitat suitability projections, this study uses five SDMs that are based on the outputs of a two-dimensional hydraulic model to project the suitability of habitats and to evaluate the degree of variability originating from both differing model types and the split-sample procedure. The habitat suitability index (HSI) of each species is based on two stream flow variables, including current velocity (V), water depth (D), as well as the heterogeneity of these flow conditions as quantified by the information entropy of V and D. The six SDM approaches used to project fish abundance, as represented by HSI, included two stochastic models: the generalized linear model (GLM) and the generalized additive model (GAM); as well as three machine learning models: the support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF) and the artificial neural network (ANN), and an ensemble model (where the latter is the average of the preceding five models). The target species Sicyopterus japonicas was found to prefer habitats with high current velocities. The relationship between mesohabitat diversity and fish abundance was indicated by the trends in information entropy and weighted usable area (WUA) over the study area. This study proposes a method for quantifying habitat suitability, and for assessing the uncertainties in HSI and WUA that are introduced by the various SDMs and samples. This study also demonstrated both the merits of the ensemble modeling approach and the necessity of addressing model uncertainty.

Hermoso et al 2014 Ecography

Data

Full-text available

Mar 2015

Comer P.J. (2014) Ecoregional Planning and Climate Change Adaptation. In: Reedijk, J. (Ed.) Elsevier Reference Module in Chemistry, Molecular Sciences and Chemical Engineering. Waltham, MA: Elsevier. 21-Jan-15 doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-409548-9.09356-8.

Article

Jan 2015

Patrick J. Comer

Reprint available by request Methods for selecting places at regional scales to conserve biodiversity have advanced in recent decades. However, with a rapidly changing climate, new methods will be required to adapt as ecosystems change. Ecoregional planning steps are reviewed and potential alternatives are identified for adapting to climate change. Common planning steps include defining the planning region, selecting focal targets, mapping target distributions, assessing current conditions, establishing representation objectives, designing regional scenarios, identifying conservation strategies, and measuring success of regional plans. Since decisions that are implemented today will be revisited into the future, an iterative approach of increasing frequency is required. Key Words: biodiversity conservation, climate change adaptation, conservation strategies, ecological condition, ecoregion, ecoregional planning, focal conservation target, scenario design, site selection, target distribution, representation objectives, resilience

Evaluating the costs and benefits of systematic data acquisition for conservation assessments

Article

Jun 2014

Effective decision-making in conservation often is constrained by data quality. Uncertainties associated with poor quality or sparse data can lead to the misuse of limited resources and potentially the failure of conservation practice. Data acquisition, which can help improve decision-making, is constrained by limited budgets and time. This is especially concerning for rare species, the most in need of conservation, but the most difficult to accurately represent in conservation plans. Here we test the suitability of three different sampling design strategies (two systematic vs. random) designed to improve the quality of information available for conservation planning involving rare species. We modelled the spatial distribution of freshwater fish species in a data rich area in northern Australia using a large dataset (representing the best attainable data or true distribution) and simulate increasing subsets of data acquired through the three alternative sampling designs. We then evaluated omission and commission errors in conservation planning outcomes, efficiency and return on investment of data acquisition for conservation planning outcomes obtained from the different data availability x sampling design strategies. Even though we were able to find new species more effectively through systematic sampling designs, this did not (1) translate into reduced errors in conservation planning outcomes for rare species and (2) meet our goal of enhancing cost-effectiveness of conservation planning. Our results suggest that collecting more biodiversity data, irrespective of the sampling design used, does not necessarily reduce data uncertainty issues and could lead to the misuse of the limited resources and ultimately the failure of conservation practice.

Assessing the risks and opportunities of presence-only data for conservation planning

Article

Jul 2014
J BIOGEOGR

Aim Presence‐only data represent a significant source of information for quantifying biodiversity distributions and provide opportunities for use in conservation planning. The large databases of presence‐only records that are available and the lower cost of acquisition could help overcome the traditional problem of lack of data for conservation. However, there are risks associated with the use of presence‐only data inherent with the lack of true absences that might cause omission errors (species are erroneously thought to be absent) and loss of efficiency (more areas are thought to be necessary than needed). These errors could constrain the economic viability of conservation plans and thus the success of conservation practice. We therefore evaluated the opportunities and risks of using presence‐only data for conservation planning. Location Northern Australia. Methods The effects of using two different types (presence‐only and presence–absence) and different quantities of data were simulated by building predictive models on different subsets of data with increasing numbers of presence–absence or presence‐only records or a combination of both, for 80 freshwater fish species. We then compared the performance of conservation planning outcomes with the best information attainable (a true model built on the complete set of presence–absence data). We measured omission and commission errors in conservation planning outcomes, and the efficiency of and return on the investment in data acquisition. Results Including presence‐only data helped reduce commission and omission errors in conservation planning outcomes, but only when used in combination with at least some presence–absence data. The use of just a large quantity of presence‐only data resulted in significant reductions in the efficiency of conservation planning outcomes, as more areas than actually needed were required to achieve conservation targets. This reduction in efficiency was mainly related to inflated omission errors. Main conclusions We recommend using presence‐only data cautiously if this is the only source of data available; whenever possible, presence‐only data should be complemented with presence–absence data.

Scale dependence of landscape indices based on the analysis of land use database

Data

Jul 2014

Scale dependence of landscape indices based on the analysis of land use database

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2014

Scale dependence of geo-science principles, resulting from geo-spatial heterogeneity and multidimension, is one of the most important obstacles in searching universal laws of geosciences. Scale quantitative researches which derived from landscape ecology have provided a possible way to cross scale dependent barriers. Scale quantitative researches of landscape ecology are accomplished through the calculation of landscape indices, and yet a scale dependent exists in landscape indices themselves. The purpose of this study is to investigate scale dependence and optimum grain size of landscape metrics based on a specific data source. In this paper, the change value and variation coefficient of 25 landscape metrics are calculated in 17 kinds of grain size, with the second land survey database of Shiqiaoyi Town. The landscape metrics are grouped into 3 types according to the results of calculations, to analyze the characteristics and reasons of 25 landscape metrics in response to changing grain size, and discussing grain dependent research method of landscape indices. The Correlations between metrics are elaborated by using the method of correlation analysis, which laid the foundation of index selection for relevant application. The results shows that the appropriate grain size for calculating landscape metrics is 5.5 m to10 m, and the best analyzing grain size is 10 m, in the case of Shiqiaoyi Town based on land use map at 1: 10 000 scales.

Environmental, spatial and phylogenetic determinants of fish life-history traits and functional composition of Australian rivers

Article

Sep 2013
FRESHWATER BIOL

The biogeography of freshwater fish is determined in part by large‐scale filters such as phylogenetic history, the spatial arrangement of catchments and environmental variability. Species are filtered from the regional pool if they possess a combination of functional traits enabling them to persist in the local environment. This article aims to quantify the relative importance of these large‐scale filters in determining spatial variation in freshwater fish life‐history traits and functional trait composition of A ustralian river basins. We developed a database of 10 life‐history traits for 141 native freshwater fish species and compiled species distribution data for 123 river basins across the A ustralian continent. In order to partition the variation in the representation of life‐history trait into unique and overlapping components, we also quantified the degree of phylogenetic relatedness among species, the geographical arrangement of river basins throughout the landscape and 12 broad‐scale environmental factors. We then related life‐history trait composition to gradients of environmental variation by constrained multivariate ordination and simple linear regression. Our explanatory matrices accounted for 86.8% of the total variation in life‐history trait composition at the river basin scale, of which 59.4% could be attributed to phylogeny and spatially structured environmental variation. This component represents the overlap among the broad‐scale filtering processes of phylogenetic history, spatial autocorrelation and environmental variability in accounting for the distribution of life‐history traits across A ustralian river basins. Our analysis showed strong associations between suites of life‐history traits that define generation time and reproductive output and a strong climate–hydrological gradient across the landscape. We also showed significant correlations between specific environmental variables and a number of key life‐history traits that highlight the importance of trait‐mediated environmental filters at broad spatial scales. This study advances our conceptual understanding of broad‐scale community assembly theory and has revealed trait–environment relationships at scales relevant to restoration and conservation of aquatic biodiversity. Our study provides greater insight into the determinants of spatial variation in fish species distributions and potentially addresses key scientific challenges, such as understanding how fish communities are assembled, and identifies the potential threats to, and responses of, these communities caused by environmental change.

Future-proofing the Emergency Recovery Plan for freshwater biodiversity

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2023

Freshwater biodiversity loss is accelerating globally, but humanity can change this trajectory through actions that enable recovery. To be successful, these actions require coordination and planning at a global scale. The Emergency Recovery Plan for global freshwater biodiversity aims to reduce the risk for freshwater biodiversity loss through six priority actions: 1) accelerate implementation of environmental flows; 2) improve water quality to sustain aquatic life; 3) protect and restore critical habitats; 4) manage exploitation of freshwater species and riverine aggregates; 5) prevent and control nonnative species invasions in freshwater habitats; and 6) safeguard and restore freshwater connectivity. These actions can be implemented using future-proofing approaches that anticipate future risks (e.g., emerging pollutants, new invaders, synergistic effects) and minimize likely stressors to make conservation of freshwater biodiversity more resilient to climate change and other global environmental challenges. While uncertainty with respect to past observations is not a new concern for freshwater biodiversity, future-proofing has the distinction of accounting for the uncertainty of future conditions that have no historical baseline. The level of uncertainty with respect to future conditions is unprecedented. Future-proofing of the Emergency Recovery Plan for freshwater biodiversity will require anticipating future changes and developing and implementing actions to address those future changes. Here, we showcase future-proofing approaches likely to be successful using local case studies and examples. Ensuring that response options within the Emergency Recovery Plan are future-proofed will provide decision-makers with science-informed choices, even in the face of uncertain and potentially new future conditions. We are at an inflection point for global freshwater biodiversity loss; learning from defeats and successes can support improved actions towards a sustainable future.

