Areas Of High Conservation Priority Research Articles

Mapping endemic freshwater fish richness to identify high-priority areas for conservation: An ecoregion approach.

Freshwater ecosystems are experiencing accelerating global biodiversity loss. Thus, knowing where these unique ecosystems' species richness reaches a peak can facilitate their conservation planning. By hosting more than 290 freshwater fishes, Iran is a major freshwater fish hotspot in the Middle East. Considering the accelerating rate of biodiversity loss, there is an urgent need to identify species-rich areas and understand the mechanisms driving biodiversity distribution. In this study, we gathered distribution records of all endemic freshwater fishes of Iran (85 species) to develop their richness map and determine the most critical drivers of their richness patterns from an ecoregion approach. We performed a generalized linear model (GLM) with quasi-Poisson distribution to identify contemporary and historical determinants of endemic freshwater fish richness. We also quantified endemic fish similarity among the 15 freshwater ecoregions of Iran. Results showed that endemic freshwater fish richness is highest in the Zagros Mountains while a moderate level of richness was observed between Zagros and Alborz Mountains. High, moderate, and low richness of endemic freshwater fish match with Upper Tigris & Euphrates, Namak, and Kavir & Lut Deserts ecoregions respectively. Kura - South Caspian Drainages and Caspian Highlands were the most similar ecoregions and Orumiyeh was the most unique ecoregion according to endemic fish presence. Precipitation and precipitation change velocity since the Last Glacial Maximum were the most important predictors of endemic freshwater fish richness. Areas identified to have the highest species richness have high priority for the conservation of freshwater fish in Iran, therefore, should be considered in future protected areas development.

Endangered bird species of one of the last remnants of lowland Atlantic Forest in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil: pressures and preservation measures.

The lowland Atlantic Forest, at altitudes of below 500 m, is highly fragmented, and is home to many threatened species of birds. The Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro has a high concentration of threatened birds in the Americas and is an important residual of the dense ombrophilous formations of the Atlantic Forest, which includes the Reserva Biológica União, a high priority area for conservation of Atlantic Forest birds. This study compiled empirical and secondary records of threatened birds in this reserve and discusses potential factors determining their local occurrence. Since 2008, regular observations, including transect surveys and mist-netting, in addiction to secondary data, have provided records of 306 bird species, of which 49 appear on red lists at some level (state, national or global), including 34 listed as endangered, of which 13 are listed globally, eight of them dependent on well-conserved lowland rainforest. Future studies should include new areas of the reserve, with the aim of confirming the presence of additional threatened species. The long-term conservation of this fauna will depend not only on the adequate management of the reserve, but also the reestablishment of its connectivity with adjacent forest fragments and upland areas in the state.

Can Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) endure the future climate and land use change scenario in the East Himalayan Region? Perspective from a multiple model framework.

Large mammals are susceptible to land use and climate change, unless they are safeguarded within large, protected areas. It is crucial to comprehend the effects of these changes on mammals to develop a conservation plan. We identified ecological hotspots that can sustain an ecosystem for the endangered Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), an umbrella species. We developed three distinct ensemble species distribution models (SDMs) for the Bengal tiger in the Indian East Himalayan Region (IEHR). The first model served as the baseline and considered habitat type, climate, land cover, and anthropogenic threats. The second model focused on climate, land use, and anthropogenic threats, the third model focused on climate variables. We projected the second and third models onto two future climate scenarios: RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. We evaluated the threats possess to protected areas within eco-sensitive zone based on the potential tiger habitat. Finally, we compared the potential habitat with the IUCN tiger range. Our study revealed that the Brahmaputra valley will serve as the primary habitat for tigers in the future. However, considering the projected severe climate scenarios, it is anticipated that tigers will undergo a range shift towards the north and east, especially in high-altitude regions. Very high conservation priority areas, which make up 3.4% of the total area, are predominantly located in the riverine corridor of Assam. High conservation priority areas, which make up 5.5% of total area are located in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It is important to note that conservation priority areas outside of protected areas pose a greater threat to tigers. We recommend reassessing the IUCN Red List's assigned range map for tigers in the IEHR, as it is over-predicted. Our study has led us to conclude both land use and climate change possess threats to the future habitat of tigers. The outcomes of our study will provide crucial information on identifying habitat hotspots and facilitate appropriate conservation planning efforts.

