Protected Area Planning Research Articles

Modeling Cheetah <i>Acinonyx jubatus</i> Fundamental Niche in Kenya

The cheetah is currently recognized by IUCN as a threatened species. Kenya is one of country with significant cheetah population in the world though it fundamental niche is not well known. Wildlife can live in an area only if basic resources such as food, water, and cover are present and if the species is adapted in ways that allow them to cope with the climatic extremes, selection involves several levels of discrimination and spatial scales and a number of potentially interacting factors. This study was to model cheetah fundamental niche using suitable environmental predictors and evaluates suitability of current protected area coverage in its conservation. Two types of model input data used were cheetah occurrence locations and a suite of environmental variables thought to have a direct physiological role in limiting the ability of the species to survive. The species occurrence records and environmental variables were entered into a MaxEnt model which uses maximum entropy algorithm to identify environmental conditions that are associated with species occurrence. Ideal fundamental niche for cheetah were found to be localities within an elevation range of 1600-2100 meters above sea level, receiving mean annual precipitation of 800 mm, with the warmest quarter of the year receiving 250 mm, the wettest month receiving 120 mm, precipitation of coldest quarter 10 mm and temperature seasonality ranges of 150°. Cheetah fundamental niche run across protected areas and for effective conservation, Results could be used to direct conservation effort go beyond parks and reserves by encouraging community conservancies and development of ecological corridors. Protected area planning could benefit too from these results.

A synthesis of giant panda habitat selection

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is a global conservation icon, but its habitat selection patterns are poorly understood. We synthesized previous studies on giant panda habitat selection. We confirmed that pandas generally selected forests with moderate to high bamboo densities, mid-elevations, both primary and secondary forests, and areas more distant from human activities. Pandas did not select steep slopes. We also highlighted the interactive effects among different habitat components, such as weaker selection for gentle slope and large patch size in disturbed secondary forests compared with primary forests. Pandas selected for land cover and disturbance at the level of the geographic range and selected for variables such as slope and bamboo density at the level of the home range. Furthermore, selection for higher bamboo cover did not change with bamboo availability, but selection against secondary forest declined as availability of this forest type increased. Our results have implications for the conservation of pandas, particularly the need for inclusion of areas previously seen as less suitable (e.g., moderate slopes and secondary forest) in protected area and habitat restoration planning.

Centennial impacts of fragmentation on the canopy structure of tropical montane forest.

Fragmentation poses one of the greatest threats to tropical forests with short-term changes to the structure of forest canopies affecting microclimate, tree mortality, and growth. Yet the long-term effects of fragmentation are poorly understood because (1) most effects require many decades to materialize, but long-term studies are very rare, (2) the effects of edges on forest canopy structure as a function of fragment size are unknown, and (3) edge effects are often confounded by fragment shape. We quantified the long-term (centennial) effects of fragmentation on forest canopy structure using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) of 1060 Hawaiian rain forest fragments ranging in size from 0.02 to 1000 ha, created more than 130 years ago by flowing lava. Along with distance from edge, we developed a metric, minimum span, to gain additional insight into edge effects on three measures of canopy structure: canopy height, height variation, and gap fraction. Fragment size was a strong determinant of the three structural variables. Larger fragments had greater average height, larger variation in height, and smaller gap fraction. Minimum span had a large effect on the depth and magnitude of edge effects for the three structural variables. Locations associated with high span values (those surrounded by more forest habitat) showed little effect of distance to fragment edge. In contrast, locations with low span values (those more exposed to edges) were severely limited in canopy height, showed lower height variation, and were associated with greater gap fraction values. The minimum span attribute allows for a more accurate characterization of edge as well as fragment-level effects, and when combined with high resolution imagery, can improve planning of protected areas for long-term ecological sustainability and biodiversity protection.