Boosting freshwater fish conservation with high‐resolution distribution mapping across a large territory

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2023
CONSERV BIOL

The lack of high‐resolution distribution maps for freshwater species across large extents fundamentally challenges biodiversity conservation worldwide. We devised a simple framework to delineate the distributions of freshwater fishes in a high‐resolution drainage map based on stacked species distribution models and expert information. We applied this framework to the entire Chinese freshwater fish fauna (>1600 species) to examine high‐resolution biodiversity patterns and reveal potential conflicts between freshwater biodiversity and anthropogenic disturbances. The correlations between spatial patterns of biodiversity facets (species richness, endemicity, and phylogenetic diversity) were all significant (r = 0.43–0.98, p < 0.001). Areas with high values of different biodiversity facets overlapped with anthropogenic disturbances. Existing protected areas (PAs), covering 22% of China's territory, protected 25–29% of fish habitats, 16–23% of species, and 30–31% of priority conservation areas. Moreover, 6–21% of the species were completely unprotected. These results suggest the need for extending the network of PAs to ensure the conservation of China's freshwater fishes and the goods and services they provide. Specifically, middle to low reaches of large rivers and their associated lakes from northeast to southwest China hosted the most diverse species assemblages and thus should be the target of future expansions of the network of PAs. More generally, our framework, which can be used to draw high‐resolution freshwater biodiversity maps combining species occurrence data and expert knowledge on species distribution, provides an efficient way to design PAs regardless of the ecosystem, taxonomic group, or region considered.

Promoting connectivity between priority freshwater sites for conservation in intermittent hydrological systems

Article

Apr 2021

1. Systematic conservation planning in freshwater ecosystems faces multiple challenges because of the dynamic nature of rivers and their multiple dimensions of connectivity. In intermittent hydrological systems connectivity is functional when water is available, allowing the exchange of aquatic individuals between isolated freshwater ecosystems. Integrating these isolated systems in their hydrological context is essential when identifying priority areas for conservation, in order to try to minimize the propagation of threats into target water bodies (management units) from the surrounding landscape. 2. Here, the use of a systematic planning approach is demonstrated to identify a set of priority management units to preserve freshwater biodiversity in an arid system of fragmented water bodies immersed in a landscape subject to a range of impacts. 3. Twenty-six water-dependent taxa from 59 mountain rock pools (gueltas) of three southern Mauritanian mountains were used as a case study. A conservation planning tool (MARXAN) was used to find priority conservation areas to integrate intermittent hydrological systems in their hydrological context, promote connectivity, and minimize the downstream propagation of threats. Three types of connectivity were analysed: (i) no connectivity, (ii) connectivity between gueltas, and (iii) connectivity between gueltas and sub-catchments. 4. Considering different types of longitudinal connectivity affects the number and spatial allocation of the priority gueltas selected, and the conservation status of the gueltas and their upstream areas. Incorporating connections between gueltas and upstream locations in the modelling resulted in the selection of gueltas in areas with a low human footprint and in the increased connectivity of the solutions. 5. The results obtained revealed important locations for local biodiversity conservation, and the method presented can be used when assessing the propagation of potential waterborne threats into isolated management units. The framework developed allows connectivity to be addressed in conservation planning. It can be replicated in regions with similar isolated habitats that connect through intermittent hydrological systems and can also be applied to lateral and vertical hydrological connectivity.

Influences of planning unit shape and size in landscapes dominated by different land-cover types on systematic conservation planning

Article

Full-text available

Aug 2019

The shape and size of planning units (PUs) at the initial stage of regional systematic conservation planning (SCP) can strongly affect the final portfolio. In previous studies, the influence of PU shape and size has typically been considered for single study sites that include mainly natural land cover types. The impacts of PU shape and size in areas dominated by different land cover types have not been compared. We identified and compared the influence of three types of land uses, and shape and size of PUs in the efficiency of final portfolios in SCP. We show that PU shape is not significant for portfolio efficiency in all areas dominated by different land cover types, while smaller size of PUs would be more useful in the heterogeneous landscapes like agricultural and urban areas than the homogeneous landscapes like forest. We also show that the magnitude of the influences of PU shape and size differs depending on the dominant land cover type. Areas dominated by agricultural land cover were the most sensitive to the influence of PU shape and size, whereas areas dominated by forest were the least sensitive. Therefore, we recommend to planners to understand the different impacts of PU shape and size by the dominant land cover type and consider a similar approach with this study. Keywords: MARXAN, Planning unit, Human footprint index, Portfolio efficiency, Human-dominated landscape, Regional conservation planning

Evaluation of habitat protection under the European Natura 2000 conservation network - the example for Germany

Preprint

Full-text available

Jul 2018

In Europe, the world's largest network of protected areas - Natura 2000 (N2000) - has been implemented to protect Europe's biodiversity. N2000 is built upon two cornerstones, the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive (HD), which lists 230 bird species and 230 habitat types, respectively, to be protected. Despite the N2000 sites designated to date are reported to represent the target species and habitats quite well, especially in the terrestrial realm, European biodiversity is still on a steady decline. This leaves us wondering how effective current N2000 sites are; a question that has led to ambigious results for the species part of the directive, while the habitats' representativeness has received very little attention in the scientific literature altogether. Here we developed a generic workflow, which we exemplified for Germany, to assess the status of habitat coverage within the N2000 network, combining information from publicly available data sources. Applying the workflow allows identifying gaps in habitat protection, followed by the prioritization of potential areas of high protection value, using the conservation planning software Marxan. We found that, in Germany, N2000 covers all target habitats. However common habitats were proportionally underrepresented relative to rare ones, contrasting comparable studies for species. Moreover, the German case study suggests that especially highly protected planning units (i.e. areas covered by more than 90% with N2000 sites) build an excellent basis towards a cost-effective and efficient conservation network. Our workflow provides a generic approach to deal with the popular problem of missing habitat data outside of N2000 sites, information which is however crucial for managers to plan conservation action appropriately across Europe. To avoid a biased representation of habitat types within N2000, our results underpin the importance of defining more tangible targets which will allow assessing the trajectory of habitat protection in Europe as well as adjusting the network accordingly - a future necessity in the light of climate change.

Suppl Info - Systematic conservation planning for intraspecific genetic diversity

Data

Full-text available

Apr 2018

Catchment zoning to enhance co-benefits and minimize trade-offs between ecosystem services and freshwater biodiversity conservation

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2018
AQUAT CONSERV

• Integrating ecosystem services (ESs) in landscape planning can help to identify conservation opportunities by finding co‐benefits between biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of regulating and cultural ecosystem services. The adequate integration of ESs needs careful consideration of potential trade‐offs, however, especially between provisioning services and biodiversity conservation (e.g. the potentially negative consequences of agricultural water extraction within areas important for the maintenance of biodiversity). These trade‐offs have been overlooked in systematic spatial planning to date, especially in freshwater systems. • marxan with zones was used to identify priority areas for the conservation of freshwater biodiversity (139 species of freshwater fish, turtles, and waterbirds) and the provision of freshwater ESs in the Daly River, northern Australia. Four different surrogates for ESs were mapped, including those potentially incompatible with conservation goals (i.e. groundwater provision for agriculture and recreational fisheries) and those that are more compatible with conservation (i.e. flood regulation by riparian forests; provision of perennial water). The spatial allocation of multiple management zones was prioritized: (i) three conservation zones, aiming to represent freshwater biodiversity and compatible ESs to enhance co‐benefits; and (ii) two production zones, where access to provisioning ESs could be granted. The representation of ESs obtained when using the multi‐zoning approach was compared with that achieved with a single management zone approach. The comparison was performed across different representation targets. • Different results were found with low and high targets for ESs. With low targets (<25% of all ESs), the multi‐zoning approach achieved up to 53% more co‐benefits than the single‐zone approach. With high targets (>25% of all ESs), the trade‐offs avoided were more evident, with up to 56% less representation of incompatible ESs within conservation zones. • Multi‐zone planning could help decision makers respond better to the increasingly complex catchment management context, caused by an increasing demand for provisioning services and a diminishing availability of resources, as well as manage and plan for challenges in other realms facing similar problems.

Systematic Conservation Planning for Intraspecific Genetic Diversity

Preprint

Full-text available

Feb 2017

Intraspecific diversity informs the demographic and evolutionary histories of populations, and should be a main conservation target. Although approaches exist for identifying relevant biological conservation units, attempts to identify priority conservation areas for intraspecific diversity are scarce, especially within a multi-specific framework. We used neutral molecular data on six European freshwater fish species (Squalius cephalus, Phoxinus phoxinus, Barbatula barbatula, Gobio occitaniae, Leuciscus burdigalensis and Parachondrostoma toxostoma) sampled at the riverscape scale (i.e. the Garonne-Dordogne River basin, France) to determine hot- and cold-spots of genetic diversity, and to identify priority conservation areas using a systematic conservation planning approach. We demonstrate that systematic conservation planning is efficient for identifying priority areas representing a predefined part of the total genetic diversity of a whole landscape. With the exception of private allelic richness, classical genetic diversity indices (allelic richness, genetic uniqueness) were poor predictors for identifying priority areas. Moreover, we identified weak surrogacies among conservation solutions found for each species, implying that conservation solutions are highly species-specific. Nonetheless, we showed that priority areas identified using intraspecific genetic data from multiple species provide more effective conservation solutions than areas identified for single species or on the basis of traditional taxonomic criteria.