Effects of occurrence data density on conservation prioritization strategies

Place-prioritization analyses are a means by which researchers can translate information on the geographic distributions of species into quantitative prioritizations of areas for biodiversity conservation action. Although several robust algorithms are now available to support this sort of analysis, their vulnerability to biases deriving from incomplete and imbalanced distributional information is not well understood. In this contribution, we took a well-sampled group (i.e., Icteridae or New World blackbirds) in an intensively sampled region (the contiguous continental United States), and developed a set of pseudo-experimental manipulations of occurrence data density—in effect, we created situations in which data density was reduced 10- or 100-fold, and situations in which data density varied 100-fold from region to region. The effects were marked: priority areas for conservation shifted, appeared, and disappeared as a function of our manipulations. That is, differences in density of data can affect the position and complexity of areas of high conservation priority that are identified using distributional areas of species derived from ecological niche modeling. The effects of data density on prioritizations become more diffuse when considerations of existing protected areas and costs related to human intervention are taken into account, but changes are still manifested. Appropriate considerations of sampling density when constructing ecological niche models to identify distributional areas of species are key to preventing artifactual biases from entering into and affecting results of analyses of conservation priority.

Padrões ecológicos e biológicos de estudos de peixes de riachos da Bacia Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí (Bacia PCJ, SP) avaliados por meio de uma revisão sistemática

Abstract Tropical streams are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. As such, studies carried out and compiled over spatial and temporal scales can provide useful information to examine patterns of species diversity and threats to their survival. Here we conducted a systematic review of published research on biological and ecological aspects of stream fish fauna found in the Piracicaba-Capivari-Jundiaí Basin, an industrial watershed of São Paulo State. We aimed to detect main patterns, trends and gaps in studies related to species composition, distribution, spatial and temporal scales, as well as in the covered topics. Results were related to main land uses, biomes and Conservation Units. A constant increase in published articles occurred from 2003 until 2016 with an average of 1.8 articles/year. Twenty-six publications were considered for the present study, reporting on fish samples obtained in 67 sites and resulting in 89 species. A high proportion of studies were concentrated in the Corumbataí sub-basin, and rarefaction curves indicated that stream fish richness in the PCJ Basin may be considerably higher than that shown by the actual numbers. Basin studies were unevenly distributed and did do not include such highly preserved areas as the Camanducaia, Jaguari and Jundiaí sub-basins. We emphasize the importance of further surveys in these regions, as well as in high priority conservation areas, which may lead to new insights for developing appropriate conservation strategies for this basin.

Combining geospatial abundance and ecological niche models to identify high-priority areas for conservation: The neglected role of broadscale interspecific competition

Ecological niche models (ENMs) have become a practical and key mechanism for filling major gaps in spatial information for targeted conservation planning, particularly when only occurrence data are available. Nonetheless, accounting for abundance patterns in the internal structure of species’ ranges, and the role of biotic interactions in such models across broadscale, remains highly challenging. Our study gathered baseline information on abundance data of two Endangered Amazonian primates (Ateles chamek and Lagothrix lagotricha cana) to create geospatial abundance models using two spatial interpolation methods: Inverse distance weight (IDW) and Ordinary kriging (OK). The main goals were to: (i) test whether geospatial abundance models are correlated with habitat suitability derived from correlative ENMs; (ii) compare the strength of the abundance-suitability relationships between original and interpolated abundances; (iii) test whether interspecific competition between the two target taxa constrained abundance over broad spatial scales; and (iv) create ensemble models incorporating both habitat suitability and abundance to identify high-priority areas for conservation. We found a significant positive relationship between habitat suitability with observed and predicted abundances of woolly (L. l. cana) and spider (A. chamek) monkeys. Abundance-suitability correlations showed no significant differences when using original relative abundances compared to using interpolated abundances. We also found that the association between L. l. cana abundance and habitat suitability depended on the abundance of its putative competitor species, A. chamek. Our final models combining geospatial abundance information with ENMs were able to provide more realistic assessments of hotspots for conservation, especially when accounting for the important, but often neglected, role of interspecific competition in shaping species’ geographic ranges at broader scales. The framework developed here, including general trends in abundance patterns and suitability information, can be used as a surrogate to identify high-priority areas for conservation of poorly known species across their entire geographic ranges.

