Allocation Of Conservation Resources Research Articles

Identification of a spatially efficient portfolio of priority conservation sites in marine and estuarine areas of Florida

Abstract A systematic conservation planning approach using benthic habitat and imperilled species data along with the site prioritization algorithm, MARXAN, was used to identify a spatially efficient portfolio of marine and estuarine sites around Florida with high biodiversity value. Ensuring the persistence of an adequate geographic representation of conservation targets in a particular area is a key goal of conservation. In this context, development and testing of different approaches to spatially‐explicit marine conservation planning remains an important priority. This detailed case study serves as a test of existing approaches while also demonstrating some novel ways in which current methods can be tailored to fit the complexities of marine planning. The paper reports on investigations of the influence of varying several algorithm inputs on resulting portfolio scenarios including the conservation targets (species observations, habitat distribution, etc.) included, conservation target goals, and socio‐economic factors. This study concluded that engaging stakeholders in the development of a site prioritization framework is a valuable strategy for identifying broadly accepted selection criteria; universal target representation approaches are more expedient to use as algorithm inputs, but may fall short in capturing the impact of historic exploitation patterns for some conservation targets; socio‐economic factors are best considered subsequent to the identification of priority conservation sites when biodiversity value is the primary driver of site selection; and the influence of surrogate targets on portfolio selection should be thoroughly investigated to ensure unintended effects are avoided. The priority sites identified in this analysis can be used to guide allocation of limited conservation and management resources. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Is conservation triage just smart decision making?

Conservation efforts and emergency medicine face comparable problems: how to use scarce resources wisely to conserve valuable assets. In both fields, the process of prioritising actions is known as triage. Although often used implicitly by conservation managers, scientists and policymakers, triage has been misinterpreted as the process of simply deciding which assets (e.g. species, habitats) will not receive investment. As a consequence, triage is sometimes associated with a defeatist conservation ethic. However, triage is no more than the efficient allocation of conservation resources and we risk wasting scarce resources if we do not follow its basic principles.

Optimal Dynamic Allocation of Conservation Funding Among Priority Regions

The optimal allocation of conservation resources between biodiverse conservation regions has generally been calculated using stochastic dynamic programming, or using myopic heuristics. These solutions are hard to interpret and may not be optimal. To overcome these two limitations, this paper approaches the optimal conservation resource allocation problem using optimal control theory. A solution using Pontryagin's maximum principle provides novel insight into the general properties of efficient conservation resource allocation strategies, and allows more extensive testing of the performance of myopic heuristics. We confirmed that a proposed heuristic (minimize short-term loss) yields near-optimal results in complex allocation situations, and found that a qualitative allocation feature observed in previous analyses (bang-bang allocation) is a general property of the optimal allocation strategy.

Two paths to a suboptimal solution – once more about optimality in reserve selection

Several studies have compared the performances of exact algorithms (integer programming) and heuristic methods in the solution of conservation resource allocation problems, with the conclusion that exact methods are always preferable. Here, I summarize a potentially major deficiency in how the relationship between exact and heuristic methods has been presented: the above comparisons have all been done using relatively simple (linear) maximum coverage or minimum set models that are by definition solvable using integer programming. In contrast, heuristic or meta-heuristic algorithms can be applied to less simplified nonlinear and/or stochastic problems. The focus of this study is two kinds of suboptimality, first-stage suboptimality caused by model simplification and second-stage suboptimality caused by inexact solution. Evidence from comparisons between integer programming and heuristic solution methods suggests a suboptimality level of around 3%–10% for well-chosen heuristics, much depending on the problem and data. There is also largely anecdotal evidence from a few studies that have evaluated results from simplified conservation resource allocation problems using more complicated (nonlinear) models. These studies have found that dropping components such as habitat loss rates or connectivity effects from the model can lead to suboptimality from 5% to 50%. Consequently, I suggest that more attention should be given to two topics, first, how the performance of a conservation plan should be evaluated, and second, what are the consequences of simplifying the ideal conservation resource allocation model? Factors that may lead to relatively complicated problem formulations include connectivity and evaluation of long-term persistence, stochastic habitat loss and availability, species interactions, and distributions that shift due to climate change.