An effective procedure for EUNIS and Natura 2000 habitat type mapping in estuarine ecosystems integrating ecological knowledge and remote sensing analysis

Standardized regional maps of coastal habitats can help in the development of predictive models of the transitional ecosystem dynamics and can facilitate strategic trans-boundary planning of protected areas to maximize management and conservation. Habitats might also be interpreted as reflecting ecosystem processes such as productivity and structure, thereby allowing the ecosystem functions to be examined at larger scales.The specific challenge of this paper is to develop and standardize a methodology from Earth Observation imagery analysis to generate classifications such as Natura 2000 and EUNIS habitat types that coastal managers can use to improve the ability of coupling coastal biogeomorphology knowledge and the final decision within the management process.By using in situ measurements collected with a field spectral radiometer and a sub-pixel analysis of satellite multispectral imagery a classification procedure that can be used in mapping and describing transitional habitats with appropriate resolution and scale of observation is defined.

Wilderness perceptions versus management reality in the Adirondack Park, USA

Wilderness perception studies provide valuable insights on the relationship between recreational or cultural experiences and natural settings. Although this approach has been little used in the management and planning of protected areas, it has potential to investigate and inform land use policy and planning that achieves a better fit among multiple user or stakeholder groups and the natural landscape. We applied the wilderness perception mapping methodology to the Adirondack Park, a six-million acre protected area in New York State (USA) that consists of mixed private and public land use classifications designed to promote wilderness character while maintaining a permanent residential population. Using a regional survey coupled with a GIS, we created spatial models of the areas perceived as wilderness by three Adirondack Park stakeholder groups in four communities: permanent residents, seasonal residents and visitors. Wilderness perception maps were then compared with current land use classifications in a spatial overlay. Roughly half of the area perceived as ‘strong purist’ wilderness (i.e., the most restrictive definition) overlapped with classified Wilderness lands. The remaining areas were mostly private lands managed as working forests, many under state-owned conservation easements – indicating their potential value for wilderness recreation and amenities. Stakeholder groups differed little in the total area perceived as wilderness, but map overlays identified local patterns of agreement and disparity useful for land planning and conflict management. With further development, wilderness perception models can support an integrative approach to protected area management by considering user perceptions while also meeting legal protection mandates.

Diseño e implementación de una metodología de efectividad de manejo mediante un enfoque participativo en las áreas protegidas Parque Nacional Viñales y Guanahacabibes. Pinar del Río. Cuba.

Since the creation of the first national park in 1872, in the United States, was conceived the no presence of people in these protected areas, extending this model worldwide, according to (Mc Neely et al., 1994) definition of National Park provided that these must be relatively large areas without material alteration of the operation or occupancy by humans. The participation of local communities and in the planning of protected areas actors as well as the handling and management of existing natural and cultural resources, currently has a fundamental importance, today is very complex to achieve the objectives of conservation without the participation of scientific institutions, local communities and stakeholders that are part of these or get involved in the handling and management of each protected area. In this paper we developed and applied a methodology of management effectiveness through a participatory approach in two protected areas of the National System of Protected Areas of Cuba (SNAP), identifying new criteria, indicators and variables, which were absent in the current methodology applied for (SNAP), with the aim of each protected space can make an assessment of the effectiveness of management by its characteristics, targets and management programs identified in the management plan.

Can agro-ecosystems efficiently complement protected area networks?

Threats to biodiversity are often enhanced in human-dominated and densely-populated regions. The prospects for establishing new protected areas are generally more limited in such regions, due to competition with other land-uses. Improving the conservation value of agricultural lands has been proposed as a complementary strategy. Our goal was to compare alternatives for expanding an existing protected area system. We used the conservation planning software Marxan to select candidate sites for addition to an existing protected area system, based on the following three strategies: (1) focusing on remaining natural habitats; (2) prioritizing agricultural lands for wildlife-friendly farming and agri-environmental measures that can improve conservation value; and (3) a strategy combining the former two. We used area as a surrogate for cost with the aim of minimizing the total area needed to meet our conservation objectives. We evaluated the sites found via each strategy with respect to their landscape structure and the coverage they provided to the target species’ habitats. We focused on breeding bird species in Israel’s Mediterranean region, a challenging and relevant case study due to the area’s high level of urbanization, population density, and its heterogeneous landscape. We found that the existing protected areas provided adequate coverage to only 23% of the target species, clearly demonstrating the need for action. Of the three strategies, expanding the existing protected area system based on the combined strategy was the most beneficial since it provided greater coverage to the target species’ habitats, and resulted in a larger, more compact, and less patchy conservation area network. In addition to protected area planning, our approach can be used to target agricultural lands for agri-environmental schemes, particularly in human-dominated and densely-populated regions.