Estimating Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Diversity Through Deep Learning.

The reliable mapping of species richness is a crucial step for the identification of areas of high conservation priority, alongside other value and threat considerations. This is commonly done by overlapping range maps of individual species, which requires dense availability of occurrence data or relies on assumptions about the presence of species in unsampled areas deemed suitable by environmental niche models. Here, we present a deep learning approach that directly estimates species richness, skipping the step of estimating individual species ranges. We train a neural network model based on species lists from inventory plots, which provide ground truth data for supervised machine learning. The model learns to predict species richness based on spatially associated variables, including climatic and geographic predictors, as well as counts of available species records from online databases. We assess the empirical utility of our approach by producing independently verifiable maps of alpha, beta, and gamma plant diversity at high spatial resolutions for Australia, a continent with highly heterogeneous diversity patterns. Our deep learning framework provides a powerful and flexible new approach for estimating biodiversity patterns, constituting a step forward toward automated biodiversity assessments.

Identifying high priority conservation areas for Patagonian wetlands biodiversity

Given the multiple stressors affecting freshwater ecosystems and the limited resources devoted to their management, effective conservation of freshwater biodiversity requires regional prioritization. Patagonian wetlands are essential for regional biodiversity and the economy, but they are still far from reaching global conservation targets and many of them could disappear due to climate change. Our study aimed at prioritizing wetlands based on aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, their conservation status and vulnerability to climate change. First, we identified 43 priority wetlands containing all aquatic biodiversity collected in 82 Patagonian wetlands located over a 1500 km north–south gradient, by using the software Marxan. Then, we ranked within priority wetlands according to their conservation status (low priority if they were already protected; medium priority if not), importance for terrestrial biodiversity conservation (high priority) and vulnerability to climate change. Highly ranked priority wetlands in National Parks (low priority), contained diverse wetlands (57% aquatic taxon richness), including a large proportion of rare species (33%). High priority wetlands are oases of water in an arid and semiarid steppe, containing not only a large proportion of the aquatic biodiversity, but also acting as a refuge for terrestrial flora and fauna. Different management actions are proposed according to wetland priority level (e.g. fencing, creation of artificial ponds), and since 20% of medium priority and 36% of high priority wetlands are expected to disappear by 2050, their inclusion in conservation or restoration plans needs to be carefully evaluated.

Identifying high-priority conservation areas for endangered waterbirds using a flagship species in the Korean DMZ

The Hangang River and Imjingang River estuaries in Korea are part of the main transit route for many migratory birds that use the East Asia-Pacific flyway. Despite the global importance of this area as a seasonal bird stopover site and resting area, conservation areas have not been established in this area based on ecological properties. This study aimed to examine the umbrella effect of the white-naped crane (Antigone vipio), which is one of the best-known flagship species in East Asia, and to determine the effectiveness of establishing a conservation plan in the western DMZ based on the distribution of white-naped cranes. Species distribution modeling was performed for the white-naped crane; other threatened waterbirds wintering in the western DMZ; Group 1, including species with ecological traits similar to those of the white-naped crane; and Group 2, including species with ecological traits different from those of the white-naped crane. The modeling was based on field survey data from a citizen science project, and a systematic conservation planning approach was adopted for each species group. The results showed no significant differences between the plan for the target species and the plans for the other species groups, indicating that protecting white-naped cranes habitat can also protect the habitat of other threatened waterbirds.

