Conservation Value Of Protected Areas Research Articles

Biological invasions negatively impact global protected areas

Protected areas underpin global biodiversity conservation and sustainability agendas. Biological invasions increasingly threaten the ecological functioning and long-term conservation value of protected areas, while a lack of information on impact impedes management decisions. We collated data from effects of biological invasions in protected areas to provide the first quantitative analysis of their global impacts. Based on 300 reported effects from 44 invasive species, we show that there are overall negative impacts from invasive species on both biotic and abiotic characteristics of protected areas globally. Impacts were pervasive across population, community, and ecosystem scales, and for the vast majority of invasive taxa with sufficient data. Negative impacts have been incurred around the world, with National Parks and World Heritage Sites in the Neartic and Neotropical regions the most studied. Notwithstanding context-dependencies and uneven research efforts, the recurrent negative impacts of invasive species indicate that current efforts are insufficient to curb current stressors and meet conservation and sustainability targets on land and in water. To address the risk of biological invasions in protected areas, it is imperative to prioritise fundamental research on ecological interactions, establish robust monitoring and prevention programs, and raise awareness through global initiatives.

Butterfly declines in protected areas of Illinois: Assessing the influence of two decades of climate and landscape change.

Despite increasing concern regarding broad-scale declines in insects, there are few published long-term, systematic butterfly surveys in North America, and fewer still that have incorporated the influence of changing climate and landscape variables. In this study, we analyzed 20 years of citizen science data at seven consistently monitored protected areas in Illinois, U.S.A. We used mixed models and PERMANOVA to evaluate trends in butterfly abundance, richness, and composition while also evaluating the effects of temperature and land use. Overall butterfly richness, but not abundance, increased in warmer years. Surprisingly, richness also was positively related to percent impervious surface (at the 2 km radius scale), highlighting the conservation value of protected areas in urban landscapes (or alternately, the potential negative aspects of agriculture). Precipitation had a significant and variable influence through time on overall butterfly abundance and abundance of resident species, larval host plant specialists, and univoltine species. Importantly, models incorporating the influence of changing temperature, precipitation, and impervious surface indicated a significant overall decline in both butterfly abundance and species richness, with an estimated abundance decrease of 3.8%/year and richness decrease of 1.6%/year (52.5% and 27.1% cumulatively from 1999 to 2018). Abundance and richness declines were also noted across all investigated functional groups except non-resident (migratory) species. Butterfly community composition changed through time, but we did not find evidence of systematic biotic homogenization, perhaps because declines were occurring in nearly all functional groups. Finally, at the site-level, declines in either richness or abundance occurred at five of seven locations, with only the two largest locations (>300 Ha) not exhibiting declines. Our results mirror those of other long-term butterfly studies predominantly in Europe and North America that have found associations of butterflies with climate variables and general declines in butterfly richness and abundance.

Conservation value of tropical forests: Distance to human settlements matters more than management in Central Africa

Tropical forests in Central Africa host unique biodiversity threatened by human degradation of habitats and defaunation. Forests allocated to conservation, production and community management are expected to have different conservation values. Here, we aimed to identify the determinants of the conservation value of tropical forests in southeastern Cameroon, by disentangling the effects of forest allocations, proximity to human settlements, and local habitat. We inventoried two taxonomical groups: mammal species with camera traps (3464 independent detection events) and dung beetle species with pitfall traps (4475 individuals). We used an integrated analytical approach, examining both species richness and composition. For both mammals and dung beetles, species richness decreased from the protected area to the community forests, and the logging concession showed intermediate richness. Species richness of both groups was negatively correlated to the proximity to human settlements and disturbance, with a decreasing gradient of body mass and the loss of the most threatened species. The replacement (i.e., spatial turnover) of both mammal and dung beetle species among forest allocations suggest an integration of conservation initiatives to a large number of different sites, with a priority on protected and remote areas of high biodiversity. These results confirm the high conservation value of protected areas and their essential role in conservation strategies, ecologically connected with well-managed production forests with variable conservation value mainly depending on accessibility. Community forests located close to villages are much more degraded but not totally defaunated and still provide bushmeat to local populations.