Conserving and restoring endangered southern populations of the Squirrel Glider ( Petaurus norfolcensis ) in agricultural landscapes

Article

Jan 2017
Ecol Manag Restor

Southern Squirrel Glider (Petaurus norfolcensis) populations are genetically distinct and generally found in the agricultural landscapes inland of Australia's Great Dividing Range. These populations are considered to be under greater threat of extinction than northern, coastal populations and face a unique set of environmental conditions and conservation challenges. For these reasons, we suggest that southern populations qualify as a separate evolutionarily significant unit to those from the northern, coastal segment of the range and should be managed separately. We summarize the species’ ecology specific to southern populations and relevant to management. We conduct a basic SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis to highlight potential future management directions. From our review of new and existing ecological data and SWOT analysis, we outline ten points of action important for securing the future of southern Squirrel Glider populations. © 2017 Ecological Society of Australia and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

A reliance on agricultural land values in conservation planning alters the spatial distribution of priorities and overestimates the acquisition costs of protected areas

Article

Feb 2016
BIOL CONSERV

A common focus for conservation planning is to identify locations for siting potential protected areas, something that requires estimates for the costs of setting up these areas and benefits for biodiversity of doing so. When cost data are not available over relevant scales, conservation planners commonly rely on proxy data that they hope will estimate conservation costs. Here, we assessed how accurately agricultural land values, a commonly used proxy for cost data in conservation planning, estimate the actual acquisition costs of protected areas, focusing on a case study from the central and southern Appalachians. We compared plans based on cost estimates derived from different sources and that involved different levels of spatial aggregation to understand how a reliance on these estimates would impact conservation planning. We found that the average agricultural land value in a county did not accurately predict the acquisition costs of protected areas in that county. This lack of accuracy was a result of choosing agricultural land values as a proxy for acquisition costs, and not spatial averaging. A reliance on agricultural land values risks diverting limited funds for establishing protected areas away from parcels that offer the greatest return-on-investment. It would also lead a conservation organization to overestimate the budget needed to protect a given number of species. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating data on how much protected areas actually cost in future conservation planning studies.

Conservation and resource management in small tropical islands: Trade-offs between planning unit size, data redundancy and data loss

Article

Nov 2015

Resource management and conservation require the definition of planning units (PUs), i.e., the spatial domain where management decisions are applied. PUs are either pre-established in size and shape following management constraints or are data driven (DDPUs) by overlay of multidisciplinary data layers. The trade-offs between these two approaches have not been investigated previously for small tropical islands and their characteristics. Here, we use resource density, fishing pressure and susceptibility to mortality for a giant clam fishery in a small French Polynesia atoll to discuss the suitability and impact of the two approaches in conservation management. Aggregation to pre-established PU grids highly affected data even for PU as small as 2500 m², with higher loss of spatial information for density and fishing effort. By contrast, DDPU rendered well small scale patterns of interest but reduced redundancy. Our results stress the importance of considering the initial patterns of data in the definition of planning units, and we suggest a 3 steps process to identify adequate trade-offs between PU size, PU redundancy and data loss to properly draw practical recommendations for small islands.

Identification of priority areas for the conservation and restoration of stream fish assemblages. Application at the scale of France and Pas-de-Calais

Article

Nov 2014

Anthony Maire

The global loss of biodiversity affects freshwater ecosystems, making it crucial to identify the priority management actions in order to protect freshwater biodiversity in an effective and sustainable way. Based on an innovative multi-faceted framework of diversity, the spatial priorities for the conservation of stream fish assemblages have been identified at the scale of France. Their robustness to several drivers of global changes has then been assessed to identify the areas that are likely to efficiently protect the present-day biodiversity in the future. The methodological framework proposed herein has finally been applied to the river network of the Pas-de-Calais department located in northern France to accurately identify the local conservation and restoration priorities. These management tools can be used to support the establishment of management actions in accordance with the needs of the local environmental decision-makers.

Catchment zoning for freshwater conservation: Refining plans to enhance action on the ground

Article

Apr 2015
J APPL ECOL

1. Recent advances in freshwater conservation planning allow addressing some of the specific needs of these systems. These include spatial connectivity or propagation of threats along stream networks, essential to ensure the maintenance of ecosystem processes and the biodiversity they sustain. However, these peculiarities make conservation recommendations difficult to implement as they often require considering large areas that cannot be managed under conventional conservation schemes (e.g. strict protection). 2. To facilitate the implementation of conservation in freshwater systems, a multi-zoning approach with different management zones subject to different management regimes was proposed. So far, this approach has only been used in post hoc exercises where zones were allocated using expert criteria. This might undermine the cost-effectiveness of conservation recommendations, because both the allocation and extent of these zones has never been optimized using the principles of systematic planning. 3. Here, we demonstrate how to create a catchment multi-zone plan by using a commonly applied tool in marine and terrestrial realms. We first test the capability of Marxan with Zones to address problems in rivers by using a simulated example and then apply the findings to a real case in the Daly River catchment, northern Australia. We also demonstrate how to address common conservation planning issues, such as accounting for threats or species-specific connectivity needs in this multi-zone framework, and evaluate their effects on the spatial distribution and extent of different zones. 4. We found that by prioritizing the allocation of zones subject to different management regimes we could minimize the total area in need of strict conservation by a two-fold factor. This reduction can be further reduced (three-fold) when considering species’ connectivity needs. The integration of threats helped reduce the average threats of areas selected by a two-fold factor. 5. Synthesis and applications. Catchment zoning can help refine conservation recommendations and enhance cost-effectiveness by prescribing different management regimes informed by ecological needs or distribution of threats. Reliable information on these factors is key to ensure soundness of planning. Freely available software can be used to implement the approach we demonstrate here.

‘We like to listen to stories about fish’: integrating indigenous ecological and scientific knowledge to inform environmental flow assessments.

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2014
ECOL SOC

Studies that apply indigenous ecological knowledge to contemporary resource management problems are increasing globally; however, few of these studies have contributed to environmental water management. We interviewed three indigenous landowning groups in a tropical Australian catchment subject to increasing water resource development pressure and trialed tools to integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge of the biology and ecology of freshwater fish to assess their water requirements. The differences, similarities, and complementarities between the knowledge of fish held by indigenous people and scientists are discussed in the context of the changing socioeconomic circumstances experienced by indigenous communities of north Australia. In addition to eliciting indigenous knowledge that confirmed field fish survey results, the approach generated knowledge that was new to both science and indigenous participants, respectively. Indigenous knowledge influenced (1) the conceptual models developed by scientists to understand the flow ecology and (2) the structure of risk assessment tools designed to understand the vulnerability of particular fish to low-flow scenarios.

Comment sélectionner les zones prioritaires pour la conservation et la restauration des communautés de poissons de rivière ? Applications aux échelles de la France et du Pas-de-Calais

Thesis

Full-text available

Nov 2014

Anthony Maire

"We Like to Listen to Stories about Fish": Integrating Indigenous Ecological and Scientific Knowledge to Inform Environmental Flow Assessments

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2014
ECOL SOC

Planning Across Freshwater and Terrestrial Realms: Cobenefits and Tradeoffs Between Conservation Actions

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2014

Conservation planning has historically been restricted to planning within single realms (i.e. marine, terrestrial or freshwater). Recently progress has been made in approaches for cross-realm planning which may enhance the ability to effectively manage processes that sustain biodiversity and ecosystem functions (e.g., connectivity) and thus minimize threats more efficiently. Current advances, however, have not optimally accounted for the fact that individual conservation management actions often have impacts across realms. We advance the existing cross-realm planning literature by presenting a conceptual framework for considering both co-benefits and tradeoffs between multiple realms (specifically freshwater and terrestrial). This conceptual framework is founded on a review of 1) the shared threats and management actions across realms and 2) existing literature on cross-realm planning to highlight recent research achievements and gaps. We identify current challenges and opportunities associated with the application of our framework and consider the more general prospects for cross-realm planning. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Kennard, M.J. (ed) (2010). Identifying high conservation value aquatic ecosystems in northern Australia. Interim Report for the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and the National Water Commission. Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) Commonwealth Environmental Research Facility, Charles Darwin University, Darwin. ISBN: 978‐1‐921576‐23‐2.