Felids, forest and farmland: identifying high priority conservation areas in Sumatra

ContextEffective planning for protected areas and wildlife population management requires a firm understanding of the location of the species’ core habitat patches, the dispersal corridors connecting them, and the risk they face from key threats, notably deforestation.ObjectivesTo quantify and map core habitat patches and dispersal corridors for Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi diardi), Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) across the 16,000 km2 tropical rainforest Kerinci Seblat landscape, Sumatra. Also, to model future forest loss and fragmentation and its effect on landscape connectivity for populations of these threatened species.MethodsUsing data from camera trap (671 sites/55,856 trap nights), and occupancy modelling, we developed habitat use maps and converted these into species-specific landscape resistance layers. We applied cumulative resistant kernels to map core areas and we used factorial least-cost paths to define dispersal corridors. A 17-year deforestation dataset was used to predict deforestation risk towards the integrity of corridors and core areas.ResultsThe occupancy estimates of the three cats were similar (0.18–0.29), with preference shown for habitats with dense tree cover, medium elevation and low human disturbance. The overlap between core areas and corridors across the three species was moderate, 7–11% and 10%, respectively. We predicted future loss of 1052 km2 of forest in the landscape, of which 2–4% and 5% in highly importance core areas and corridors.ConclusionsThis study provides a valuable guidance for identifying priority areas in need of urgent protection within and outside the protected area network, and where infrastructure development planning can incorporate wildlife conservation goals.

Twelve Recommendations for Advancing Marine Conservation in European and Contiguous Seas

Like most ocean regions today, the European and contiguous seas experience cumulative impacts from local human activities and global pressures. They are largely in poor environmental condition with deteriorating trends. Despite several success stories, European policies for marine conservation fall short of being effective. Acknowledging the challenges for marine conservation, a 4-year multi-national network, MarCons, supported collaborative marine conservation efforts to bridge the gap between science, management and policy, aiming to contribute in reversing present negative trends. By consolidating a large network of more than 100 scientists from 26 countries, and conducting a series of workshops over 4 years (2016–2020), MarCons analyzed challenges, opportunities and obstacles for advancing marine conservation in the European and contiguous seas. Here, we synthesize the major issues that emerged from this analysis and make 12 key recommendations for policy makers, marine managers, and researchers. To increase the effectiveness of marine conservation planning, we recommend (1) designing coherent networks of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the framework of marine spatial planning (MSP) and applying systematic conservation planning principles, including re-evaluation of existing management zones, (2) designing MPA networks within a broader transboundary planning framework, and (3) implementing integrated land-freshwater-sea approaches. To address inadequate or poorly informed management, we recommend (4) developing and implementing adaptive management plans in all sites of the Natura 2000 European conservation network and revising the Natura 2000 framework, (5) embedding and implementing cumulative effects assessments into a risk management process and making them operational, and (6) promoting actions to reach ‘good environmental status’ in all European waters. To account for global change in conservation planning and management, we further recommend (7) developing conservation strategies to address the impacts of global change, for example identifying climate-change refugia as high priority conservation areas, and (8) incorporating biological invasions in conservation plans and prioritizing management actions to control invasive species. Finally, to improve current practices that may compromise the effectiveness of conservation actions, we recommend (9) reinforcing the collection of high-quality open-access data, (10) improving mechanisms for public participation in MPA planning and management, (11) prioritizing conservation goals in full collaboration with stakeholders, and (12) addressing gender inequality in marine sciences and conservation.

