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

Efficient biodiversity conservation requires that limited resources be allocated in accordance with national responsibilities and priorities. Without appropriate computational tools, the process of determining these national responsibilities and conservation priorities is time intensive when considering many species across geographic scales. Here, we have developed a computational tool as a module for the ArcGIS geographic information system. The ArcGIS National Responsibility Assessment Tool (NRA-Tool) can be used to create hierarchical lists of national responsibilities and priorities for global species conservation. Our tool will allow conservationists to prioritize conservation efforts and to focus limited resources on relevant species and regions. We showcase our tool with data on 258 bird species and various biophysical regions, including Environmental Zones in 58 Asian countries and regions. Our tool provides a decision support system for conservation policy with attractive and easily interpretable visual outputs illustrating national responsibilities and priorities for species conservation. The graphical output allows for smooth integration into assessment reports, such as the European Article 17 report, the Living Planet Index report, or similar regional and global reports.

Quantitative ethnobotany researches can contribute much to guide biodiversity conservation, especially in developing countries. Our study presents a step-by-step approach to identify priority species for local conservation of useful woody species. The presented approach includes (1) an investigation of the popularity and versatility of woody species in the local people, (2) an estimation of the ecological availability of useful tree species in the forest and (3) identification of local priority species for conservation. We focused the study on the Wari-Maro forest reserve in the Sudanian zone of Benin as an example to implement such approach and identify useful priority species for sustainable conservation and management strategies development. Ethnobotanical surveys were conducted with people in surrounding villages of the forest composed by different sociocultural groups. Floristic vegetation surveys were performed within the forest to assess the local ecological availability of used woody species. A principal component analysis was performed to analyze the versatility, the popularity and the ecological availability of species. Spearman’s correlation test was used to assess relation between variables. In total, 79 woody species were reported for seven main types of uses: technology, construction, medicinal, veterinary, food, forage and energy. Among them, 35 were most popular and versatile, and 3 were characterized as priorities for conservation especially regarding their less availability and more versatility. We discussed the used approach by the underlining importance of integrating wood uses or multiples uses in conservation priorities setting and conservation decision-making of useful woody tree species.

Globally, the resources devoted to biodiversity conservation are insufficient to prevent biodiversity loss, forcing conservation agencies to prioritize which species receive active protection. Accordingly, we developed an objective method for prioritizing the terrestrial vertebrates of Saudi Arabia, a country with limited baseline ecological data and limited conservation effort. Ninety-seven species were regarded as High Conservation Priority on the basis that they are listed as globally or regionally threatened and/or have more than 50% of their range within Saudi Arabia. We then scored these 97 species according to measures of extinction risk, level of endemicity, national responsibility, and phylogenetic distinctness to create a ranked list of High Conservation Priority species. The ten highest conservation priority species in Saudi Arabia are all freshwater fish or small reptiles, with the highest ranked species being the critically endangered Arabian Bream Acanthobrama hadiyahensis. We developed GIS heat maps of the summed conservation priority scores for the 97 High Conservation Priority species, which reveal the Asir Mountains as the highest conservation priority area within the Kingdom. The method we developed can be used on any group of species in any geographicarea and can be easily revised as additional data arise.

One of the most pressing issues facing the global conservation community is how to distribute limited resources between regions identified as priorities for biodiversity conservation. Approaches such as biodiversity hotspots, endemic bird areas and ecoregions are used by international organizations to prioritize conservation efforts globally. Although identifying priority regions is an important first step in solving this problem, it does not indicate how limited resources should be allocated between regions. Here we formulate how to allocate optimally conservation resources between regions identified as priorities for conservation--the 'conservation resource allocation problem'. Stochastic dynamic programming is used to find the optimal schedule of resource allocation for small problems but is intractable for large problems owing to the "curse of dimensionality". We identify two easy-to-use and easy-to-interpret heuristics that closely approximate the optimal solution. We also show the importance of both correctly formulating the problem and using information on how investment returns change through time. Our conservation resource allocation approach can be applied at any spatial scale. We demonstrate the approach with an example of optimal resource allocation among five priority regions in Wallacea and Sundaland, the transition zone between Asia and Australasia.