Book

Full-text available

Jan 2014

Mark J Kennard

Downscaling European species atlas distributions to a finer resolution

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2005
GLOBAL ECOL BIOGEOGR

Aim One of the limitations to using species’ distribution atlases in conservation planning is their coarse resolution relative to the needs of local planners. In this study, a simple approach to downscale original species atlas distributions to a finer resolution is outlined. If such a procedure yielded accurate downscaled predictions, then it could be an aid to using available distribution atlases in real-world local conservation decisions. Location Europe. Methods An iterative procedure based on generalized additive modelling is used to downscale original European 50 × 50 km distributions of 2189 plant and terrestrial vertebrate species to c. 10 × 10 km grid resolution. Models are trained on 70% of the original data and evaluated on the remaining 30%, using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) procedure. Fitted models are then interpolated to a finer resolution. A British dataset comprising distributions of 81 passerine-bird species in a 10 × 10 km grid is used as a test bed to assess the accuracy of the downscaled predictions. European-wide, downscaled predictions are further evaluated in terms of their ability to reproduce: (1) spatial patterns of coincidence in species richness scores among different groups; and (2) spatial patterns of coincidence in richness, rarity and complementarity hotspots. Results There was a generally good agreement between downscaled and observed fine-resolution distributions for passerine species in Britain (median Jaccard similarity = 70%; lower quartile = 36%; upper quartile = 88%). In contrast, the correlation between downscaled and observed passerine species richness was relatively low (rho = 0.31) indicating a pattern of error propagation through the process of overlaying downscaled distributions for many species. It was also found that measures of model accuracy in fitting original data (ROC) were a poor predictor of models’ ability to interpolate distributions at fine resolutions (rho = −0.10). Although European hotspots were not fully coincident between observed and modelled coarse-resolution data, or between modelled coarse resolution and modelled downscaled data, there was evidence that downscaled distributions were able to maintain original cross-taxon coincidence of species-richness scores, at least for terrestrial vertebrate groups. Downscaled distributions were also able to uncover important environmental gradients otherwise blurred by coarse-resolution data. Main conclusions Despite uncertainties, downscaling procedures may prove useful to identify reserves that are more meaningfully related to local patterns of environmental variation. Potential errors arising from the presence of false positives may be reduced if downscaled-distribution records projected to occur outside the range of original coarse-resolution data are excluded. However, the usefulness of this procedure may be limited to data-rich regions. If downscaling procedures are applied to data-poor regions, then there is a need to undertake further research to understand the structure of error in models. In particular, it would be important to investigate which species are poorly modelled, where and why. Without such an assessment it is difficult to support unsupervised use of downscaled data in most real-world situations.

Planning for Biodiversity Conservation: Putting Conservation Science into Practice

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2009

conservation dollars to address this crisis has had a profound influence on the planning methods and conservation strate-gies of governmental and nongovernmental organizations. For example, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Conservation International have pinpointed priority ecoregions and bio-diversity "hotspots," respectively, that represent some of the most significant remaining regions for conserving the world's biological diversity (Olson and Dinerstein 1998, Myers et al. 2000). Both The Nature Conservancy (TNC) (Master et al. 1998) and World Wildlife Fund (Abell et al. 2000) have set con-servation priorities at the scale of large watersheds for fresh-water ecosystems in the United States. The National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) of the US Geological Survey's Bio-logical Resources Division is using biological survey data, remote sensing, and geographic information systems (GIS) technology at the state level to identify those native species and ecosystems that are not adequately represented in existing con-servation lands, in other words, the aim of the program is to detect conservation "gaps" (Jennings 2000). Some state governments in the United States are also developing their own biodiversity conservation plans (e. g., Kautz and Cox 2001).

Addressing longitudinal connectivity in the systematic conservation planning of fresh waters

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2010
FRESHWATER BIOL

1. Freshwater conservation has received less attention than its terrestrial or marine counterparts. Given the accelerated rate of change and intensive human use that freshwater ecosystems are submitted to, it is urgent to focus more attention on fresh waters. Existing conservation planning tools – such as Marxan – need to be modified to account for the special nature of these systems. Connectivity plays a key role in freshwater ecosystems. Threats are mediated along river corridors, and the condition of the entire catchment influences river biodiversity downstream. This needs to be considered in conservation planning. 2. The probabilities of occurrence of nine native freshwater fish species in a Mediterranean river basin, obtained from Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines‐ Generalized Linear Model (MARS‐GLM) models, were used as features to develop spatial conservation priorities. The priorities accounted for complementarity and spatial design issues. 3. To deal with the connected nature of rivers, we modified Marxan’s boundary length penalty, avoiding the selection of isolated planning units and forcing the inclusion of closer upstream areas. We introduced ‘virtual boundaries’ between non‐headwater stream segments and added distance‐weighted penalties to the overall connectivity cost (CP) when stream segments upstream of the selected planning units are not selected. 4. This approach to prioritising connectivity is concordant with ecological theory, as it considers the natural and roughly exponential decay of upstream influences with distance. It accounts for the natural capacity of rivers to mitigate impacts when designing reserves. When connectivity was not emphasised, Marxan prioritised natural corridors for longitudinal movements. In contrast, whole sub‐basins were prioritised when connectivity was emphasised. Changing the relative emphasis on connectivity substantially changed the spatial prioritisation; our conservation investment could move from one basin to another. 5. Our novel approach to dealing with directional connectivity enables managers of freshwater systems to set ecologically meaningful spatial conservation priorities.

The influence of planning unit characteristics on the efficiency and spatial pattern of systematic conservation planning assessments

Article

Full-text available

Apr 2011

Systematic conservation planning is a widely used approach for designing protected area systems and ecological networks. This generally involves dividing the planning region into a series of planning units and using computer software to select portfolios of these units that meet specified conservation targets whilst minimising conservation costs. Previous research has shown that changing the size and shape of these planning units can alter the apparent spatial characteristics of the underlying data and thus influence conservation assessment results. However, this may be less problematic when using newer software that can account for additional constraints based on portfolio costs and fragmentation levels. Here we investigate these issues using a dataset from southern Africa and measure the extent to which changing planning unit shape, size and baseline affects the results of conservation planning assessments. We show that using hexagonal planning units instead of squares produces more efficient and less fragmented portfolios and that using larger planning units produces portfolios that are less efficient but more likely to identify the same priority areas. We also show that using real-world constraints in the analysis, based on reducing socio-economic costs and minimising fragmentation levels, reduces the influence of planning unit characteristics on the results and so argue that future studies should adopt a similar approach when investigating factors that influence conservation assessments.

Marxan and relatives: Software for spatial conservation prioritization

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2011

Coverage Provided by the Global Protected-Area System: Is It Enough?

Article

Full-text available

Dec 2004

Protected-area targets of 10% of a biome, of a country, or of the planet have often been used in conservation planning. The new World Database on Protected Areas shows that terrestrial protected-area coverage now approaches 12% worldwide. Does this mean that the establishment of new protected areas can cease? This was the core question of the “Building Comprehensive Protected Area Systems” stream of the Fifth World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, in 2003. To answer it requires global gap analysis, the subject of the special section of BioScience for which this article serves as an introduction. We also provide an overview of the extraordinary data sets now available to allow global gap analysis and, based on these, an assessment of the degree to which existing protected-area systems represent biodiversity. Coverage varies geographically, but is less than 2% for some bioregions, and more than 12% of 11,633 bird, mammal, amphibian, and turtle species are wholly unrepresented. The global protected-area systems are far from complete.

Between-country collaboration and consideration of costs increase conservation planning efficiency in the Mediterranean Basin

Article

Full-text available

Sep 2009
P NATL ACAD SCI USA

The importance of global and regional coordination in conservation is growing, although currently, the majority of conservation programs are applied at national and subnational scales. Nevertheless, multinational programs incur transaction costs and resources beyond what is required in national programs. Given the need to maximize returns on investment within limited conservation budgets, it is crucial to quantify how much more biodiversity can be protected by coordinating multinational conservation efforts when resources are fungible. Previous studies that compared different scales of conservation decision-making mostly ignored spatial variability in biodiversity threats and the cost of actions. Here, we developed a simple integrating metric, taking into account both the cost of conservation and threats to biodiversity. We examined the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot, which encompasses over 20 countries. We discovered that for vertebrates to achieve similar conservation benefits, one would need substantially more money and area if each country were to act independently as compared to fully coordinated action across the Basin. A fully coordinated conservation plan is expected to save approximately US$67 billion, 45% of total cost, compared with the uncoordinated plan; and if implemented over a 10-year period, the plan would cost approximately 0.1% of the gross national income of all European Union (EU) countries annually. The initiative declared in the recent Paris Summit for the Mediterranean provides a political basis for such complex coordination. Surprisingly, because many conservation priority areas selected are located in EU countries, a partly coordinated solution incorporating only EU-Mediterranean countries is almost as efficient as the fully coordinated scenario.

Reserve Networks Based on Richness Hotspots and Representation Vary with Scale

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2006

While the importance of spatial scale in ecology is well established, few studies have investigated the impact of data grain on conservation planning outcomes. In this study, we compared species richness hotspot and representation networks developed at five grain sizes. We used species distribution maps for mammals and birds developed by the Arizona and New Mexico Gap Analysis Programs (GAP) to produce 1-km2, 100-kmn2, 625-km2, 2500-km2, and 10,000-km2 grid cell resolution distribution maps. We used these distribution maps to generate species richness and hotspot (95th quantile) maps for each taxon in each state. Species composition information at each grain size was used to develop two types of representation networks using the reserve selection software MARXAN. Reserve selection analyses were restricted to Arizona birds due to considerable computation requirements. We used MARXAN to create best reserve networks based on the minimum area required to represent each species at least once and equal area networks based on irreplaceability values. We also measured the median area of each species' distribution included in hotspot (mammals and birds of Arizona and New Mexico) and irreplaceability (Arizona birds) networks across all species. Mean area overlap between richness hotspot reserves identified at the five grain sizes was 29% (grand mean for four within-taxon/state comparisons), mean overlap for irreplaceability reserve networks was 32%, and mean overlap for best reserve networks was 53%. Hotspots for mammals and birds showed low overlap with a mean of 30%. Comparison of hotspots and irreplaceability networks showed very low overlap with a mean of 13%. For hotspots, median species distribution area protected within reserves declined monotonically from a high of 11% for 1-km2 networks down to 6% for 10,000-km2 networks. Irreplaceability networks showed a similar, but more variable, pattern of decline. This work clearly shows that map resolution has a profound effect on conservation planning outcomes and that hotspot and representation outcomes may be strikingly dissimilar. Thus, conservation planning is scale dependent, such that reserves developed using coarse-grained data do not subsume fine-grained reserves. Moreover, preserving both full species representation and species rich areas may require combined reserve design strategies.