Geodiversity of Karst landforms with high priority conservation areas for Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor) in the White Desert National Park, Western Desert, Egypt

Geodiversity of Karst landforms with high priority conservation areas for Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor) in the White Desert National Park, Western Desert, Egypt

Identifying priority conservation areas in a Saharan environment by highlighting the endangered Cuvier\u2019s Gazelle as a flagship species

Monitoring populations and designing effective conservation actions for endangered species present significant challenges. An accurate understanding of current distribution, ecological traits and habitat requirements is imperative in formulating conservation strategies. Recent surveys on the southernmost Cuvier’s Gazelle (Gazella cuvieri) population, an ungulate endemic to North Africa, showcase its importance in terms of numbers and genetic diversity. This population inhabits a remote region in the extreme north-western portion of the Sahara Desert and has not been well studied. Here, we examine the potential distribution of Cuvier’s Gazelle and the environmental factors limiting the species in a Saharan environment, by combining broad-scale field survey data and species distribution models. Our objective was to identify high priority conservation areas in the southernmost known portion of the species’ distribution by modelling habitat selection at the landscape scale using a predictive distribution map. Our results show that the distribution of Cuvier’s Gazelle is strongly related to mountainous areas with heterogeneous terrain and remoteness from large human settlements over other ecological factors that had less impact on the species’ presence and distribution. We also provide a quantitative estimate of the potential distribution range of Cuvier’s Gazelle in southern Morocco, identifying two well-demarcated key areas. The two core areas currently contain enough rugged terrain isolated from human encroachment to support the endangered species in this harsh desert environment. We encourage the implementation of conservation planning for Cuvier’s Gazelle as an “umbrella species”, which will confer effective protection to higher-quality habitat zones and co-occurring species, leading to sustainable and ecologically responsible development in the region.

A phylogenetic perspective on biodiversity patterns of Afrotropical freshwater crabs (Crustacea, Decapoda, Potamonautidae)

Abstract Evolutionary‐based measures of biodiversity play an increasingly important role in theoretical conservation biology, complementing more traditional methods such as patterns of species richness and endemicity. To date, very few studies have used evolutionary data to assess patterns of biodiversity in the Afrotropical region, particularly for freshwater invertebrate taxa. In the present study, the monophyletic Afrotropical freshwater crab family Potamonautidae was used to investigate how phylogenetic data can be combined with other metrics to help develop conservation plans for regional and species‐based conservation efforts. The Afrotropical freshwater crabs make an exceptional group to demonstrate the utility of a phylogeny‐based approach to conservation, as there have recently been a number of phylogenetic studies on this family, the IUCN Red List conservation status is available for almost every species, and accurate distributional range data are available for all species. The conservation priority of this fauna is assessed in relation to the Afrotropical freshwater ecoregions using three traditional measures of biodiversity and two phylogenetic diversity metrics. The results of Evolutionarily Distinct Globally Endangered and Heightened Evolutionary Distinctiveness and Globally Endangered analyses identify both the freshwater crab species and the areas of high conservation priority in the Afrotropical region.

Expansion of the agricultural frontier in the largest South American Dry Forest: Identifying priority conservation areas for snakes before everything is lost.

Conservation planning relies on integrating existing knowledge, social-environmental contexts, and potential threats to identify gaps and opportunities for action. Here we present a case study on how priority areas for conservation can be determined using existing information on biodiversity occurrence and threats. Specifically, our goals are: (1) to model the ecological niche of twelve endemic snake species in the Dry Chaco Forest, (2) to quantify the impact of the deforestation rates on their distributions, (3) to propose high priority areas for conservation in order to improve the actual protected area system, and (4) to evaluate the influence of the human footprint on the optimization of selected priority areas. Our results demonstrate that Argentinian Dry Chaco represent, on average, ~74% of the distribution of endemic snake species and deforestation has reduced suitable areas of all snake species in the region. Further, the current protected areas are likely insufficient to conserve these species as only very low percentages (3.27%) of snakes’ ranges occur within existing protected areas. Our models identified high priority areas in the north of the Chaco forest where continuous, well-conserved forest still exists. These high priority areas include transition zones within the foothill forest and areas that could connect patches of forest between the western and eastern Chaco forest. Our findings identify spatial priorities that minimize conflicts with human activities, a key issue for this biodiversity hotspot area. We argue that consultation with stakeholders and decision-makers are urgently needed in order to take concrete actions to protect the habitat, or we risk losing the best conservation opportunities to protect endemic snakes that inhabit the Argentinian Dry Chaco.