Estimating the conservation value of protected areas in Maritime Canada for two species at risk: the Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) and Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis)

Westwood, A. R., C. Staicer, P. Sölymos, S. Haché, T. Fontaine, E. Bayne, and D. Mazerolle. 2019. Estimating the conservation value of protected areas in Maritime Canada for two species at risk: the Olive-sided Flycatcher (Contopus cooperi) and Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis). Avian Conservation and Ecology 14(1):16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ACE-01359-140116

Designing a network of green infrastructure to enhance the conservation value of protected areas and maintain ecosystem services

There is a growing demand for holistic landscape planning to enhance sustainable use of ecosystem services (ESS) and maintenance of the biodiversity that supports them. In this context, the EU is developing policy to regulate the maintenance of ESS and enhance connectivity among protected areas (PAs). This is known as the network of Green Infrastructure (GI). However, there is not a working framework defined to plan the spatial design of such network of GI.Here, we use the software Marxan with Zones, to prioritize the spatial distribution of different management zones that accommodate the needs of a network of GI. These zones included a conservation zone, mainly devoted to protecting biodiversity, a GI zone, that aimed at connecting PAs and maintaining regulating and cultural ESS; and a management zone devoted to exploiting provisioning ESS. We performed four planning scenarios that distribute the targets for ESS and biodiversity in different ways across management zones. We also conducted a sensitivity analysis by increasing ESS targets to explore trade-offs that may occur when managing together biodiversity and ESS. We use Catalonia (northeastern Spain) as a case study.We found that the representation of ESS could be achieved for intermediate targets in all scenarios. There was, however, a threshold on these targets over which trade-offs appeared between maintaining regulating and cultural ESS and biodiversity versus getting access to provisioning ESS. These “thresholds values” were displaced towards higher ESS targets when we moved from more strict to more flexible planning scenarios (i.e., scenarios that allowed mixing representation of objectives for biodiversity and ESS within the same zone).This methodological approach could help design a framework to integrate biodiversity and ESS management in holistic plans and decision making and, at the same time, meeting European mandates concerning the design of GI networks, or similar needs elsewhere.

Road avoidance responses determine the impact of heterogeneous road networks at a regional scale

Summary Barrier effect is a road‐related impact affecting several animal populations. It can be caused by behavioural responses towards roads (surface and/or gap avoidance), associated emissions (traffic‐emissions avoidance) and/or circulating vehicles (vehicle avoidance). Most studies so far have described road‐effect zones along major roads, without determining the actual factor inducing the behavioural response. The purpose of the present study was to assess the factors potentially causing road‐effect zones in a heterogeneous road network (with variations in road width, road surface and traffic volume) and eventually to estimate the reduction of habitat quality imposed by roads within a protected area (Doñana Biosphere Reserve, Spain). As model species, we used two ungulates, red deer Cervus elaphus and wild boar Sus scrofa. We surveyed the presence of both species along 200‐m transects. All transects started and were perpendicular to reference roads (those with a traffic volume above 10 cars per day), often intersecting unpaved minor roads with virtually no traffic. The presence probability of both species was mainly affected by the distance to the nearest road (in most cases unpaved roads without traffic), but also by the proximity to reference roads. Red deer presence was also affected by the traffic volume of the nearest reference road. At a regional scale, the overall road network within the protected area imposes a reduction in presence probability of 40% for red deer and 55% for wild boar. A road network optimization, decommissioning unused and unpaved roads, would re‐establish almost entirely the potential habitat quality (91% for both species). Synthesis and applications. We found that both study species avoided roads regardless of their surface or traffic volume, suggesting a response due to gap avoidance which may be based on the association between linear infrastructures and the possibility of vehicles occurring along them. The overall behavioural response can substantially decrease habitat quality over large scales, including the conservation value of protected areas. For this reason, we recommend road network optimization by road decommissioning to mitigate the impact of roads at a regional scale, with potential positive effects at ecosystem level.