Influence of Representation Targets on the Total Area of Conservation‐Area Networks

Article

Full-text available

Jul 2008
CONSERV BIOL

Systematic conservation planning typically requires specification of quantitative representation targets for biodiversity surrogates such as species, vegetation types, and environmental parameters. Targets are usually specified either as the minimum total area in a conservation-area network in which a surrogate must be present or as the proportion of a surrogate's existing spatial distribution required to be in the network. Because the biological basis for setting targets is often unclear, a better understanding of how targets affect selection of conservation areas is needed. We studied how the total area of conservation-area networks depends on percentage targets ranging from 5% to 95%. We analyzed 12 data sets of different surrogate distributions from 5 regions: Korea, Mexico, Québec, Queensland, and West Virginia. To assess the effect of spatial resolution on the target-area relationship, we also analyzed each data set at 7 spatial resolutions ranging from 0.01° × 0.01° to 0.10° × 0.10°. Most of the data sets showed a linear relationship between representation targets and total area of conservation-area networks that was invariant across changes in spatial resolution. The slope of this relationship indicated how total area increased with target level, and our results suggest that greater surrogate representation requires significantly more area. One data set exhibited a highly nonlinear relationship. The results for this data set suggest a new method for setting targets on the basis of the functional form of target-area relationships. In particular, the method shows how the target-area relationship can provide a rationale for setting targets solely on the basis of distributional information about surrogates.

Avoiding Costly Conservation Mistakes: The Importance of Defining Actions and Costs in Spatial Priority Setting

Article

Full-text available

Feb 2008
PLOS ONE

The typical mandate in conservation planning is to identify areas that represent biodiversity targets within the smallest possible area of land or sea, despite the fact that area may be a poor surrogate for the cost of many conservation actions. It is also common for priorities for conservation investment to be identified without regard to the particular conservation action that will be implemented. This demonstrates inadequate problem specification and may lead to inefficiency: the cost of alternative conservation actions can differ throughout a landscape, and may result in dissimilar conservation priorities. We investigate the importance of formulating conservation planning problems with objectives and cost data that relate to specific conservation actions. We identify priority areas in Australia for two alternative conservation actions: land acquisition and stewardship. Our analyses show that using the cost surrogate that most closely reflects the planned conservation action can cut the cost of achieving our biodiversity goals by half. We highlight spatial differences in relative priorities for land acquisition and stewardship in Australia, and provide a simple approach for determining which action should be undertaken where. Our study shows that a poorly posed conservation problem that fails to pre-specify the planned conservation action and incorporate cost a priori can lead to expensive mistakes. We can be more efficient in achieving conservation goals by clearly specifying our conservation objective and parameterising the problem with economic data that reflects this objective.

Conservation Prioritization and Uncertainty in Planning Inputs

Chapter

May 2009

Habitat loss and deterioration, climate change, and economic pressures for resource extraction have all led to a global loss of biodiversity. The limited resources available for conservation need to be used both effectively and efficiently in order to minimise further losses. Spatial conservation prioritization addresses the question of how we should allocate conservation effort and funds in space and time. While the benefits of quantitative conservation prioritization methods have been widely promoted, adoption of these methods in "real-world" planning and implementation is still in its infancy, partly due to the difficulty of identifying which methods and tools (if any) are suited to specific planning problems. Spatial Conservation Prioritization brings together a team of leading scientists to introduce the conceptual and methodological aspects of how to undertake spatial conservation planning in a quantitative manner. It provides the reader with information on when, why, and how to use which statistical and computational methods for conservation prioritization. Important topics underlying spatial prioritization including metapopulation modelling, population viability analysis modelling, species distribution modelling, and uncertainty analysis are discussed, as well as operational definitions and methods. The book includes chapters on the most widely used and latest software, and concludes with an insight into the future of the field.

Marxan and Relatives: Software for Spatial Conservation Prioritization

Chapter

May 2009

Arc Hydro: GIS for water resources

Book

Jan 2002

David R Maidment

Conservation priorization and uncertainty in planning inputs

Article

Jan 2009

Mapping the environment at different scales: benefits and costs for nature conservation

Article

Jan 1991

The benefits of mapping are quantified and related to map scale. The primary benefit of mapping is the delineation of units which are more homogeneous in terms of physical attributes or species than the landscape at large. A secondary benefit is the representation of fine scale unmapped diversity, in this case species, by reserving examples of map units. Analyses of costs of soil and land use surveys in relation to map scale are reviewed and assumed to apply to vegetation mapping. Costs of reserving units at different scales are simulated. Cost-effectiveness curves for homogeneity/survey cost, species reserved/survey cost and species reserved/reservation cost all peak at coarse map scales and decline with finer scales. If the benefits of mapping are to be maximised then mapping and reserve selection are necessary at a relatively fine scale, despite low cost-effectiveness. -Authors

Mapping of Species Richness for Conservation of Biological Diversity: Conceptual and Methodological Issues

Article

Aug 1996

Biodiversity mapping (e.g., the Gap Analysis Program [GAP]), in which vegetative features and categories of land use are mapped at coarse spatial scales, has been proposed as a reliable tool for land use decisions (e.g., reserve identification, selection, and design). This implicitly assumes that species richness data collected at coarse spatio-temporal scales provide a first-order approximation to community and ecosystem representation and persistence. This assumption may be false because (1) species abundance distributions and species richness are poor surrogates for community/ecosystem processes, and are scale dependent; (2) species abundance and richness data are unreliable because of unequal and unknown sampling probabilities and species-habitat models of doubtful reliability; (3) mapped species richness data may be inherently resistant to "scaling up" or "scaling down": and (4) decision-making based on mapped species richness patterns may be sensitive to errors from unreliable data and models, resulting in suboptimal conservation decisions. We suggest an approach in which mapped data are linked to management via demographic models, multiscale sampling, and decision theory. We use a numerical representation of a system in which vegetation data are assumed to be known and mapped without error, a simple model relating habitat to predicted species persistence, and statistical decision theory to illustrate use of mapped data in conservation decision-making and the impacts of uncertainty in data or models on the decision outcome.

Integrating freshwater and terrestrial priorities in conservation planning

Article

Oct 2009
BIOL CONSERV

The integration of freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity priorities in systematic conservation planning is a major challenge to conservation planners. Maintaining upstream–downstream connectivity and the influence of catchments on freshwater ecological integrity are some of the issues that make it difficult to reconcile terrestrial and freshwater conservation planning. As a result most conservation assessments are often biased towards terrestrial systems without adequate incorporation of freshwater biodiversity in determining priority areas for conservation. In this paper, we propose a protocol for integrating the assessment of freshwater and terrestrial priorities in conservation planning, based on a case study from Mpumalanga Province in South Africa. The approach involves the separate assessment of freshwater priority areas, and using the outcome to influence the selection of terrestrial priority areas. This allowed both freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity to be incorporated in conservation planning without compromising their unique requirements. To test the effectiveness of this approach, we assessed percentage overlap between freshwater and terrestrial priority areas, target achievement, and the area required to achieve targets. We then compared the outcome from the proposed approach with the separate assessments of freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity priorities, and when both systems are given an equal weighting in a single assessment. The results showed that there was a noticeable improvement in the overlap of priority areas for freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity from 23% to 47%. Target achievement for freshwater biodiversity improved by 10% when terrestrial assessment was based on freshwater priority areas as opposed to terrestrial systems being assessed alone. There was negligible increase in area required, whether there was integration of freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity or no integration. We conclude that the most efficient way to achieve integration in conservation planning is to preferentially select areas where freshwater and terrestrial biodiversity priorities overlap.

Integrating multi-directional connectivity requirements in systematic conservation planning in freshwater systems

Article

Jan 2012
DIVERS DISTRIB

Aim Recent efforts to apply the principles of systematic conservation planning to freshwater ecosystems have focused on the special connected nature of these systems as a way to ensure adequacy (long-term maintenance of biodiversity). Connectivity is important in maintaining biodiversity and key ecological processes in freshwater environments and is of special relevance for conservation planning in these systems. However, freshwater conservation planning has focused on longitudinal connectivity requirements within riverine ecosystems, while other habitats, such as floodplain wetlands or lakes and connections among them, have been overlooked. Here, we address this gap by incorporating a new component of connectivity in addition to the traditional longitudinal measure. Location Northern Australia. Methods We integrate lateral connections between freshwater areas (e.g. lakes and wetlands) that are not directly connected by the river network and the longitudinal upstream–downstream connections. We demonstrate how this can be used to incorporate ecological requirements of some water-dependent taxa that can move across drainage divides, such as waterbirds. Results When applied together, the different connectivity rules allow the identification of priority areas that contain whole lakes or wetlands, their closest neighbours whenever possible, and the upstream/downstream reaches of rivers that flow into or from them. This would facilitate longitudinal and lateral movements of biota while minimizing the influence of disturbances potentially received from upstream or downstream reaches. Main conclusions This new approach to defining and applying different connectivity rules can help improve the adequacy of freshwater-protected areas by enhancing movements of biodiversity within priority areas. The integration of multiple connectivity needs can also serve as a bridge to integrate freshwater and terrestrial conservation planning.

