Representative reserve design in Canada: the contribution of existing protected areas

Abstract

Given the limited resources to set aside protected areas for biodiversity conservation, as well as competing land use interests, it is prudent that networks of protected areas represent biodiversity effectively and efficiently. Effective networks represent all species in protected areas that are large enough to ensure species persistence. However, such a network may not be efficient in terms of the amount of land allocated for conservation. Reserve selection algorithms are tools that can be used to delineate optimal (or nearoptimal) solutions to the problem of maximizing representation of species with a minimum amount of area. In this paper, I show how reserve selection algorithms can be used to determine whether existing protected areas that meet criteria for minimum reserve area are efficient and/or effective in terms of representing disturbance sensitive mammals in Canada. In general, existing protected areas do not effectively capture the full suite of mammalian biodiversity, nor are most existing protected areas part of a near-optimal solution set. The results of this analysis can help to identify targets for protected areas, and suggest priorities for establishment of new protected areas, or expansion of existing ones.