Representativeness Of Protected Areas Research Articles

Systematic planning shows more than half of the most species-rich ocean region is needed to include all species in representative protected areas

The Convention on Biological Diversity Target 3 aims for at least 30 % of each marine habitat to be protected by 2030. How much biodiversity will be protected depends on where this 30 % is located. The West Pacific region, having the richest marine biodiversity on Earth, is especially important for nature conservation. Here, using multiple data-driven measures of the breadth biodiversity, from species to ecosystems from the sea surface to seabed, at a spatial resolution of 0.5° (∼55 km latitude), we mapped the optimal “Representative Biodiversity Areas” (RBA) for West Pacific countries using decision support software. The measures included surface and near seabed Ecosystems, which were mapped by physical, biochemical and nutrient variables relevant to ecological functioning. Species richness, seagrass, kelp, mangrove, and shallow water coral reef biomes (biological habitats at a local scale) and seabed topographic variation (as rugosity) were also included as complementary measures to maximise representivity of biodiversity overall. The 30 % RBA generally covered 30 % of the Ecosystems, over 77 % of the Biomes of seagrass, kelp, mangrove, and shallow water corals, and 60 % of physical habitat heterogeneity (topography) and the most species rich areas. Because protecting only these four biomes was not sufficient to include all species, physical habitat heterogeneity and ecosystems should be included in conservation prioritisation because they extend offshore and to all depths. To cover the distributions of 80 % species in the region, at least 53 % of the total area should be under protection. Only 25 % of the RBA were in MPAs, and < 1 % in no-take MPAs. Three countries, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, occupied almost half (47 %) of the RBA, and 11 countries had more than 30 % of their Exclusive Economic Zones in the RBA. Opportunities exist to expand and merge existing MPA, increase levels of protection, and having MPA in areas of disputed or shared governance, including 5 % of RBA being in the study area’s High Seas. Consideration of the geographically uneven distribution of biodiversity is thus necessary in achieving the 30 % by 2030 target. Systematic conservation planning, as shown here, can lead to at least twice as much biodiversity being protected per area. That at least half of the West Pacific Ocean in MPA may be necessary to protect all marine biodiversity, indicates how critical it is to use resources outside MPA in an ecologically sustainable way.

Little progress in ecoregion representation in the last decade of terrestrial and marine protected area expansion leaves substantial tasks ahead

Adequate representation of biodiversity in protected area networks is a prerequisite for successful conservation. Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity called for 17 % of land area and 10 % of marine area to be conserved in ecologically representative protected areas by 2020.We assess progress in protecting terrestrial and marine ecoregions for the decade 2011–2020, when the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 was in effect. Using spatial analyses and the mean target achievement metric, which indicates the degree to which a given representation target has been achieved, we analyze protected area coverage in nine countries from all continents, with a total of 173 terrestrial and 64 marine ecoregions.Results show that there is little evidence that the countries studied have strategically protected underrepresented ecoregions in the 2011–2020 decade. Although 170.000 km² of terrestrial and 3 million km² of marine reserves have been designated during this period in the nine countries investigated, about half of their terrestrial and marine ecoregions remain poorly protected in 2020.Our findings reinforce that targeted action is needed to adequately protect ecoregions in order for the new Kunming-Montreal target 3 to be more successful than Aichi target 11. The methodology presented allows for ongoing evaluation, identification of gaps, and monitoring of countries’ progress towards global and national targets for ecological representation and is applicable to any biodiversity surrogate beyond ecoregions and any country or region of interest.

The World Heritage Convention, Protected Areas and Rivers: Challenges for Representation and Implications for International Water Cooperation

Given the dire state of health of rivers worldwide and their significant heritage values, there is a need to consider their current representation in protected areas inscribed under the World Heritage Convention and identify challenges and opportunities for increasing their coverage. This study identifies a total of 153 natural, mixed natural/cultural and cultural landscape World Heritage sites that recognise rivers as a source of Outstanding Universal Value. There are challenges associated with the recognition of river sites as World Heritage, but further nominations could be encouraged through amendments to the World Heritage Convention Operational Guidelines to allow greater discretion to be exercised in relation to integrity requirements at inscription and to explicitly acknowledge freshwater use as a basis for recognising mixed natural/cultural and cultural landscape sites. There is also an opportunity to encourage further nomination of river sites by recognising the important implications of World Heritage inscription for international water cooperation. Together, these recommendations provide a path forward for enhancing the place of rivers in World Heritage protected areas.