Scenarios of future land use change around United States’ protected areas

Land use change around protected areas can diminish their conservation value, making it important to predict future land use changes nearby. Our goal was to evaluate future land use changes around protected areas of different types in the United States under different socioeconomic scenarios. We analyzed econometric-based projections of future land use change to capture changes around 1260 protected areas, including National Forests, Parks, Refuges, and Wilderness Areas, from 2001 to 2051, under different land use policies and crop prices. Our results showed that urban expansion around protected areas will continue to be a major threat, and expand by 67% under business-as-usual conditions. Concomitantly, a substantial number of protected areas will lose natural vegetation in their surroundings. National land-use policies or changes in crop prices are not likely to affect the overall pattern of land use, but can have effects in certain regions. Discouraging urbanization through zoning, for example, can reduce future urban pressures around National Forests and Refuges in the East, while the implementation of an afforestation policy can increase the amount of natural vegetation around some Refuges throughout the U.S. On the other hand, increases in crop prices can increase crop/pasture cover around some protected areas, and limit the potential recovery of natural vegetation. Overall, our results highlight that future land-use change around protected areas is likely to be substantial but variable among regions and protected area types. Safeguarding the conservation value of protected areas may require serious consideration of threats and opportunities arising from future land use.

Continental‐Scale Governance and the Hastening of Loss of Australia's Biodiversity

Against a global backdrop of rapid environmental change, conserving biodiversity poses one of the biggest and most important challenges to society. For this reason, systems of nature reserves have never been more important. Protected areas are under threat in many parts of the world (Mascia & Pailler 2011), but the weakening of protected areas in a rich, developed country with a global reputation for conservation leadership (Harrison 2006) is particularly alarming (Ritchie 2013). Consequently, we are concerned about the recent spate of substantial policy, legislative, and management changes being made by three of six Australian state governments for exploitative uses of national parks—actions that could affect much of Australia and have negative effects on biodiversity.

A global review of weeds that can germinate from horse dung

SummaryTo assess the diversity of weed seeds dispersed via horse dung, we reviewed 15 studies on seed germination from horse dung – six from Europe, four from North America, three from Australia and one study each from Africa and Central America. Seed from 249 species from 43 families have been identified germinating from horse dung. Almost two‐thirds of the species were forbs and 33% graminoids, with over half being perennials and 32% annuals. Nearly every species (totalling 99% of those reviewed) is considered a weed somewhere, with 47% recorded as invasive and 19% international environmental weeds. Of the 2739 non‐native plants that are naturalized in Australia, 156 have been shown to germinate from horse dung. This includes 16 of the 429 listed noxious weeds in Australia and two weeds of national significance. Seed from 105 of the 1596 invasive/noxious plant species in North America have also been identified germinating from horse dung. Seed traits including seed size, length, width and mass affect dispersal via horse dung. Habitat disturbance from trampling facilitates germination of seedlings from dung in both natural and experimental studies. Some studies found that plants germinating from dung reach maturity and flower, while others found plants did not survive due to unfavourable growing conditions in the field. The diversity of species with seed that can germinate from horse dung highlights the potential of horses to disperse a range of seed over long distances. Whether such dispersal is beneficial or harmful depends on the plant and the context in which it germinates. To maintain the conservation value of protected areas, it is important to understand and manage the different potential weed dispersal vectors, including horses.

Are protected areas maintaining bird diversity?

Evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas for sustaining biodiversity is crucial to achieving conservation outcomes. While studies of effectiveness have improved our understanding of protected‐area design and management, few investigations (< 5%) have quantified the ecological performance of reserves for conserving species. Here, we present an empirical evaluation of protected‐area effectiveness using long‐term measures of a vulnerable assemblage of species. We compare forest and woodland bird diversity in the Australian Capital Territory over 11 yr on protected and unprotected areas located in temperate eucalypt woodland and matched by key habitat attributes. We examine separately the response of birds to protected areas established prior to 1995 and after 1995 when fundamental changes were made to regional conservation policy. Bird diversity was measured in richness, occurrence of vulnerable species, individual species trajectories and functional trait groups. We found that protected areas were effective in maintaining woody vegetation cover in the study region, but were less effective in the protection of the target bird species assemblage. Protected areas were less species rich than unprotected areas, with significant declines in richness across sites protected prior to 1995. Small, specialised and vulnerable species showed stronger associations with unprotected areas than protected areas. Our findings indicate that recently established reserves (post‐1995) are performing similarly to unprotected woodland areas in terms of maintaining woodland bird diversity, and that both of these areas are more effective in the conservation of woodland bird populations than reserves established prior to 1995. We demonstrate that the conservation value of protected areas is strongly influenced by the physical characteristics, as well as the landscape context, of a given reserve and can diminish with changes in surrounding land use over time. Both protected areas and off‐reserve conservation schemes have important roles to play in securing species populations.