Identifying hotspots of deforestation and reforestation in Colombia (2001–2010): implications for protected areas

The conversion of natural areas to human‐dominated land uses has been the major cause of global biodiversity decline and ecosystem degradation. Protected areas have been the most common strategy for reducing habitat and species loss. Effective conservation planning requires current information on land change dynamics, and the factors driving these changes. Therefore, our main goal was to assess the implications of land change on present and future protected areas. Specifically, we identified hotspots of reforestation and deforestation in Colombia between 2001 and 2010, and we determined the factors that explained land change within these hotspots. We identified four reforestation hotpots located mainly in the highlands of the Andes, and four deforestation hotpots that were located in the lowlands. Environmental and armed conflict variables explained most of the variation in the woody vegetation and agriculture/pasture classes, respectively. Although protected areas cover 12% of the country, only 4% of the reforestation and deforestation hotspots included protected areas. In Colombia, as well as the rest of the world, the majority of protected lands occur in remote regions where there are little to no economic activities and threats. Although we recognize the importance of this conservation approach, particularly for long‐term conservation of large areas, we believe that complementary approaches that incorporate current land change dynamics are essential for future protected area planning. These approaches would place higher value on establishing new protected areas in regions that are undergoing rapid land change or regions where agricultural activities have been abandoned and ecosystems are beginning to recovery. The first approach would have immediate conservation benefits, while the second approach could bring ecosystem benefits in the short to intermediate‐term and biodiversity benefits in the medium to long‐term. These complementary approaches can provide helpful information for protected area conservation planning in a world with rapid land change.

High‐resolution habitat suitability modelling can improve conservation of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the deep sea

AbstractAimThe distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the deep sea is poorly understood. This has led to the emergence of modelling methods to predict the occurrence of suitable habitat for conservation planning in data‐sparse areas. Recent global analyses for cold‐water corals predict a high probability of occurrence along the slopes of continental margins, offshore banks and seamounts in the north‐eastern Atlantic, but tend to overestimate the extent of the habitat and do not provide the detail needed for finer‐scale assessments and protected area planning. Using Lophelia pertusa reefs as an example, this study integrates multibeam bathymetry with a wide range of environmental data to produce a regional high‐resolution habitat suitability map relevant for marine spatial planning.LocationIrish continental margin (extended continental shelf claim).MethodsMaximum entropy modelling was used to predict L. pertusa reef distribution at a spatial resolution of 0.002°. Coral occurrences were assembled from public databases, publications and video footage, and filtered for quality. Environmental predictor variables were produced by re‐sampling of global oceanographic data sets and a regional ocean circulation model. Multi‐scale terrain parameters were computed from multibeam bathymetry.ResultsSuitable habitat was predicted on mound features and in canyon areas along a narrow band following the slopes of the Irish continental margin, the Rockall Bank and the Porcupine Bank. Standard deviation of the seabed slope (54%), temperature (28%) and bottom shear stress (9%) were the most important variables to predict coral distribution.Main conclusionsThis is the first regional coral habitat suitability modelling study to incorporate full coverage multibeam bathymetry in the deep sea. The use of high‐resolution environmental data and quality‐controlled distribution data significantly reduces habitat overestimation demonstrated by global‐scale analyses and produces detailed maps to support marine protected area network design. The strong response of the corals to local‐scale terrain variability highlights the need to protect the seabed from anthropogenic impacts that may reduce its complexity, such as bottom trawling.