Representativeness of biota of the western part of Ukraine in the Data Centre ‘Biodversity of Ukraine’

This paper summarises the inventory of biota of the western region of Ukraine in the web resource Data Centre ‘Biodiversity of Ukraine’ (DCBU) (http://dc.smnh.org), a growing biodiversity platform launched on 25 May 2017 and which organises knowledge on the biodiversity of Ukraine. The main objective and originality of DCBU is to aggregate curated biodiversity data of different kinds (e.g. scientific and vernacular names, data records of species, their geotagged geographical and biotopic distribution, conservation categories, and representation in protected areas of Ukraine). The database of the resource is primarily filled with data concerning 7 oblasts (Volyn, Rivne, Lviv, Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, and Zakarpattia oblasts) of the western region of Ukraine, which is discussed in this article. Currently, the following number of species of living organisms has been recorded for the mentioned oblasts of the region: Volyn Oblast—1311 species/80 protected species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine, Rivne Oblast—535/47, Lviv Oblast—3163/211, Ternopil Oblast—1081/164, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast—1942/157, Chernivtsi Oblast—672/87, and Zakarpatska Oblast—2125/149. Taxonomic accounts in the DCBU cover 5 kingdoms (Chromista, Protista, Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia), 22 phyla, 81 classes, 283 orders, 1292 families, 4741 genera, and 11 763 species. DCBU enables the following operations to be accomplished: to create species lists of different taxonomic rank of separate territorial regions and water bodies of the country and also of different time intervals, to create lists of protected and endemic species and of those that are deposited in collections of scientific institutions; to find a particular specimen according to the inventory number, to create species lists according to the type of recording/collecting, collected or determined by certain specialists, to search for literature sources concerning the Ukrainian biota, and to advanced search for all mentioned parameters as well. The accumulation of information on biodiversity, the possibility of its searching and the free access would promote the development and speed-up of scientific research, the effective control of the ecological state of the environment by the public, and sustainable development.

The need for increased protection of Antarctica's inland waters

AbstractProtection of Antarctica's biodiversity and ecosystem values is enshrined in the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which provides for the designation of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) to areas with outstanding values. Concern has been raised that existing ASPAs fail to prioritize areas to maximize the likelihood of ensuring the long-term conservation of Antarctic ecosystems and biodiversity. The absence of systematic and representative protection is particularly acute for inland aquatic ecosystems, which support a disproportionate amount of inland biodiversity. This paper promotes the case for overt inclusion of inland waters as a critical component of a representative protected area framework for Antarctica, thereby addressing their current underrepresentation. We set out a structured approach to enable the selection of representative freshwater systems for inclusion in the ASPA framework that, with modification, could also be applied across other Antarctic habitats. We acknowledge an overall lack of information on the biogeography of inland aquatic diversity and recommend increased use of remote data collection along with classification tools to mitigate this, as well as the need for the consideration of catchment-scale processes. Changes that accompany contemporary and anticipated climate change make the need for the conservation of representative biodiversity increasingly urgent.

Coextinction is magnifying the current extinction crisis, as illustrated by the eriophyoid mites and their host plants

Coextinction is a major and growing threat to global biodiversity. One of the affected groups is the eriophyoid mites (Prostigmata: Eriophyoidea) which are highly host plant specific. They have been described from an enormous range of annual and perennial plants from grasses to giant forest trees. It is highly likely that there are huge numbers of undescribed eriophyoid species in the subtropical and tropical regions which harbor an extraordinary wealth of plant diversity. The global total of eriophyoid species is estimated to be at least 250,000 but it could be much higher. However, the continuing destruction and degradation of natural habitat, especially tropical forests, and climate change, together pose extreme, on-going threats to the eriophyoid mites because of their vulnerability to co-extinction with their host plants. It has been reported that one third of all the Earth’s plant species are now at risk of extinction. Together with enormous numbers of other invertebrate species, it is highly likely that many thousands of eriophyoid species are disappearing in the current mass extinction event. Population decline and co-extinction, especially of the invertebrates, are greatly accelerating total biodiversity losses. The termination of habitat destruction and degradation; establishment of large, representative protected areas; restoration of degraded areas; and rapid reduction of fossil fuel use, are urgent tasks. However, the long term conservation of biodiversity can only be achieved through comprehensive social, economic and political reforms across the world that prioritize environmental protection, peaceful coexistence, social justice and the sustainable use of resources.