Reference vs. present-day condition: Early planning decisions influence the achievement of conservation objectives

Article

Sep 2011
AQUAT CONSERV

ABSTRACTA vast scientific literature has been devoted to identifying the best way to represent biodiversity for conservation in the last decade. Methods exist for deciding how to use scarce information and avoid omission and commission errors. The effect of these errors on reserve efficiency does not arise only from the accuracy of data representing conservation features, as usually considered. There are also several underlying assumptions associated with the type of data used that might affect accuracy of conservation decision-making and compromise achievement of conservation objectives.Here the effects of two management scenarios on selection of priority areas for conservation are explored. The spatial distribution of 10 native freshwater fish species in an Iberian basin under present-day and reference conditions were modelled and priority areas for both scenarios using the same spatial and cost constraints were identified.Priority areas identified under the present-day scenario reflected the up-to-date spatial distribution of species and avoided the selection of highly perturbed and costly areas. The isolated spatial distribution of native populations imposed by the current perturbation status limited the spatial connectivity between priority areas under the present-day scenario. Most importantly for the achievement of conservation objectives, priority areas selected under both scenarios did not overlap.Given that the reference scenario was based on potential presence of native species the actual representation of species would be overestimated if consideration were not given to restoring reference conditions (high commission errors). Based on results obtained it is recommended that planners give more consideration to the current perturbation status when identifying priority areas for conservation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

When the method for mapping species matters: Defining priority areas for conservation of African freshwater turtles

Article

May 2011
DIVERS DISTRIB

Aim Defining priority areas for conservation is essential to minimize biodiversity loss, but the adoption of different methods for describing species distributions influences the outcomes. In order to provide a robust basis for the conservation of freshwater turtles in Africa, we compared the effect that different species-mapping approaches had on derived patterns of species richness, species vulnerability and protected-area representativeness. Location Africa. Methods We adopted three different approaches with increasing complexity for generating species distribution maps. The first approach was based on the geographic intersection of species records and grid squares; the second on the union of local convex polygons; and the third on inductive distribution modelling techniques. We used distribution maps, generated using these three approaches, to determine conservation priorities based on geographic patterns of species richness and vulnerability, as well as for conducting gap and irreplaceability analyses. Results We obtained markedly different distribution maps using the three methods, which in turn caused differences in conservation priorities. The grid-square approach underestimated range sizes and species richness, while the polygon approach overestimated these attributes. The distribution modelling approach provided the most realistic outcome in terms of diversity patterns, by minimizing both commission and omission errors. An integrated map of conservation priority – derived by combining individual measures of priority based on the distribution modelling approach – identified the Gulf of Guinea coast and the Albertine Rift as major priority areas. Main conclusions Each species-mapping approach has both advantages and disadvantages. The choice of the most appropriate approach in any given situation depends on the availability of locality records and on the relative importance of mitigating omission and commission errors. Our findings suggest that in most circumstances, the use of distribution modelling has many advantages relative to the other approaches. The priority areas identified in this study should be considered for targeting efforts to conserve Africa freshwater turtles in the coming years.

Bayesian network models for environmental flow decision making in the Daly River, Northern Territory, Australia

Article

Mar 2012
RIVER RES APPL

This paper reports the development and application of two Bayesian Network models to assist decision making on the environmental flows required to maintain the ecological health of the Daly River (Northern Territory, Australia). Currently, the Daly River is unregulated, with only a small volume of water extracted annually for agriculture. However, there is considerable pressure for further agricultural development in the catchment, particularly with demand for extra water extraction during the dry season (May–November). The abundances of two fish species—barramundi ( Lates calcarifer ) and sooty grunter ( Hephaestus fuliginosus )—were chosen as the ecological endpoints for the models, which linked dry season flows to key aspects of the biology of each species. Where available, data were used to define flow–fish habitat relationships, but most of the relationships were defined by expert opinion because of a lack of quantified ecological knowledge. Recent field data on fish abundances were used to validate the models and gave prediction errors of 20–30%. The barramundi model indicated that the adult sub‐population was key to overall fish abundance, with this sub‐population particularly impacted by the timing of abstraction (early vs. late dry season). The sooty grunter model indicated that the juvenile sub‐population dominated the overall abundance and that this was primarily due to the amount of hydraulically suitable riffle habitat. If current extraction entitlements were fully utilized, the models showed there would be significant impacts on the populations of these two fish species, with the probability of unacceptable abundances increasing to 43% from 25% for sooty grunter and from 36% for barramundi under natural conditions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Measuring the effectiveness of regional conservation assessments at representing biodiversity surrogates at a local scale: A case study in Réunion Island (Indian Ocean)

Article

Jul 2009
AUSTRAL ECOL

Alternative Configurations of Conservation Reserves for Paraguayan Bats: Considerations of Spatial Scale

Article

Nov 1352

The application of systematic and quantitative approaches to conservation planning is increasing, but the quality and quantity of data available to planners remains inadequate. We used two databases on bat species distributions at 25 sites in Paraguay to illustrate some of the effects of the spatial scale of sampling and data quality on decisions about reserve siting. We used a simulated annealing algorithm to identify alternative scenarios for comprehensive representation of the nation's bat fauna within a system of reserves and to evaluate the contribution of existing protected areas in Paraguay to this conservation goal. The location, efficiency, and level of protection (i.e., the number of populations of each species protected) were affected by both spatial scale and source of data. Our results suggest that systematic and intensive biodiversity surveys are an important element of efficient conservation planning for biodiversity conservation.

Avoiding Pitfalls of Using Species Distribution Models in Conservation Planning

Article

Dec 2003

Museum records have great potential to provide valuable insights into the vulnerability, historic distribution, and conservation of species, especially when coupled with species-distribution models used to predict species' ranges. Yet, the increasing dependence on species-distribution models in identifying conservation priorities calls for a more critical evaluation of model robustness. We used 11 bird species of conservation concern in Brazil's highly fragmented Atlantic Forest and data on environmental conditions in the region to predict species distributions. These predictions were repeated for five different model types for each of the 11 bird species. We then combined these species distributions for each model separately and applied a reserve-selection algorithm to identify priority sites. We compared the potential outcomes from the reserve selection among the models. Although similarity in identification of conservation reserve networks occurred among models, models differed markedly in geographic scope and flexibility of reserve networks. It is essential for planners to evaluate the conservation implications of false-positive and false-negative errors for their specific management scenario before beginning the modeling process. Reserve networks selected by models that minimized false-positive errors provided a better match with priority areas identified by specialists. Thus, we urge caution in the use of models that overestimate species' occurrences because they may misdirect conservation action. Our approach further demonstrates the great potential value of museum records to biodiversity studies and the utility of species-distribution models to conservation decision-making. Our results also demonstrate, however, that these models must be applied critically and cautiously.

Reserve Coverage and Requirements in Relation to Partitioning and Generalization of Land Classes: Analyses for Western New South Wales

Article

Dec 1995
CONSERV BIOL

The extent to which existing conservation reserves cover or represent the different land classes in a region depends on the scale at which those land classes are defined. In a previous review of regional studies we could not separate the influence on reserve coverage from aspects of scale of classification or mapping. In this study we measured the influence of three aspects of scale on the coverage of existing reserves and the area of new reserves required to represent all land classes. The aspects of scale we used were agglomerative (bottom-up) partitioning, divisive (top-down) partitioning, and generalization of the polygons representing discrete map units. The analyses were based on two existing classifications of a large region. One of these was originally produced at two scales of divisive partitioning. We modified the second classification to produce wide differences in the two other aspects of scale. For all aspects of scale the results confirm that existing reserves in the region tend to represent more coarse- than fine-scale classes, but this depends on the criteria used to determine when classes are “represented.” For all aspects of scale, larger total areas of new reserves are needed to represent fine-scale rather than coarse-scale land classes. This trend holds regardless of the minimum proportional area of each land class to be represented but varies with the size of the sites considered reserves. The results reinforce the scale-dependence of assessments of reserve coverage and establish the scale-dependence of assessments of reserve requirements. They also indicate that comparisons of coverage and requirements between regions or in the same region through time must be standardized for type and scale of classification.

Level of Geographical Subdivision and Its Effects on Assessments of Reserve Coverage: A Review of Regional Studies

Article

Dec 1994
CONSERV BIOL

Land classes such as vegetation types, ecoregions, or environmental domains can be defined in many ways and at many scales. We set out to quantify the influence of the level of subdivision of land classes on the extent to which the classes are represented in reserves. We examined data on the occurrence of land classes at two or more levels of subdivision in many regional reserve systems. Reserve coverage (the percentage of land classes represented in reserve systems) usually changed as the classes were defined more finely. The extent and general direction of change depended on the reservation threshold or percentage area of land classes needed in the reserve system before they were called “reserved.” The results indicate the need to qualify assessments of reserve coverage as dependent on the level of subdivision. They also raise the question of the most appropriate levels of subdivision for such assessments. A definitive answer requires more research on the informativeness of land classes about the biota.

How large do reserve networks need to be?

Article

Jul 2008
ECOL LETT

Reserve networks are essential for the long-term persistence of biodiversity. To fulfil this goal, they need not only to represent all species to be conserved but also to be sufficiently large to ensure species’ persistence over time. An extensive literature exists on the required size of individual reserves, but to date there has been little investigation regarding the appropriate size of entire networks. The IUCN’s proposal that 10% of each nation be reserved is often presented as a desirable target, but concerns have been raised that this is insufficient and is dictated primarily by considerations of feasibility and politics. We found that the minimum percentage of area needed to represent all species within a region increases with the number of targeted species, the size of selection units, and the level of species’ endemism. This has important implications for conservation planning. First, no single universal target is appropriate, as ecosystems or nations with higher diversity and/or higher levels of endemism require substantially larger fractions of their areas to be protected. Second, a minimum conservation network sufficient to capture the diversity of vertebrates is not expected to be effective for biodiversity in general. Third, the 10% target proposed by the IUCN is likely to be wholly insufficient, and much larger fractions of area are estimated to be needed, especially in tropical regions.

