Influence of extent and data type on spatial conservation prioritization

Abstract

Different extents, grains, and types of biodiversity data encompass the data sources used in investigations of spatial diversity. We evaluated the influence of geopolitical limits, data type, and grain size on complementarity networks of priority areas using Atlantic Forest primates, in Brazil. Priority areas were selected to represent primates from twelve research approaches that combine different data types (occurrence or distribution), geographical extents (entire biome or specific states) and grains (1°, 0.5° or 0.25° grids). We compared the size, irreplaceability and spatial concordance of the networks. Networks selected at the state extent had more grid cells than networks selected at the biome extent, independent of data type, and species locally rare but not globally rare may be driving these results. The number of irreplaceable cells and the networks selected were smaller using distribution data than using occurrence data. This effect was even more apparent at the state extent. Distribution data are more spatially distributed, leading to low irreplaceability of cells. Similarity among the selected networks depends on the extent and data type, and there was interaction between these factors. Similarities among networks selected at the state extent are higher than that of networks selected at biome extent. Networks obtained from different types of data were less similar than those selected using the same kind of data, and the ones selected using occurrence data were more similar than networks selected using distribution data. The effect of data type is stronger at smaller grain sizes, and the effect of extent is stronger at larger grain sizes. It is important to understand the consequences of data type choice, and this may be congruent with grain sizes.