Protected area network insufficiently represents climatic niches of endemic plants in a Global Biodiversity Hotspot

Protected Areas (PA) play a pivotal role in conservation biology. Climate change challenges the concept of static PAs as species may not find suitable climatic conditions in the PAs designed to protect them in the future. Here, we assess this emerging mismatch for the endemic mountain flora of the Iranian Plateau, the main part of the Irano-Anatolian global biodiversity hotspot. We compare the climatic requirements of each of 1277 endemic plant species with the climatic conditions offered by those parts of the Iranian PA network that are within the dispersal range of each species. We undertake this comparison for current climatic conditions and the conditions predicted for the years 2050 and 2070 under the climatic scenarios RCP4.5 und RCP8.5. We find that 50 % of the species climatic niche space is represented in the PA network under current conditions. Depending on the climatic scenario and time frame, representation will decrease to 15–25 % in the future. Species of lowest and highest elevations, and, in particular, species with narrow ranges, are predicted to face the most pronounced losses of climatic representation in PAs. We conclude that the contribution of the current Iranian PA network to protecting the rich endemic flora of the country under climate change is limited. The network overrepresents climatically homogenous desert ecosystems and neglects endemism hotspots of high mountain chains. Efficient conservation planning in this biodiversity hotspot should focus on expanding elevational gradients within PAs and prioritize the protection of narrow range, low and high elevation species.

Efecto hipotético del cambio climático sobre la distribución de dos especies leñosas dominantes del Chaco Serrano

Lithraea molleoides -Anacardiaceae- and Schinopsis haenkeana -Anacardiaceae- are native tree species of great importance in the Chaco Serrano, a region poorly studied in relation to the possible effects that climate change (CC) could have on its extension. Species distribution models are one of the most used tools for tree species conservation in the context of the global climate change. These type of models allow to study the potential distribution of species under current and hypothetical future conditions and the effectiveness of protected areas in representing species. Using modeling techniques we studied the potential distribution of both species for current and hypothetical future climatic conditions (period 2041-2060). Also, we used geographic information systems to determine the potential protected area. The models had a high concordance with the known distribution for both species and showed a potential distribution area of 1124737 km2 for L. molleoides, and 158491 km2 for S. haenkeana. Under climate change scenarios, L. molleoides showed a reduction of 18% in the potential distribution, while S. haenkeana showed an increase of 14% in the potential distribution. For both species, the representation in protected areas of categories I to IV of the International Union for Conservation of Nature was less than 10% of the potential distribution area. Thus, we suggest increasing the protected area considering the potential distribution under future climatic warming scenarios, and to implement conservation strategies integrating the sustainable use of the forest.

Canada’s human footprint reveals large intact areas juxtaposed against areas under immense anthropogenic pressure

Efforts are underway in Canada to set aside terrestrial lands for conservation, thereby protecting them from anthropogenic pressures. Here we produce the first Canadian human footprint map by combining 12 different anthropogenic pressures and identifying intact and modified lands and ecosystems across the country. Our results showed strong spatial variation in pressures across the country, with just 18% of Canada experiencing measurable human pressure. However, some ecosystems are experiencing very high pressure, such as the Great Lakes Plains and Prairies national ecological areas that have over 75% and 56% of their areas, respectively, with a high human footprint. In contrast, the Arctic and Northern Mountains have less than 0.02% and 0.2%, respectively, of their extent under high human footprint. A validation of the final map, using random statistical sampling, resulted in a Cohen Kappa statistic of 0.91, signifying an “almost perfect” agreement between the human footprint and the validation data set. By increasing the number and accuracy of mapped pressures, our map demonstrates much more widespread pressures in Canada than were indicated by previous global mapping efforts, demonstrating the value in specific national data applications. Ecological areas with immense anthropogenic pressure highlight challenges that may arise when planning for ecologically representative protected areas.