Evidence-based marine protected area planning for a highly mobile endangered marine vertebrate

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) now form an important part of marine conservation and fisheries management; hence, there is broad interest in developing procedures that optimize their design. We used data collected over a 10-year period (2003–2012) from direct surveys and>100adult male and female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) tracked with devices, including GPS loggers and Fastloc GPS-Argos, to consider the optimum design for a MPA at a globally important breeding area, where there is already an existing national marine park aiming to protect the population (Zakynthos, Greece). Turtles primarily used areas very close to shore (approx. 7km in length by 1km in width, within the<10m isobath) for breeding and foraging activity at different times of the year. We calculated that this small nearshore coastal zone encompassed 72% of all turtle GPS locations recorded in the MPA, and is therefore important for conservation management. We developed an index to evaluate the suitability of the existing and proposed conservation zones based on (1) home range area use by turtles in these zones versus (2) zone size, so that the benefit to turtles could be maximized while minimizing the negative impacts to other stakeholders (e.g., boat operators). With this evidence-based approach, we propose a modification to the existing MPA that might both enhance local economic tourism activities and better safeguard this key sea turtle breeding population. The approaches used here will have general application for the design of MPAs used by mobile species that can be tracked.

Progress towards the CBD protected area management effectiveness targets

The management effectiveness of protected areas is a critically important consideration for their conservation success. Over 40 different protected area management effectiveness (PAME) data collection tools have been developed to systematically assess protected area management effectiveness. Many of these assessments have recently been collated into the Global IUCN Protected Area Management Effectiveness (PAME) database. We use the PAME database together with and the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) to assess current progress towards the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) 2010 and 2015 targets for PAME, which call for at least 30 per cent and 60 per cent of the total area of protected areas to have been assessed in terms of management effectiveness, respectively. We show that globally 29 per cent of the area protected has been assessed and 23 per cent of countries have reached the 60 per cent target. In addition 46 per cent of countries have reached the 30 per cent target. However, analytical results show that there are biases in the type of protected area assessed; protected areas with larger areas, and protected areas designated as National Parks (IUCN category II) are much more likely to have conducted a PAME assessment. In addition there is a paucity of PAME assessments from Europe and North America, where assessments of protected area management may already be integrated into protected area planning and monitoring systems, creating a challenge for reporting to the CBD. We further discuss the potential and limitations of PAME assessments as tools for tracking and evaluating protected area management, and the need for further assessment tools to address the ‘equity’ elements of Target 11 of the CBD.

Global patterns for upper ceilings on migration distance in sea turtles and comparisons with fish, birds and mammals

Summary Some animals migrate huge distances in search of resources with locomotory mode (flying/swimming/walking) thought to drive the upper ceilings on migration distance. Yet in cross‐taxa comparisons, upper ceilings on migration distance have been ignored for one important group, sea turtles. Using migration distances recorded for 407 adult and 4715 juvenile sea turtles across five species, we show that for adult cheloniid turtles, the upper ceiling on species migration distances between breeding and foraging habitats (1050–2850 km across species) is similar to that predicted for equivalent‐sized marine mammals and fish. In contrast, by feeding in the open ocean, adult leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) and juveniles of all turtle species can travel around 12 000 km from their natal regions, travelling across the widest ocean basins. For juvenile turtles, this puts their maximum migration distances well beyond those expected for equivalent‐sized marine mammals and fish, but not those found in some similar sized birds. Post‐hatchling turtles perform these long‐distance migrations to juvenile foraging sites only once in their lifetime, while adult turtles return to their breeding sites every few (generally ≥2) years. Our results highlight the important roles migration periodicity and foraging mode can play in driving the longest migrations, and the implications for Marine Protected Area planning are considered in terms of sea turtle conservation.

Caracterização Morfométrica dos Compartimentos do Relevo do Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipó, Serra do Espinhaço Meridional – Minas Gerais

The morphological mapping is an important tool for processes interpretation, materials and regional relief forms.Especially in protected areas, assist in environmental planning and management of protected areas. The main objective of thiswork is to characterize the morphological compartments in The Serra do Cipo National Park by measuring some morphometricparameters. Methodological procedures are based on overlaying cartographic data, preparation of topographic profiles,knickpoints identification and, finally, morphometric measures. Results show that The Serra do Cipo National Park can bedivided in eleven morphological compartments in the scale of 1:50.000, demonstrating that morphometry is fundamental toindividualize the relief units. It is expected that the results and the methodological advances of this work can collaborate to futureresearches as well as to the management of Conservation Units in The Serra do Cipo.

