The role of geography in extending biodiversity gap analaysis

Abstract

The loss of biological diversity is a serious ecological problem and a central component in current strategies for managing environmental change. Global biodiversity is declining at an accelerated rate. This is both a biological and social concern: it may lead to dysfunctions at genetic, species or ecosystem levels, and lost species or habitats may have important commodity and/or socio-cultural values. Human action, particularly land uses that alter habitat, is a key cause of biodiversity loss. Research is needed to understand and manage biodiversity loss. Biodiversity gap analysis is being developed by biologists to map biodiversity and identify gaps in its protection. Several biological variables, such as vegetation, vertebrate distributions and endangered species, are entered into a GIS, from which biodiversity maps are generated, which are then overlaid with land management and ownership status. Unprotected components of biodiversity are identified as ‘gaps’. Gap analysis efforts are now underway in many locations but the technique needs to be extended to include socioeconomic factors, such as population change, so that habitat change and biodiversity loss can be described and predicted. Geography has a role in developing this ‘extended gap analysis’ technique. This paper discusses the measurement, importance, and causes of biodiversity loss, describes the biodiversity gap analysis technique and its proposed socioeconomic extension, provides a worked example of extended gap analysis, offers a rationale for geography's involvement in such efforts, and suggests a research agenda for geographers interested in biodiversity gap analysis.