Remote sensing of terrestrial plant biodiversity

Biodiversity is essential to healthy ecosystem function, influencing productivity and resilience to disturbance. Biodiversity loss endangers essential ecosystem services and risks unacceptable environmental consequences. Global biodiversity observations are needed to provide a better understanding of the distribution of biodiversity, to better identify high priority areas for conservation and to help maintain essential ecosystem goods and services. Traditional in situ biodiversity monitoring is limited in time and space and is usually a costly and time-consuming enterprise. Remote sensing can provide data over a large area in a consistent, objective manner and has been used to detect plant biodiversity in a range of ecosystems, typically based on relating spectral properties to the distribution of habitat, species or functional groups. Recent years have witnessed the emergence of methods using imaging spectroscopy to assess biodiversity via plant traits or spectral information content. However, questions regarding the complex drivers of plant optical properties and the scale dependence of spectral diversity – biodiversity relationship confound diversity monitoring using remote sensing and must first be better understood before these methods can be operationally applied. To address some of these topics, we (1) review the history of remote sensing approaches in biodiversity estimation, summarizing the pros and cons of different methods, (2) illustrate successes and major gaps of remote sensing of biodiversity, and (3) identify promising future directions. We focus on emerging methods using spectral diversity (optical diversity) as a proxy for terrestrial plant diversity that offer to revolutionize the study of diversity in its different dimensions (phylogenetic, taxonomic, and functional diversity) from remote sensing. We also discuss remaining knowledge gaps and ways spectral diversity might be effectively integrated into a global biodiversity monitoring system, bridging a gap between ecology and remote sensing.

Landscape Conservation Planning to Sustain Ecosystem Services under Climate Change

Sustainable conservation aims to ensure the sustained conservation of landscape multi-functionality which in turn requires ensuring ecosystem service (ES) and habitat quality (HQ) sustainability with inclusive landscape-scale conservation planning. This study proposes a landscape conservation planning (LCP) framework for landscape-scale ES-HQ conservation and sustainability. Spatially explicit hotspots for five ESs and HQs are identified via InVEST and LISA software. Spatiotemporal changes in ES-HQ hotspots, in terms of stability and resilience, are delineated. The Zonation technique is applied to prioritize areas for conservation based on ES-HQ hotspot stability and resilience maps. High priority conservation areas are identified and are used as reserve area inputs for land use modeling with CLUE-S software to simulate future land use change under climate change scenarios. This study reports that varied rainfall and climate are major driving factors of ES-HQ sustainability disturbance in the study area. Furthermore, our proposed conservation Strategy 2 demonstrates that a larger extent of landscape multi-functionality can be sustained when the existing conservation area includes the total area of identified ES-HQ resilient hotspots. This study effectively identifies the stability and resiliency of ES-HQ hotspot areas affected by disturbances for high priority landscape conservation requirements to ensure ES-HQ sustainability and landscape multi-functionality in the study area.

Distribution of the elusive and threatened Brazilian dwarf brocket deer refined by non-invasive genetic sampling and distribution modelling

The Brazilian dwarf brocket deer (Mazama nana; Mammalia: Cervidae) is an elusive deer species that occupies the forests of southern Brazil, northern Argentina, and eastern Paraguay. A drastic reduction in forested areas has greatly affected the species, the least studied Neotropical deer. As do many threatened and elusive species, the Brazilian dwarf brocket deer needs a refinement of its distribution that would indicate proper sites to guide its conservation in situ. This project aimed to determine species distribution in order to establish priority areas for conservation. Given the rarity and elusiveness of the species, we proposed indirect methods to achieve this objective. We tracked and collected faecal samples in protected areas spread over southern Brazil with the help of a scat detection dog. Following species identification by PCR/RFLP and sample spatialisation, we modelled the species distribution using MaxEnt software. We found that the potential geographical distribution of the Brazilian dwarf brocket deer in Brazil is spread over the states of Parana, Santa Catarina, northern and central Rio Grande do Sul, the extreme south of Sao Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul, eastern Paraguay, and the Misiones province in Argentina. The west and centre of Parana state and part of western Santa Catarina state were identified as high conservation priority areas.