Coupling Protected Area Governance and Management through Planning

Growing and diversifying demands, changing social and political contexts, and accelerating calls for greater public involvement in decisions require a new view of protected area planning. While many papers in the conservation literature suggest local community engagement in planning, we argue that a broader conceptualization of planning is needed. This conceptualization—planning as a mid-scale social process to functionally couple governance with management—would include community engagement but responds to growing needs for processes that are multi-scale and continuous rather than episodic, facilitates information flow between governance and management, and provides for constructing and interpreting public interests in protected areas. We view planning as a ‘loose–tight system’ that facilitates functional linkages between governance and management. It is loose in the sense of offering venues for social discourse about the mental models underlying protected area decisions, but tight in the sense of enabling flows of information between governance and management. This coupling helps management agencies better understand on-going, larger-scale governance processes where the public interests in protected areas are debated and configured. It also facilitates the needed feedback from management to governance concerning the efficacy of various management actions.

EDITORIAL: Protected Area Tourism and the Aichi Targets

In 2010, the Convention on Biological Diversity developed a new strategic plan to enhance international efforts at stopping degradation and promoting sustainable use of the world’s biological heritage. These twenty ‘Aichi Targets’ are to be attained by 2020. Domestic and international tourism and visitation to protected areas is significant, growing, and can generate both positive and negative environmental impacts. This issue of PARKS is focused on the potential contributions to achieving the Aichi Targets from tourism and visitation. Tourism is highly relevant to biodiversity conservation and protected area management and planning, and can contribute to several of the Aichi targets. Authors in this issue explore how, for example, tourism can help achieve public awareness of biodiversity values and opportunities for conservation, keep impacts within safe ecological limits, increase global coverage of protected areas, and promote fair and equitable sharing of benefits from tourism and biodiversity.

Assessing the effectiveness of a long‐standing rocky intertidal protected area and its contribution to the regional conservation of species, habitats and assemblages

ABSTRACT The acceptance of reserves as a useful management strategy relies on evidence of their effectiveness in preserving stocks of harvested species and conserving biodiversity. A history of ad hoc decisions in terrestrial and marine protected area planning has meant that many of these areas are contributing inefficiently to conservation goals. The conservation value of existing protected areas should be assessed when planning the placement of additional areas in a reserve network. This study tested (1) the effectiveness of protection for intertidal molluscs of a marine reserve (Bouddi Marine Extension, NSW, Australia) established in 1971, and (2) the contribution of the protected area to the conservation of regional species, assemblages, and habitats. The shell length and population density of one harvested (Cellana tramoserica), and three non‐harvested species (Bembicium nanum, Morula marginalba, Nerita atramentosa) of intertidal molluscs were examined in the protected area and two reference locations over two seasons. The heavily collected limpet C. tramoserica was significantly larger in the protected area and was the only species to exhibit a significant difference. No species significantly differed in population density between the protected area and reference locations. Temporally replicated surveys of macro‐molluscs at 21 locations over 75 km of coastline identified that the existing protected area included 50% of species, two of five assemblage types and 19 of 20 intertidal rocky shore habitats surveyed in the study region. Reservation of a further three rocky reefs would protect a large proportion of species (71%), a representative of each assemblage and all habitat types. Despite originally being selected in the absence of information on regional biodiversity, the protected area is today an effective starting point for expansion to a regional network of intertidal protected areas. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Beyond traditional stakeholder engagement: Public participation roles in California's statewide marine protected area planning process

Public participation was one of the hallmarks of the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, a planning process to support the redesign of California's system of marine protected areas (MPAs). The MLPA Initiative implemented innovative and unconventional public outreach and engagement strategies to assist local communities share relevant knowledge and data, and provide timely and targeted contributions to MPA planning discussions. This collaborative model helped broaden traditional forms of participation to ensure public input received and integrated into MPA planning legitimately reflected the interests and priorities of California's coastal communities. A number of considerations were critical to the success of this collaborative approach, including: understanding the needs and limitations of public audiences; working directly with communities to identify appropriate outreach and engagement strategies; prioritizing strategies that supported a multi-directional exchange of information; adapting strategies based on public feedback and internal lessons learned; and hiring professional public engagement specialists. Strategies evolved over time and increased the level and quality of public participation over this multi-stage planning process. Experiences gained from the MLPA Initiative can be used to encourage consideration of collaborative participation in other environmental planning and decision-making processes.