Knowing But Not Doing: Selecting Priority Conservation Areas and the Research–Implementation Gap

Conservation assessment is a rapidly evolving discipline whose stated goal is the design of networks of protected areas that represent and ensure the persistence of nature (i.e., species, habitats, and environmental processes) by separating priority areas from the activities that degrade or destroy them. Nevertheless, despite a burgeoning scientific literature that ever refines these techniques for allocating conservation resources, it is widely believed that conservation assessments are rarely translated into actions that actually conserve nature. We reviewed the conservation assessment literature in peer-reviewed journals and conducted survey questionnaires of the authors of these studies. Two-thirds of conservation assessments published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature do not deliver conservation action, primarily because most researchers never plan for implementation. This research-implementation gap between conservation science and real-world action is a genuine phenomenon and is a specific example of the "knowing-doing gap" that is widely recognized in management science. Given the woefully inadequate resources allocated for conservation, our findings raise questions over the utility of conservation assessment science, as currently practiced, to provide useful, pragmatic solutions to conservation planning problems. A reevaluation of the conceptual and operational basis of conservation planning research is urgently required. We recommend the following actions for beginning a process for bridging the research-implementation gap in conservation planning: (1) acknowledge the research-implementation gap is real, (2) source research questions from practitioners, (3) situate research within a broader conservation planning model, (4) expand the social dimension of conservation assessments, (5) support conservation plans with transdisciplinary social learning institutions, (6) reward academics for societal engagement and implementation, and (7) train students in skills for "doing" conservation.

A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems

The management and conservation of the world's oceans require synthesis of spatial data on the distribution and intensity of human activities and the overlap of their impacts on marine ecosystems. We developed an ecosystem-specific, multiscale spatial model to synthesize 17 global data sets of anthropogenic drivers of ecological change for 20 marine ecosystems. Our analysis indicates that no area is unaffected by human influence and that a large fraction (41%) is strongly affected by multiple drivers. However, large areas of relatively little human impact remain, particularly near the poles. The analytical process and resulting maps provide flexible tools for regional and global efforts to allocate conservation resources; to implement ecosystem-based management; and to inform marine spatial planning, education, and basic research.

Incorporating the Effects of Socioeconomic Uncertainty into Priority Setting for Conservation Investment

Uncertainty in the implementation and outcomes of conservation actions that is not accounted for leaves conservation plans vulnerable to potential changes in future conditions. We used a decision-theoretic approach to investigate the effects of two types of investment uncertainty on the optimal allocation of global conservation resources for land acquisition in the Mediterranean Basin. We considered uncertainty about (1) whether investment will continue and (2) whether the acquired biodiversity assets are secure, which we termed transaction uncertainty and performance uncertainty, respectively. We also developed and tested the robustness of different rules of thumb for guiding the allocation of conservation resources when these sources of uncertainty exist. In the presence of uncertainty in future investment ability (transaction uncertainty), the optimal strategy was opportunistic, meaning the investment priority should be to act where uncertainty is highest while investment remains possible. When there was a probability that investments would fail (performance uncertainty), the optimal solution became a complex trade-off between the immediate biodiversity benefits of acting in a region and the perceived longevity of the investment. In general, regions were prioritized for investment when they had the greatest performance certainty, even if an alternative region was highly threatened or had higher biodiversity value. The improved performance of rules of thumb when accounting for uncertainty highlights the importance of explicitly incorporating sources of investment uncertainty and evaluating potential conservation investments in the context of their likely long-term success.

A Decision Framework for the Adaptive Management of an Exploited Species with Implications for Marine Reserves

Marine reserves have both conservation and fishery benefits. Nevertheless, there are no general criteria about when and where to establish new reserves, how to evaluate their efficacy, and how to conduct adaptive management to achieve conservation goals. We applied a decision-theory framework to optimally allocate conservation resources between improving data on population status and establishing a reserve for species conservation. Our goal was to maximize reserve benefits given the constraints of a population growth rate that would permit sustainability of resources. We illustrate our decision framework with a retrospective analysis of a 7-year time series on abundance of the leopard grouper (Mycteroperca rosacea) in the Sea of Cortés, Mexico. We used the lower bound of the distribution of the population growth rate (lambda) as a decision rule for determining how many years of monitoring are needed to detect reserve effects. We determined the minimum time frame needed to estimate lambda based on a stated level of risk tolerance for four sites. As expected, the coefficient of variation for the lambda declined with the number of years of data. This increased precision with additional years of data resulted from the high degree of annual variability in the system. Where populations were slow to respond to reserves, more data were needed to detect a positive lambda value. For the leopard grouper case study, confidence in the estimate of lambda increased with the number of years of data. Our decision framework may be used to identify the minimum number of years of data needed before a management decision about reserve establishment could be made that is reasonably likely to meet its management objectives.