Comparing Dung Beetle Species Assemblages Between Protected Areas and Adjacent Pasturelands in a Mediterranean Savanna Landscape

Dung beetles are considered keystone species because of their role in decomposition, seed dispersal, and control of vertebrate parasites in grazed habitats. Despite the ecological importance of this group to pasture ecosystem functioning, still little is known about its relationship with grazing management activities. We evaluated the conservation value of protected areas for dung beetle diversity by comparing two different management conditions of Mediterranean savanna in central Spain. Four different sites with wild herbivory (red deer, roe deer) were sampled inside the Cabaneros National Park, and four sites with traditional agrosilvopastoral management were sampled in a sheep farm near the park. The dung beetle species richness was similar between savanna conditions, but the total dung beetle abundance and biomass were considerably greater in the park grasslands than in the grasslands of the sheep farm. Dung beetle species composition, species dominance, and abundance by functional groups from both park and farm sites were different, despite the high similarity among the sampled sites in both hydric content and dung availability. Onthophagus maki (Illiger 1803) and O. furcatus (Fabricius 1781) were the dominant species in the park, while O. furcatus, Aphodius foetidus (Herbst 1783), and Caccobius schreberi L. were the dominant species on the farm. Species richness and abundance of telecoprids were higher in the park than on the farm. Abundance of paracoprids was also higher in the park than on the farm, while no differences in species richness and abundance of endocoprids were observed between both conditions. These results suggest that management activities such as plowing and the use of veterinary substances affect soil structure and dung quality and could be important factors that alter dung beetle assemblages in terms of composition, abundance, and biomass on traditional farms.

The applicability of Relative Floristic Resemblance to evaluate the conservation value of protected areas

s – It is important to know the contribution of a protected area to global conservation. A new method called ‘Relative Floristic Resemblance’ that uses databased and georeferenced herbarium specimens, is introduced. Its usefulness and applicability to assess the conservation value of protected areas is addressed. Method – This is tested using the collection database of the National Herbarium of The Netherlands (NHN) and species checklists of Gabon and of five national parks in Gabon and the Central African Republic. Results – The method proved to be a valuable instrument for revealing this conservation value, and can even, though with caution, be used for areas where a species list is still incomplete. We conclude that the four Gabonese parks are well chosen and each clearly conserve a different and comparatively unique flora. The Dzanga-Sangha Reserve captures a flora that ranges across a considerable part of the Congo Basin.Key words – Conservation, protected areas, Relative Floristic Resemblance, biodiversity, flora, collection database, Gabon, Central African Republic, Dzanga-Sangha.

Prospects for biodiversity conservation in the Atlantic Forest: Lessons from aging human-modified landscapes

Recent global assessments have shown the limited coverage of protected areas across tropical biotas, fuelling a growing interest in the potential conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes. Here we examine the geographic distribution of biological diversity in the Atlantic Forest of South America, synthesize the most conspicuous forest biodiversity responses to human disturbances, propose further conservation initiatives for this biota, and offer a range of general insights into the prospects of forest species persistence in human-modified tropical forest landscapes worldwide. At the biome scale, the most extensive pre-Columbian habitats across the Atlantic Forest ranged across elevations below 800 masl, which still concentrate most areas within the major centers of species endemism. Unfortunately, up to 88% of the original forest habitat has been lost, mainly across these low to intermediate elevations, whereas protected areas are clearly skewed towards high elevations above 1200 masl. At the landscape scale, most remaining Atlantic Forest cover is embedded within dynamic agro-mosaics including elements such as small forest fragments, early-to-late secondary forest patches and exotic tree monocultures. In this sort of aging or long-term modified landscapes, habitat fragmentation appears to effectively drive edge-dominated portions of forest fragments towards an early-successional system, greatly limiting the long-term persistence of forest-obligate and forest-dependent species. However, the extent to which forest habitats approach early-successional systems, thereby threatening the bulk of the Atlantic Forest biodiversity, depends on both past and present landscape configuration. Many elements of human-modified landscapes (e.g. patches of early-secondary forests and tree monocultures) may offer excellent conservation opportunities, but they cannot replace the conservation value of protected areas and hitherto unprotected large patches of old-growth forests. Finally, the biodiversity conservation services provided by anthropogenic landscapes across Atlantic Forest and other tropical forest regions can be significantly augmented by coupling biodiversity corridor initiatives with biota-scale attempts to plug existing gaps in the representativeness of protected areas.