Sensitivity of Systematic Reserve Selection to Decisions about Scale, Biological Data, and Targets: Case Study from Southern British Columbia

Article

Jun 2004
CONSERV BIOL

The identification of conservation areas based on systematic reserve-selection algorithms requires decisions related to both spatial and ecological scale. These decisions may affect the distribution and number of sites considered priorities for conservation within a region. We explored the sensitivity of systematic reserve selection by altering values of three essential variables. We used a 1:20,000-scale terrestrial ecosystem map and habitat suitability data for 29 threatened vertebrate species in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada. To these data we applied a reserve-selection algorithm to select conservation sites while altering selection unit size and shape, features of biodiversity (i.e., vertebrate species), and area conservation targets for each biodiversity feature. The spatial similarity, or percentage overlap, of selected sets of conservation sites identified (1) with different selection units was 40%, (2) with different biodiversity features was 59%, and (3) with different conservation targets was greater than or equal to94%. Because any selected set of sites is only one of many possible sets, we also compared the conservation value (irreplaceability) of all sites in the region for each variation of the data. The correlations of irreplaceability were weak for different selection units (0.23 less than or equal to r less than or equal to 0.67), strong for different biodiversity features (r = 0.84), and mixed for different conservation targets (r = 0.16; 0.16; 1.00). Because of the low congruence of selected sites and weak correlations of irreplaceability for different selection units, recommendations from studies that have been applied at only one spatial scale must be considered cautiously.

Effects of data characteristics on the results of reserve selection algorithms

Article

Jan 1999
J BIOGEOGR

We tested the effects of four data characteristics on the results of reserve selection algorithms. The data characteristics were nestedness of features (land types in this case), rarity of features, size variation of sites (potential reserves) and size of data sets (numbers of sites and features). We manipulated data sets to produce three levels, with replication, of each of these data characteristics while holding the other three characteristics constant. We then used an optimizing algorithm and three heuristic algorithms to select sites to solve several reservation problems. We measured efficiency as the number or total area of selected sites, indicating the relative cost of a reserve system. Higher nestedness increased the efficiency of all algorithms (reduced the total cost of new reserves). Higher rarity reduced the efficiency of all algorithms (increased the total cost of new reserves). More variation in site size increased the efficiency of all algorithms expressed in terms of total area of selected sites. We measured the suboptimality of heuristic algorithms as the percentage increase of their results over optimal (minimum possible) results. Suboptimality is a measure of the reliability of heuristics as indicative costing analyses. Higher rarity reduced the suboptimality of heuristics (increased their reliability) and there is some evidence that more size variation did the same for the total area of selected sites. We discuss the implications of these results for the use of reserve selection algorithms as indicative and real-world planning tools.

Conservation planning in a subdivided world

Article

Jun 2008

The identification of priority areas for conservation tends to take place over two fundamentally different spatial extents. First, there are analyses conducted at global or large biogeographic extents. Second, there are those conducted within geopolitical units. In this paper we show, using data for North American mammals, that spatial extent can have a profound effect both on the number and locations of the priority areas identified to attain a particular conservation goal. For example, applying the same selection target to obtaining just a single representation of each species, the numbers of areas required increased by approximately an order of magnitude between treating North America as a single unit and treating the provinces separately. Although this scenario is undoubtedly extremely simplistic, such large differences are maintained with greater occurrence targets. Balancing the benefits and disadvantages of conservation planning at different spatial extents is not straightforward. However, a multi-scale approach that exploits the respective benefits and downplays the disadvantages when focussing on smaller or larger extents would seem valuable.

The effect of target extent on the location of optimal protected areas networks in Canada

Article

Jan 2007

Yolanda F. Wiersma

Various jurisdictions in Canada are currently undertaking, or have recently completed, planning exercises as part of implementation and expansion of representative reserve networks (networks of provincial parks, national parks, ecological reserves, etc.). These exercises have resulted in recommendations to governments about which areas of land should be set aside as protected areas, and different levels of government have been involved in the process of land acquisition. In some cases, planning exercises have included implementation of new protected areas to complement existing reserve networks. Many of these exercises have applied principles such as complementarity, using heuristic algorithms that are well-described in the literature. These planning exercises may be conducted within politically or ecologically bounded target regions of varying extents. Here, I develop candidate locations for representative reserve areas for disturbance-sensitive mammals across Canada. I use ecologically bounded regions (within the national boundaries of Canada) at three different levels of spatial hierarchy: mammal provinces, ecozones, and ecoregions. I show that the extent of the target region has an effect on the minimum number of protected areas required to achieve representation; a larger region requires fewer protected areas than the sum of the protected areas required to represent its component regions at a lower level of spatial hierarchy. The results illustrate that selection of sites for inclusion in a reserve network is highly scale-dependent, and different spatial extents in the target regions may introduce inefficiencies or redundancies in selecting representative protected areas.

A mismatch of scales: Challenges in planning for implementation of marine protected areas in the Coral Triangle

Article

Sep 2010

Abstract Regional systematic conservation planning is an effective approach to marine protected area (MPA) network design, ensuring complementarity, and functional connectivity of areas. However, regional planning and local conservation actions do not properly inform one another. One outcome is the failure of regional designs to guide conservation actions. Another is that site-based MPAs constitute collections rather than functional systems for marine conservation. Understanding decisions related to spatial scale in conservation planning is essential for the development of ecologically functional networks of MPAs. Decisions about scale require that planners address trade-offs between the respective advantages and limitations of different considerations in several parts of the planning process. We provide the first comprehensive review of decisions about spatial scale that influence planning outcomes. We illustrate these decisions and the trade-offs involved with planning exercises undertaken in the Coral Triangle. We provide a framework in which decisions about spatial scale can be made explicit and investigated further. The framework helps to link theory and application in conservation planning, facilitates learning, and promotes the application of conservation actions that are both regionally and locally significant.

Using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines to Predict the Distributions of New Zealand’s Freshwater Diadromous Fish

Article

Dec 2005

1. Relationships between probabilities of occurrence for fifteen diadromous fish species and environmental variables characterising their habitat in fluvial waters were explored using an extensive collection of distributional data from New Zealand rivers and streams. Environmental predictors were chosen for their likely functional relevance, and included variables describing conditions in the stream segment where sampling occurred, downstream factors affecting the ability of fish to move upriver from the sea, and upstream, catchment‐scale factors mostly affecting variation in river flows. 2. Analyses were performed using multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), a technique that uses piece‐wise linear segments to describe non‐linear relationships between species and environmental variables. All species were analysed using an option that allows simultaneous analysis of community data to identify the combination of environmental variables best able to predict the occurrence of the component species. Model discrimination was assessed for each species using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) statistic, calculated using a bootstrap procedure that estimates performance when predictions are made to independent data. 3. Environmental predictors having the strongest overall relationships with probabilities of occurrence included distance from the sea, stream size, summer temperature, and catchment‐scale drivers of variation in stream flow. Many species were also sensitive to variation in either the average and/or maximum downstream slope, and riparian shade was an important predictor for some species. 4. Analysis results were imported into a Geographic Information System where they were combined with extensive environmental data, allowing spatially explicit predictions of probabilities of occurrence by species to be made for New Zealand's entire river network. This information will provide a valuable context for future conservation management in New Zealand's rivers and streams.

Measuring conservation value at fine and broad scales: Implications for a diverse and fragmented region, the Agulhas Plain

Article

Jul 2003
BIOL CONSERV

Mathieu Rouget

This study explores the implications of spatial scale for conservation planning in the Agulhas Plain, South Africa. Regional planning relies on broad-scale data but fine-scale data are usually required for implementation at local level. This study addresses the implications of broad-scale planning for fine-scale implementation. Two original systems of notional reserves were developed for this region using C-plan, a decision support system for systematic conservation planning. The first conservation plan was derived using broad scale data (1:250,000) and consisted of nine broad habitat units (land classes based on topography, geology, and climate), remote sensing mapping of habitat transformation and large planning units defined by 1/16th degree squares (average size 3900 ha). The second system was identified at a finer scale (1:10,000) using 36 vegetation types (mapped in the field), ground survey mapping of habitat transformation and cadastral boundaries as planning units (average size 252 ha). Using classification trees, this study compared reserve-design efficiency (the area required to achieve conservation targets), the spatial patterns of conservation value (the irreplaceability value of planning units), biodiversity features, and habitat transformation at both scales. A similar amount of land was required to meet all conservation targets (identified using minimum set analysis) at the broad and fine scale. There was considerable overlap between the two conservation plans as most of fine-scale conservation targets could be achieved under the broad-scale conservation plan. However, irreplaceability values, which measure the likelihood of selecting planning units for achieving representation targets, were much higher at the fine scale. The use of broad-scale biodiversity features underestimated irreplaceability value at a fine scale in heterogeneous and fragmented portions of the landscape. The implications of moving from broad- to fine-scale conservation planning, as well as their respective benefits are discussed. Maximising biodiversity conservation while minimising cost and resources might be achieved by a combination of broad-scale assessments for relatively homogeneous and untransformed areas and fine-scale ones for heterogeneous and fragmented areas.