Macroecology and extinction risk correlates of frogs

ABSTRACTAim Our aim was to test whether extinction risk of frog species could be predicted from their body size, fecundity or geographical range size. Because small geographical range size is a correlate of extinction risk in many taxa, we also tested hypotheses about correlates of range size in frogs.Location Global.Methods Using a large comparative data set (n = 527 species) compiled from the literature, we performed bivariate and multiple regressions through the origin of independent contrasts to test proposed macroecological patterns and correlates of extinction risk in frogs. We also created minimum adequate models to predict snout–vent length, clutch size, geographical range size and IUCN Red List status in frogs. Parallel non‐phylogenetic analyses were also conducted. We verified the results of the phylogenetic analyses using gridded data accounting for spatial autocorrelation.Results The most threatened frog species tend to have small geographical ranges, although the relationship between range and extinction risk is not linear. In addition, tropical frogs with small clutches have the smallest ranges. Clutch size was strongly positively correlated with geographical range size (r2 = 0.22) and body size (r2 = 0.28).Main conclusions Our results suggest that body size and fecundity only affect extinction risk indirectly through their effect on geographical range size. Thus, although large frogs with small clutches tend to be endangered, there is no comparative evidence that this relationship is direct. If correct, this inference has consequences for conservation strategy: it would be inefficient to allocate conservation resources on the basis of low fecundity or large body size; instead it would be better to protect areas that contain many frog species with small geographical ranges.

A comparative analysis of components incorporated in conservation priority assessments: a case study based on South African species of terrestrial mammals

Assessing the risk of extinction to species forms an essential part of regional conservation initiatives that facilitate the allocation of limited resources for conservation. The present study conducted conservation priority assessments for 221 South African terrestrial mammal species using existing data sources. These data sources included regional IUCN Red List assessments, regional geographic distributions, relative endemism, taxonomic distinctiveness, relative body mass and human density. These components were in turn subjected to two quantitative conservation priority assessment techniques in an attempt to determine regional conservation priorities for South African terrestrial mammals. The top 22 mammal species (i.e. the top 10% of assessed species) identified by both regional conservation priority assessment techniques to be of conservation priority, consistently identified 13 South African terrestrial mammal species to be of high conservation priority. Seven of the 13 species were from the order Afrosoricida, two species from the order Eulipotyphla, with one species each from the orders Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Pholidota, and Rodentia. More importantly, 12 of the 13 mammal species were also listed as threatened in the 2004 Red Data Book of South African Mammals. These results suggest that the two conservation priority assessment techniques used in the present study may represent a practical and quantitative method for determining regional conservation priorities, and include measures that represent vulnerability, conservation value, and threat.

A comparative analysis of components incorporated in conservation priority assessments: a case study based on South African species of terrestrial mammals

Assessing the risk of extinction to species forms an essential part of regional conservation initiatives that facilitate the allocation of limited resources for conservation. The present study conducted conservation priority assessments for 221 South African terrestrial mammal species using existing data sources. These data sources included regional IUCN Red List assessments, regional geographic distributions, relative endemism, taxonomic distinctiveness, relative body mass and human density. These components were in turn subjected to two quantitative conservation priority assessment techniques in an attempt to determine regional conservation priorities for South African terrestrial mammals. The top 22 mammal species (i.e. the top 10% of assessed species) identified by both regional conservation priority assessment techniques to be of conservation priority, consistently identified 13 South African terrestrial mammal species to be of high conservation priority. Seven of the 13 species were from the order Afrosoricida, two species from the order Eulipotyphla, with one species each from the orders Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Pholidota, and Rodentia. More importantly, 12 of the 13 mammal species were also listed as threatened in the 2004 Red Data Book of South African Mammals. These results suggest that the two conservation priority assessment techniques used in the present study may represent a practical and quantitative method for determining regional conservation priorities, and include measures that represent vulnerability, conservation value, and threat.

Threatened species listing as a trigger for conservation action

Legislative listing schemes, under which the listing of a species as threatened automatically triggers command regulation and/or recovery planning, raise significant issues for policy makers. In this paper, we explore strategies for factoring considerations beyond the empirical assessment of a species’ conservation status into the resource allocation decisions that flow from listing. Even in threatened species legislation that appears to prioritise species conservation over socio-economic considerations by creating an automatic nexus between listing and conservation response, there are significant pressure valves that allow the latter to exercise a significant influence on decisions in practice. We critically examine two other techniques currently used in legislation that allow a broader range of considerations to be factored into resource allocation decisions: abandoning the automatic triggering of resource allocation by listing; and taking into account a broader range of considerations in the listing decision itself. We conclude by outlining the framework for a strategic approach to the allocation of conservation resources. This has three limbs to it: recovery plans that identify what needs to be done to bring about recovery, in addition to what available resources will allow us to do; a system for prioritising between the implementation of recovery plans; and the integration of threatened species conservation into strategic land use planning processes.

