Conserving Refugia: What Are We Protecting and Why?

Maurizio Rossetto,Robert Kooyman

doi:10.3390/d13020067

Maurizio Rossetto, Robert Kooyman

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/d13020067

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Abstract

Refugia play an important role in contributing to the conservation of species and communities by buffering environmental conditions over time. As large natural landscapes worldwide are declining and are increasingly threatened by extreme events, critical decision-making in biological conservation depends on improved understanding of what is being protected by refugia and why. We provide three novel definitions for refugia (i.e., persistent, future, and temporary) that incorporate ecological and evolutionary dynamics into a land management decision framework and are applicable across changing temporal and spatial settings. Definitions are supported by identification, core value, and management strategy criteria to assist short- and long-term decision-making. We illustrate these concepts using the World Heritage Gondwana Rainforests (WHGR) of eastern Australia, briefly exploring the spatial and temporal factors that can inform the development of conservation management strategies following the extreme fire events of 2019–2020. For the WHGR, available knowledge can be used to protect critical assets by recognizing and implementing buffer zones and corridor connections, and by undertaking emergency translocations of target species into safe areas that will act as future refugia. More broadly, we suggest that the identification and protection of ecological and evolutionary processes across varying temporal and spatial scales is central to securing improved biodiversity conservation outcomes.

Highlights

Refugia as Conservation PrioritiesProtected areas provide in situ persistence and survival opportunities in extreme conditions and in times of change [1,2]
While we acknowledge the inevitable chance of overlaps in location, we suggest that framing refugia within the proposed context of dynamic stability is critical to the improvement of conservation management in continuously changing circumstances [3] and in relation to increasing anthropogenic impacts [14]
In the face of anthropogenic climate change and recurring extreme events, we are faced with hard decisions

Summary

Introduction

Protected areas provide in situ persistence and survival opportunities in extreme conditions and in times of change [1,2]. By definition, play an important and ongoing role in contributing to the survival and conservation of species and communities by buffering environmental conditions through time [3] and across scales, ranging from microrefugia [4] to continental biodiversity hotspots [5]. We focus on the functional aspects of areas protected from, or buffered against, regular disturbance and change, while contributing to the natural dynamics of the regional community assembly processes as well as biodiversity conservation targets and outcomes [3,6,7]. Our objective here is to provide a set of definitions for refugia that incorporate ecological and evolutionary dynamics into a management decision framework placed within ever-changing temporal and landscape-level scenarios. We illustrate the concepts with a specific example, the World Heritage Gondwana Rainforests of eastern Australia (WHGR), briefly working through relevant definition and management criteria to explore the spatial and temporal issues needed to inform the development of conservation management strategies in disparate contexts

Management-Oriented Definitions of Refugia

Persistent Refugia

Future Refugia

Temporary Refugia

The World Heritage Gondwana Rainforests as an Example

Conclusions