Abstract. Ilhamdi ML, Idrus AA, Santoso D, Hadiprayitno G, Syazali M. 2021. The species richness and conservation priority of dragonflies in the Suranadi Ecotourism Area, Lombok, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 22: 1846-1852. Dragonflies are insects that have attractive colors and play an important role to balance ecosystems. They also act as bioindicators of the aquatic environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the species richness and conservation priorities of dragonflies in the Suranadi Ecotourism Area, Lombok, Indonesia, expecting that the dragonflies will be used as charismatic species to support ecotourism. The research was conducted in August-December 2020 by surveying transect lines across 9 types of habitat. We then determined the conservation priority for each species found by referring to the Government Regulation using scoring method through a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) involving five experts. The score for each species was determined based on the percentage of the opinion from the experts. We found 18 dragonfly species from 2 suborders (Zygoptera and Anisoptera) and 5 families (Chlorocyphidae, Coenagrionidae, Platycnemididae, Aeshnidae and Libellulidae). The habitat type that supports the highest species richness was the waterway and irrigation (16 species), while the lowest species richness was found in the areas inside the forest habitat (2 species). The species that had the highest conservation priority scores were Pseudagrion pilidorsum declaratum, Libellago lineata, and Gynacantha subinterrupta. These three species can be used as conservation priority species in the ecotourism area of Suranadi, Lombok, Indonesia.

One particular challenge in reducing the loss of biodiversity by 2010, as agreed on at the Earth Summit in 2002, is to assign conservation tasks to geographic or administrative entities (e.g., countries or regions) on different geographical scales. To identify conservation tasks, it is imperative to determine the importance of a specific area for the global survival of a species. So far, these national or subnational responsibilities for the conservation of species have been included differently in methods prioritizing conservation. We reviewed how 12 European and 3 non-European methods determined national conservation responsibilities and evaluated the international importance of a biological population. Different countries used different methodologies, which made a direct comparison of assessments of national responsibilities among countries extremely difficult. Differences existed in the importance criteria used. Criteria included population decline, range reduction, rarity status, degree of isolation of a population, endemism, proportional distribution, and geographic location. To increase comparability, it is imperative to develop criteria for which data are generally available and to standardize the methodology among countries. A standardized method would allow conservation decisions to be based on the conservation status of a species and on the responsibility of a geographic or administrative entity for the survival of a species. We suggest that such a method should use a scalable index of proportional distribution, taxonomic status, and the distribution pattern of a taxon or species as key elements. Such a method would allow for the creation of hierarchical lists and would be highly relevant for parts of the world with multiple political jurisdictions or state unions and for nations with regional governmental structures. Conservation priorities could then be reasonably set by combining national responsibility assessments with the international conservation status of a species.

The combination of ethnobotanical and ecological knowledge is an important tool in indicating priority species for conservation. We sought to gather ethnobotanical knowledge on the diversity and use of woody medicinal plants in the Chapada Araripe region, assessing the real availability of woody medicinal resources in the Araripe Forests in the cerrado and carrasco areas, and indicate priority species for conservation. A total of 107 species were recorded in the ethnobotanical surveys, classified into 39 families and 83 genera, of which 92 species, 36 families and 70 genera for the cerrado areas, and 47 species, 25 families and 39 genera, for the carrasco areas. 59% were present in the phytosociological surveys for cerrado and 38% for carrascos. Species with high versatility of medicinal use did not necessarily have high local availability, and some were not recorded in the sampling. Thirteen species in cerrados and four in carrascos were indicated as conservation priorities. Use not aligned of species with the reality of the present time can indeed affect the vegetation landscape, and in a future scenario, not taking local measures to conserve protected forest resources, besides increasing the lists of local conservation priorities, can affect economic practices, increasing social and environmental conflicts.

Phylogeny is vitally important to evaluate evolutionary distinctiveness and conservation priorities of species. Najas ancistrocarpa is one of the rarest and least known East Asian species of the c. 30–40 species of the aquatic plant genus Najas (Hydrocharitaceae). We used a recently discovered collection of this nationally and regionally endangered species in Japan and East Asia to assess whether N. ancistrocarpa is a distinct species or an untypical form of other Najas species and to evaluate its conservation priority in a phylogenetic context. The sample set of our previous study, exploring worldwide phylogeny of the genus was used with N. ancistrocarpa to delimit species boundaries in Najas and obtain conservation priority scores, calculated by multiplying evolutionary distinctiveness and global extinction risks converted from Red List categories. We performed molecular phylogenetic analyses of plastid (ptDNA) and nuclear (ITS) DNA datasets, STACEY species delimitation analysis using the multilocus dataset and a measurement of conservation priority with Tuatara. Najas ancistrocarpa was consistently placed in ptDNA and ITS trees. Species delimitation analysis objectively assessed that N. ancistrocarpa is phylogenetically distinct. Phylogenetic conservation prioritization ranked N. ancistrocarpa the second highest priority species of the genus Najas. Overall, in terms of biodiversity conservation, N. ancistrocarpa represents an important Najas species in Japan and probably the world.