The Implications of Global Priorities for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Associated with Protected Areas

Map-based prioritization systems have become ubiquitous tools for allocating resources for biological conservation. Although the scientific basis for these systems continues to be debated, they have become a significant factor in international conservation. A recent study found that published conservation priorities are associated with over one third of conservation spending by major international nongovernmental organizations totaling over $1.5 X 109 in 2002 alone. The growing influence of these systems on the allocation of resources for conservation underscores the need to understand their ecological and environmental implications. This paper addresses the role of global priorities in contributing to the future of land protection by considering three key questions: (1) What are the implications of business-asusual growth in land protection for the representation of biodiversity, i.e., the absence of priorities? (2) Would implementing global conservation prioritization systems change trends in biodiversity representation, i.e., conservation following priorities? (3) What are the implications of priority systemguided protected area growth for ecosystem services beyond biodiversity representation, i.e., nontarget consequences of implementation? These questions are addressed with analyses of information from the World Database for Protected Areas and the Global Gap Analysis. The results indicate that business-asusual growth in land protection will fill gaps slowly, most likely at a rate equivalent to chance. Following global priority systems would accelerate conservation of unprotected biodiversity, gap species; however, achieving these gains would exacerbate the current highly uneven global distribution of protected areas. The majority of areas targeted by priority systems already have above average levels of protection and additions following global priority systems would encourage growth in these already above average countries. Over time, these patterns could contribute to uneven distributions of important ecosystem services. This observation does not detract from the value of global priority systems for biodiversity conservation, but it does highlight their limitations and suggest the need for more comprehensive approaches to planning and prioritizing future land protection.

The Questionable Effectiveness of Science Spending by International Conservation Organizations in the Tropics

The general context of conservation in the tropics--in the Amazon basin and elsewhere--is stagnant or declining funding and rapidly growing threat levels. For conservation programs this makes strategic deployment of limited conservation resources all the more important. International conservation organizations active in the tropics increasingly define themselves as science driven and expend considerable resources on science-based activities such as ecoregional analysis, field research, and monitoring of ecological variables. l argue that an overemphasis on science has generated a series of unintended but serious problems for conservation in the tropics. Spending on monitoring and ecoregional analysis has effectively starved protection and threat analysis of resources. A decoupling of biology from serious cost-benefit analysis has led to the privileging of small-scale and local analyses, rather than the systemic analyses essential for the strategic allocation of scarce conservation resources. Successful conservation in the tropics depends on the crossing of biogeography with sophisticated threat analysis to identify priority geographies for protection. This should be combined with much more systematic engagement with the principal drivers of tropical deforestation, especially agribusiness. Caution and a sense of proportion are required when balancing the financial demands of science and those of protection. I suggest that conservation organizations should cooperate far more in assembling and analyzing information on conservation spending and on threat levels and biogeography at the continental, national, and regional levels. Site selection should follow rather than precede this kind of strategic analysis, and sites should be considered elements of a network rather than stand-alone projects. More attention should be paid to market-driven conservation through techniques such as certification and responsible supply-chain management.

Prioritizing global conservation efforts

One of the most pressing issues facing the global conservation community is how to distribute limited resources between regions identified as priorities for biodiversity conservation. Approaches such as biodiversity hotspots, endemic bird areas and ecoregions are used by international organizations to prioritize conservation efforts globally. Although identifying priority regions is an important first step in solving this problem, it does not indicate how limited resources should be allocated between regions. Here we formulate how to allocate optimally conservation resources between regions identified as priorities for conservation--the 'conservation resource allocation problem'. Stochastic dynamic programming is used to find the optimal schedule of resource allocation for small problems but is intractable for large problems owing to the "curse of dimensionality". We identify two easy-to-use and easy-to-interpret heuristics that closely approximate the optimal solution. We also show the importance of both correctly formulating the problem and using information on how investment returns change through time. Our conservation resource allocation approach can be applied at any spatial scale. We demonstrate the approach with an example of optimal resource allocation among five priority regions in Wallacea and Sundaland, the transition zone between Asia and Australasia.

Measurement of erosion: Is it possible?

