Species conservation importance index (SCI) for comparing sites’ conservation value at landscape level

Abstract

Quantitative approaches used for detecting biodiversity ‘hotspots’ depend mostly on species occurrence data. This approach has been criticized for not recognizing all aspects of species importance. In this study, we used information on plant species to estimate a species conservation importance (SCI) and compare sites’ conservation value (SCV) at the landscape level with regard to plant species. The SCI index assesses vascular plant significance based on inclusion of many criteria accounting to various aspects of species importance. The SCI index was calculated for the 405 plant species recorded in a northwestern coastal desert landscape, and two protected areas in Egypt. The Comparison revealed that despite having the highest number of species, the northwestern coastal desert landscape ranked third to the other protected areas based on SCV. For highlighting ‘hotspots’ of conservation priority regarding vascular plants in the northwestern coastal desert landscape, the Getis-Ord G i * hotspot geostatistical analyses were applied to the per-plot number of species, maximum SCI, average SCI (ACI), and SCV values of 827 sampled plots. The results revealed the occurrence of significant hotspots for plant conservation at the south of the landscape. The application of Getis-Ord G i * geostatistical analysis to conservation indices promises to be a useful tool in identification of hotspots at the landscape level. The approach used in the current study will help in comparing and ranking regions according plant species conservation priorities. It can also be used for guiding site selection efforts regarding plant species conservation particularly in similar ecosystems.