Conservation evaluation and phylogenetic diversity

Species-level dataset is required for setting biodiversity conservation priorities for freshwater macroinvertebrates in Melbourne streams

Are fieldwork studies being relegated to second place in conservation science?

Amphibian biodiversity congruence and conservation priorities in China: Integrating species richness, endemism, and threat patterns

Biogeographia vol. XXV - 2004 (Printed December, 30 q' 2004) Marine Biogeography of the Mediterranean Sea: patterns and dynamics of biodiversity Mediterranean Island mammals: are they a priority for biodiversity conservation? SPARTACO GIPPOLITI, GIOVANNI AMORI Irtituro per 10 Studio degli Ecoristemi, CNR c/0 Dzjyzzrtimerzto di Bio/ogizz Animrzle 5 a’e[[’U0m0, lfiziverszriz “LIZ Srzpz'mzzz’§ Via A. Borelli 50- 00161 Roma (Italy) e—mrzz'l: 5przrtrzco[o6u5@/7oz7mzz'/. com Keywords: Mediterranean islands, feral mammals, conservation priorities, biodiversity, taxonomy. SUMMARY The importance of taxonomy in biological conservation is now well established. However, the risk involved in assigning specific or subspecific status to feral mammals or mammals introduced in the Mediterranean Islands ancient time, has been generally overlooked. In fact, these ‘antropochorous taxa’, especially ungulates such as ‘wild’ goats and ‘wild’ sheep, have became the focus of many national and international conservation activities because of their high aesthetic, symbolic and hunting value. This, however, has often lead to a misallocation of conservation resources thereby indirectly damaging die fiiture prospects for the few true surviving insular paleoendemic mammals such as the Cretan and Sicilian shrews Cracidurrl zim17m77zrm71i and C'ratz'z2'1mz rimlzz, respectively. Conservation policies simply based on protection of anthropocorous mammals — or of birds of prey whose populations depend on such insular mammals — need to lie carefully re—assessed. Actually, there is scattered evidence that this approach represents a further threat to the whole Mediterranean island biodiversity. Great caution is especially needed in small, protected, ‘ocean—lille’ islands where mammals — especially ungulates — are not hunted and endernism rate is usually high. Here, the growth of ungulate populations can have disastrous effects on biodiversity throughout both disappearance of several endemic plants which lack defence from grazing, and a likely cascade effect on invertebrate Communities. Nowadays, knowledge of each island palaeoecology is essential to assess the best management options for antrophocorous mammals in the interest of Mediterranean biodiversity conservation. INTRODUCTION The importance of taxonomy in the conservation assessments has often been emphasised in the last years (McNeely, 2002). It is obviously not possible to protect what is not believed to exist and it is not recognised by taxonomy. This is the case of the tuatara, Sp/Jenodon spp., as revealed by a well-known study on its systematic (Daugherty et al., 1990). On the other hand, the opposite problem also exists. A formal taxonomic recognition could justify considerable conservation

The Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus) is a species of national and international conservation priority due to its population declines. Little is known about their migration patterns and there is limited research on the species in Mexico which prevents conservation biologists from establishing effective conservation measures for the species in North America. The southeastern portion of the Chihuahuan Desert is one of the last areas of well-preserved grasslands in Mexico and supports a large number of wintering Long-billed Curlews. We tracked four Long-billed Curlews using satellite telemetry to determine their winter habitat use from October 2009 to March 2010. Locations were divided into foraging and roosting sites (seven habitat types each) with agricultural fields and fallow land preferred for foraging. We identified 14 roosting sites and characterized the vegetation of six of them. Tumbleweed (Salsola kali) was the predominant plant species at roost sites. Two main threats were detected on wintering grounds: exposure to pesticides and reduced access to water. We successfully documented fidelity to wintering, breeding and stop-over sites across three migratory cycles (2009–2012) of one of the marked birds.

Over the past 10 years, the Government of Vietnam has developed many policies towards wildlife conservation. The introduction of the Vietnam Forestry Development Strategy for 2021–2030 and vision to 2050 outlines strategies and priorities in biodiversity conservation and implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). However, effective implementation of these strategies requires context-relevant actions that address issues currently facing central and local governments and people.