The importance of incorporating fine-scale habitat data into the design of an intertidal marine reserve

Article

Aug 2007
BIOL CONSERV

There is concern about the reliability of surrogate measures to represent biodiversity and the use of such measures in the design of marine reserve systems. Currently, surrogate measures are most often based on broad-scale (100–1000s of km) bioregional frameworks that define general categories (sandy beach, rocky shore) for intertidal systems. These broad-scale categories are inadequate when making decisions about conservation priorities at the local level (10–100s of m). In this study, ‘shoreline types’, derived using physical properties of the shoreline, were used as a surrogate for intertidal biodiversity to assist with the identification of sites to be included in a representative system of marine reserves. The use of local-scale shoreline types increased the likelihood that sites identified for conservation achieved representation goals for the mosaic of habitats and microhabitats, and therefore the associated biodiversity present on rocky shores, than that provided by the existing marine reserve protection. These results indicate that using broad-scale surrogate measures (rocky shore, sandy beach) for biodiversity (habitats, microhabitats and species) are likely to result in poor representation of fine-scale habitats and microhabitats, and therefore intertidal assemblages in marine reserves. When additional fine-scale data were added to reserve selection the summed irreplaceability of 24% (for spatial extent of habitats), and 29% (for presence/absence of microhabitats) of rocky shore sites increased above 0, where a value close to 1 means a site is necessary, for inclusion in a reserve system, to meet conservation targets. The use of finer-scale physical data to support marine reserve design is more likely to result in the selection of reserves that achieve representation at habitat and microhabitat levels, increasing the likelihood that conservation goals will be achieved.

Comparison of resolution of methods used in mapping biodiversity patterns from point-occurrence data

Article

Aug 2003
ECOL INDIC

This paper examines three methods of mapping of biodiversity using point-occurrence data for the birds of Mexico: aggregation of species occurrence records, vegetation surrogate, and individual species models. We compare the approaches from the perspective of achieving potential gains in spatial resolution with existing data. We found that mapping the diversity of Mexican birds using individual species models yielded results 400-fold more finely resolved, quantifiable errors, and greater flexibility for many applications. We show that the aggregation and surrogate methods are susceptible to tradeoffs between bias and resolution that can only be ameliorated thorough more intensive sampling. A theoretical error model and an empirical demonstration shows that higher spatial resolution in the individual species approach can be achieved by controlling the modeling approach by reducing bias and decreasing random error. The method is particularly applicable for large-scale biodiversity mapping, where intensive ground survey data are lacking.

Effect of Different Sampling Schemes on the Spatial Placement of Conservation Reserves in Utah, USA

Article

Sep 2003
BIOL CONSERV

We evaluated the effect of three different sampling schemes used to organize spatially explicit biological information had on the spatial placement of conservation reserves in Utah, USA. The three sampling schemes consisted of a hexagon representation developed by the EPA/EMAP program (statistical basis), watershed boundaries (ecological), and the current county boundaries of Utah (socio-political). Four decision criteria were used to estimate effects, including amount of area, length of edge, lowest number of contiguous reserves, and greatest number of terrestrial vertebrate species covered. A fifth evaluation criterion was the effect each sampling scheme had on the ability of the modeled conservation reserves to cover the six major ecoregions found in Utah. Of the three sampling schemes, county boundaries covered the greatest number of species, but also created the longest length of edge and greatest number of reserves. Watersheds maximized species coverage using the least amount of area. Hexagons and watersheds provide the least amount of edge and fewest number of reserves. Although there were differences in area, edge and number of reserves among the sampling schemes, all three schemes covered all the major ecoregions in Utah and their inclusive biodiversity.

Sensitivity of conservation planning to different approaches to using species distribution data

Article

Mar 2005
BIOL CONSERV

The main role of conservation planning is to design reserve networks to protect biodiversity in situ. Research within the field of conservation planning has focused on the development of theories and tools to design reserve networks that protect biodiversity in an efficient and representative manner. Whilst much progress has been made in this regard, there has been limited assessment of the sensitivity of conservation planning outcomes to uncertainty associated with the datasets used for conservation planning. Predicted species distribution data are commonly used for conservation planning because the alternatives (e.g. survey data) are incomplete or biased spatially. However, there may be considerable uncertainty associated with the use of predicted species distribution data, particularly given the variety of approaches available to generate a dataset from such predictions for use in conservation planning. These approaches range from using the probabilistic data directly to using a threshold identified a priori or a posteriori to convert the probabilistic data to presence/absence data. We assess the sensitivity of conservation planning outcomes to different uses of predicted species distribution data. The resulting reserve networks differed, and had different expected species representation. The choice of approach will depend on how much risk a conservation planner is willing to tolerate and how much efficiency can be sacrificed.

Size of selection units for future reserves and its influence on actual vs targeted representation of features: A case study in western New South Wales

Article

Sep 1998
BIOL CONSERV

Most systematic assessments of future conservation areas rely on selection units—parts of the landscape that are analysed as the potential building blocks of an expanded system of reserves. Selection units can be natural, administrative or arbitrary subdivisions of the landscape. They differ widely in size between studies and within regions. The paper begins with a review of the role of selection units in conservation planning and the implications of using them. The review is followed by quantitative analyses on a large regional data set. We show that the total extent of new reserves needed to represent all land types (land systems in this case) to different targeted levels depends strongly on the size of the selection units. Differences in required total areas are related to the extent to which some land types are represented above target levels. The results indicate that some degree of inefficiency is inevitable in any reserve selection exercise based on units that are large enough to function as viable reserves or to be amalgamated realistically into viable reserves. We also show that the actual representation of land types in selected reserves is related to their distributional parameters, so that the extent of above-target representation is predictable to some extent. Finally, we show that patterns of actual vs targeted representation from a reserve selection algorithm are very different from those arising from random selection of the same number of areas. Selection algorithms introduce a degree of above-target representation which is the price of guaranteeing that all features are represented at least to target levels.

Use of Coarse‐Resolution Models of Species’ Distributions to Guide Local Conservation Inferences

Article

Apr 2010
CONSERV BIOL

Distribution models are used increasingly for species conservation assessments over extensive areas, but the spatial resolution of the modeled data and, consequently, of the predictions generated directly from these models are usually too coarse for local conservation applications. Comprehensive distribution data at finer spatial resolution, however, require a level of sampling that is impractical for most species and regions. Models can be downscaled to predict distribution at finer resolutions, but this increases uncertainty because the predictive ability of models is not necessarily consistent beyond their original scale. We analyzed the performance of downscaled, previously published models of environmental favorability (a generalized linear modeling technique) for a restricted endemic insectivore, the Iberian desman (Galemys pyrenaicus), and a more widespread carnivore, the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), in the Iberian Peninsula. The models, built from presence-absence data at 10 x 10 km resolution, were extrapolated to a resolution 100 times finer (1 x 1 km). We compared downscaled predictions of environmental quality for the two species with published data on local observations and on important conservation sites proposed by experts. Predictions were significantly related to observed presence or absence of species and to expert selection of sampling sites and important conservation sites. Our results suggest the potential usefulness of downscaled projections of environmental quality as a proxy for expensive and time-consuming field studies when the field studies are not feasible. This method may be valid for other similar species if coarse-resolution distribution data are available to define high-quality areas at a scale that is practical for the application of concrete conservation measures.

Matching the Multiple Scales of Conservation with the Multiple Scales of Climate Change

Article

Feb 2010
CONSERV BIOL

To anticipate the rapidly changing world resulting from global climate change, the projections of climate models must be incorporated into conservation. This requires that the scales of conservation be aligned with the scales of climate-change projections. We considered how conservation has incorporated spatial scale into protecting biodiversity, how the projections of climate-change models vary with scale, and how the two do or do not align. Conservation planners use information about past and current ecological conditions at multiple scales to identify conservation targets and threats and guide conservation actions. Projections of climate change are also made at multiple scales, from global and regional circulation models to projections downscaled to local scales. These downscaled projections carry with them the uncertainties associated with the broad-scale models from which they are derived; thus, their high resolution may be more apparent than real. Conservation at regional or global scales is about establishing priorities and influencing policy. At these scales, the coarseness and uncertainties of global and regional climate models may be less important than what they reveal about possible futures. At the ecoregional scale, the uncertainties associated with downscaling climate models become more critical because the distributions of conservation targets on which plans are founded may shift under future climates. At a local scale, variations in topography and land cover influence local climate, often overriding the projections of broad-scale climate models and increasing uncertainty. Despite the uncertainties, ecologists and conservationists must work with climate-change modelers to focus on the most likely projections. The future will be different from the past and full of surprises; judicious use of model projections at appropriate scales may help us prepare.

Tradeoffs of different types of species occurrence data for use in systematic conservation planning

Article

Nov 2006
ECOL LETT

Data on the occurrence of species are widely used to inform the design of reserve networks. These data contain commission errors (when a species is mistakenly thought to be present) and omission errors (when a species is mistakenly thought to be absent), and the rates of the two types of error are inversely related. Point locality data can minimize commission errors, but those obtained from museum collections are generally sparse, suffer from substantial spatial bias and contain large omission errors. Geographic ranges generate large commission errors because they assume homogenous species distributions. Predicted distribution data make explicit inferences on species occurrence and their commission and omission errors depend on model structure, on the omission of variables that determine species distribution and on data resolution. Omission errors lead to identifying networks of areas for conservation action that are smaller than required and centred on known species occurrences, thus affecting the comprehensiveness, representativeness and efficiency of selected areas. Commission errors lead to selecting areas not relevant to conservation, thus affecting the representativeness and adequacy of reserve networks. Conservation plans should include an estimation of commission and omission errors in underlying species data and explicitly use this information to influence conservation planning outcomes.

Uncertainty in coarse conservation assessments hinders the efficient achievement of conservation goals

Abstract

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