Relative importance of biological and human-associated factors for alien plant invasions in Hokkaido, Japan

The invasion success of alien plants is strongly affected by both biological and human-associated factors. Evaluation of the relative contribution of each factor is important not only for the further understanding of invasion processes but also for the better management of invasion risk, particularly in protected areas of high conservation priority. Here, we quantified the relative importance of species biological traits and association with a human activity, i.e. agriculture, in explaining the invasion success of alien plants across the entire region and in protected areas in Hokkaido, Japan. As a quantitative measure of invasion success, the distribution extent of naturalized populations across the entire prefecture and in protected areas was calculated for 63 alien species with equal residence time based on species occurrence records at a spatial resolution of 5-km mesh grid units. For each species, we identified seven biological traits (seed mass, dispersal mode, maximum plant height, capability of vegetative reproduction, flowering start time and period and life span) and two human-associated factors (introduction purpose and cultivation frequency for agricultural use). Cultivation frequency was determined based on the frequency of seed-sowing in pastures: (1) not sown, (2) accidentally sown as a seed contaminant and (3) intentionally sown for commercial cultivation. The importance of biological traits and human-associated factors in explaining the distribution extent was determined using an information-theoretic approach. In explaining the distribution extent across the entire prefecture, species biological traits and human-associated factors showed comparable importance; cultivation frequency exhibited the highest importance value closely followed by seed mass, maximum height and flowering period. In contrast, when focusing on protected areas, human association was more important than biological traits, as indicated by the greatest importance of cultivation frequency and much lower values for most biological traits. The results demonstrated that species biological traits and human association almost equally contributed to invasion success across the entire region, while invasions into protected areas were more attributable to human association than to biological traits. We highlight that the control of propagule pressure associated with artificial cultivation may be key to preventing further invasions into protected areas.

Minimal overlap between areas of high conservation priority for endangered Galapagos pinnipeds and the conservation zone of the Galapagos Marine Reserve

Abstract Galapagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki) and fur seals (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) are endangered pinnipeds that live in a highly variable marine environment, influenced by seasonal changes in productivity and by the unpredictable occurrence of El Niño. The Galapagos marine habitat is protected through the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR), which has recently undergone a redefinition of its zonation. However, the effectiveness of the GMR in protecting the habitat of Galapagos pinnipeds has never been investigated, and it is unclear how well their habitat use aligns with the newly proposed conservation zone. A spatial prioritization analysis framework was applied based on the complementary use of density estimation (kernel utilization distributions, KUDs) and habitat modelling (resource selection functions, RSFs). Using tracking data collected over two years and under three environmental scenarios (cold season, warm season, and El Niño) in the western archipelago, hot spots of pinniped habitat usage were identified (through KUDs), and predictions about the location of patches of good habitat were generated (through RSFs). The output of KUDs and RSFs was used for a spatial prioritization analysis to delineate areas of high conservation priority. The overlap between these areas and the GMR zonation was then calculated. Both species were found to use largely distinct habitat types: sea lions used the waters over the continental shelf, whereas fur seals used the offshore deep waters and showed a more heterogeneous space usage over time. The spatial prioritization analysis identified three key areas of high conservation priority for both species in the Western Galapagos. These areas were all within the boundaries of the GMR but the overlap with the conservation zone was only 8%. Hence, under the current proposition, the largest proportion of key pinniped foraging habitat in the western archipelago will not be protected from licensed activities in the sustainable use zone, particularly fishing and boat traffic.