MarineMap: A web-based platform for collaborative marine protected area planning

The creation of a spatial decision support system that enabled stakeholder participation in designing marine protected areas (MPAs) was a necessary component of the planning process for California's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative. Implementation of the MLPA required stakeholders to understand and use a complicated set of spatial and scientific guidelines for MPA design that relied heavily on geographic information. Tools for the delivery and visualization of geographic information have changed radically in the seven years of planning during the MLPA Initiative. We collaborated to create a state-of-the-art spatial decision support system called MarineMap to facilitate the design and evaluation of MPA proposals. MarineMap provided an intuitive user experience that simplified complicated spatial concepts, delivered critical information immediately to allow users to iterate through scenarios rapidly. This tool provided transparency in the process, and moved spatial analysis away from the domain of GIS experts to a broader group of stakeholders. We think the lessons from this experience can contribute to the further development of tools and approaches for coastal and marine spatial planning more broadly.

Range shifts under climate change and the role of protected areas for armadillos and anteaters

The planning of protected areas take into consideration the current distributions of target species, disregarding possible future range shifts under climate change. This study tested potential shifts in the distribution of three xenarthran species (the giant anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla; the giant armadillo, Priodontes maximus; and the three-banded armadillo, Tolypeutes tricinctus) due to the effects of climate change under different dispersal scenarios. In addition, we tested the adequacy of the current Brazilian protected areas in preserving these species under future climate changes (future distribution for the year 2050), under full and null dispersal scenarios. The final occurrence maps were then confronted with two Brazilian reserve systems for the year 2010: one consisting of reserves for integral protection only (IPCU), and one that included also reserves for sustainable use and indigenous reserves (SUCU). In the IPCU system, none of the species have or will have ⩾10% of their distributions protected, under neither dispersal scenario. Including SUCU, however, M. tridactyla and P. maximus already are, and will still be, adequately protected in the future. T. tricinctus, which is endemic to the Brazilian semi-arid, will not reach the 10% goal under neither dispersal scenario, even under the SUCU system. We stress the need for management actions in the northeastern and central parts of Brazil. Opportunities for the creation of more reserves are highlighted, considering the potential range shifts and the natural habitats still present in these regions.

Improving bioregional frameworks for conservation by including mammal distributions

AbstractLarge identifiable landscape units, such as ecoregions, are used to prioritize global and continental conservation efforts, particularly where biodiversity knowledge is inadequate. Setting biodiversity representation targets using coarse large‐scale biogeographic boundaries, can be inefficient and under‐representative. Even when using fine‐scale biodiversity data, representation deficiencies can occur through misalignment of target distributions with such prioritization frameworks. While this pattern has been recognized, quantitative approaches highlighting misalignments have been lacking, particularly for assemblages of mammal species. We tested the efficacy of Australia's bioregions as a spatial prioritization framework for representing mammal species, within protected areas, in New South Wales. We produced an approach based on mammal assemblages and assessed its performance in representing mammal distributions. Substantial spatial misalignment between New South Wales's bioregions and mammal assemblages was revealed, reflecting deficiencies in the representation of more than half of identified mammal assemblages. Using a systematic approach driven by fine‐scale mammalian data, we compared the efficacy of these two frameworks in securing mammalian representation within protected areas. Of the 61 species, 38 were better represented by the mammalian framework, with remaining species only marginally better represented when guided by bioregions. Overall, the rate at which mammal species were incorporated into the protected area network was higher (5.1% ± 0.6 sd) when guided by mammal assemblages. Guided by bioregions, systematic conservation planning of protected areas may be constrained in realizing its full potential in securing representation for all of Australia's biodiversity. Adapting the boundaries of prioritization frameworks by incorporating amassed information from a broad range of taxa should be of conservation significance.