Reasons for erosion measurements are: (1) to determine the environmental impact of erosion and conservation practices, (2) scientific erosion research; (3) development and evaluation of erosion control technology; (4) development of erosion prediction technology and (5) allocation of conservation resources and development of conservation regulations, policies and programs. A handicap for the control of the insidious erosion process is the difficulty of determining its magnitude. Four causes are often mentioned in the literature: the large temporal and spatial variation of erosion, the paucity of accurate erosion measurements, the problem of extrapolating data from small plots to higher scales and the conversion of erosion into production and monetary units (impact). It is an illusion to think that the role of measurements can be taken over by the application of erosion prediction technology. Measurements are needed to develop, calibrate and validate that technology. Measurement techniques differ in accuracy, equipment and personnel cost. The most accurate (and often most expensive) techniques do not always serve the measurement purpose. This paper gives a critical overview of current measurements techniques for erosion at different spatial and temporal scales. Examples are presented of techniques for direct measurements as well as for indirect measurements, i.e. measurements of soil properties that serve as input for models. The paper is concluded with a critical evaluation.

Restoring habitat corridors in fragmented landscapes using optimization and percolation models

Landscape fragmentation and habitat loss are significant threats to the conservation of biological diversity. Creating and restoring corridors between isolated habitat patches can help mitigate or reverse the impacts of fragmentation. It is important that restoration and protection efforts be undertaken in the most efficient and effective way possible because conservation budgets are often severely limited. We address the question of where restoration should take place to efficiently reconnect habitat with a landscape-spanning corridor. Building upon findings in percolation theory, we develop a shortest-path optimization methodology for assessing the minimum amount of restoration needed to establish such corridors. This methodology is applied to large numbers of simulated fragmented landscapes to generate mean and variance statistics for the amount of restoration needed. The results provide new information about the expected level of resources needed to realize different corridor configurations under different degrees of fragmentation and different characterizations of habitat connectivity (“neighbor rules”). These results are expected to be of interest to conservation planners and managers in the allocation of conservation resources to restoration projects.

The level of threat to restricted-range bird species can be predicted from mapped data on land use and human population

A key element in the efficient allocation of scarce resources for conservation is the identification of areas of high biological value and high threat. Habitat loss and human population density have proved useful predictors of spatial variation in the current threat status of species albeit at coarse spatial resolution. We present a global analysis, intersecting Endemic Bird Areas (EBAs), to which restricted-range bird species are endemic, with fine-scale data of agricultural extent and human population density and test: (a) how well variation in land use mapped at 0.5° × 0.5° resolution predicts spatial variation in threat status of species and (b) how the predictive power compares with that of human population density mapped at the same resolution. Variation among EBAs in the proportion of restricted-range species that are threatened can be predicted by both the proportion of land used for agriculture and human population density. Agricultural land use was a better predictor of threat status than human population. Further, the average levels of threat attributable to agriculture were better predicted by land use than human population density, whereas threats due to causes other than agriculture were equally well predicted by land use and human population density. We fitted quantitative empirical models to describe these relationships. These results could be used, together with spatially explicit future scenarios of land use change, to project the geographical distribution and magnitude of future threats to birds at global and regional scales.

Management of threatened insect species in Australia, with particular reference to butterflies

Abstract Advances in determination of conservation status of insects through evaluation of threats (rather than simple ‘rarity’ alone) help to set priorities for allocation of conservation resources, and formulate effective legislative treatment and field management for the most needy species. Summaries of several recent conservation studies on butterflies exemplify the variety of practical needs, amongst which habitat protection and enhancement is paramount. However, the paucity of biological and distributional information on most Australian insects necessitates considerable flexibility in approach, so that perceptions of conservation need may be highly subjective. Listing species for protection and conservation priority must be viewed as a dynamic process, with opportunity for rapid action, either to list or de‐list taxa as research and recovery actions lead to change in perceived or real status and conservation need.

Taxonomic complexity, population genetics, and plant conservation in Scotland

Summary Groups of plants that are undergoing active diversification often do not fall into neat and tidy taxonomies. In such groups it can sometimes be very difficult to establish what does, and what does not, constitute a species. This presents problems for species-based conservation programmes that are based around prioritised species-lists (e.g. the UK Biodiversity Action Plans; BAPs), particularly as the inclusion or exclusion of taxa on these lists largely determines the allocation of conservation resources. This is an important issue as almost half of the BAP priority higher plant species for which Scotland has prime responsibility are taxonomically controversial. Recent research using population genetic approaches to tackle some taxonomically complex plant groups has enhanced our understanding of their biology. Such approaches provide objective and independent assessments of whether a given entity is distinct or not. This information can then be used to contribute towards the decision making proces...