Protected area networks do not represent unseen biodiversity

Most existing protected area networks are biased to protect charismatic species or landscapes. We hypothesized that conservation networks designed to include unseen biodiversity—species rich groups that consist of inconspicuous taxa, or groups affected by knowledge gaps—are more efficient than networks that ignore these groups. To test this hypothesis, we generated species distribution models for 3006 arthropod species to determine which were represented in three networks of different sizes and biogeographic origin. We assessed the efficiency of each network using spatial prioritization to measure its completeness, the increment needed to achieve conservation targets, and its specificity, the extent to which proposed priority areas to maximize unseen biodiversity overlap with existing networks. We found that the representativeness of unseen biodiversity in the studied protected areas, or extrinsic representativeness, is low, with ~ 40% of the analyzed unseen biodiversity species being unprotected. We also found that existing networks should be expanded ~ 26% to 46% of their current area to complete targets, and that existing networks do not efficiently conserve the unseen biodiversity given their low specificity (as low as 8.8%) unseen biodiversity. We conclude that information on unseen biodiversity must be included in systematic conservation planning approaches to design more efficient and ecologically representative protected areas.

Global protected-area coverage and human pressure on tidal flats.

Tidal flats are a globally distributed coastal ecosystem important for supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services. Local to continental‐scale studies have documented rapid loss of tidal habitat driven by human impacts, but assessments of progress in their conservation are lacking. With an internally consistent estimate of distribution and change, based on Landsat satellite imagery, now available for the world's tidal flats, we examined tidal flat representation in protected areas (PAs) and human pressure on tidal flats. We determined tidal flat representation and its net change in PAs by spatially overlaying tidal flat maps with the World Database of Protected Areas. Similarly, we overlaid the most recent distribution map of tidal flats (2014–2016) with the human modification map (HMc) (range from 0, no human pressure, to 1, very high human pressure) to estimate the human pressure exerted on this ecosystem. Sixty‐eight percent of the current extent of tidal flats is subject to moderate to very high human pressure (HMc > 0.1), but 31% of tidal flat extent occurred in PAs, far exceeding PA coverage of the marine (6%) and terrestrial (13%) realms. Net change of tidal flat extent inside PAs was similar to tidal flat net change outside PAs from 1999 to 2016. Substantial shortfalls in protection of tidal flats occurred across Asia, where large intertidal extents coincided with high to very high human pressure (HMc > 0.4–1.0) and net tidal flat losses up to 86.4 km² (95% CI 83.9–89.0) occurred inside individual PAs in the study period. Taken together, our results show substantial progress in PA designation for tidal flats globally, but that PA status alone does not prevent all habitat loss. Safeguarding the world's tidal flats will thus require deeper understanding of the factors that govern their dynamics and effective policy that promotes holistic coastal and catchment management strategies.

Projected Impacts of Climate Change on the Protected Areas of Myanmar

Protected areas are the backbone of biodiversity conservation but are fixed in space and vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change. Myanmar is exceptionally rich in biodiversity but has a small protected area system. This study aimed to assess the potential vulnerability of this system to climate change. In the absence of good biodiversity data, we used a spatial modeling approach based on a statistically derived bioclimatic stratification (the Global Environmental Stratification, GEnS) to understand the spatial implications of projected climate change for Myanmar’s protected area system by 2050 and 2070. Nine bioclimatic zones and 41 strata were recognized in Myanmar, but their representation in the protected area system varied greatly, with the driest zones especially underrepresented. Under climate change, most zones will shift upslope, with some protected areas projected to change entirely to a new bioclimate. Potential impacts on biodiversity include mountaintop extinctions of species endemic to isolated peaks, loss of climate specialists from small protected areas and those with little elevational range, and woody encroachment into savannas and open forests as a result of both climate change and rising atmospheric CO2. Myanmar needs larger, better connected, and more representative protected areas, but political, social, and economic problems make this difficult.

Perception of conservation strategies and nature’s contributions to people around Chingaza National Natural Park, Colombia

SummaryA conventional conservation strategy is establishing protected areas to help combat anthropogenic and climate change impacts on tropical ecosystems, but the effectiveness of these measures is often hampered in upland areas by resource conflicts among armed groups, citizens and government institutions. Improved governance and community participation are key to effectively conserving these areas, yet little is known regarding citizen perceptions in such places. Here, a representative protected area in Colombia is used in order to analyse rural and urban citizen perceptions regarding conservation, conflicts with guerrilla groups and nature’s contributions to people (NCPs) around Chingaza National Natural Park. We used on-site, semi-structured in-person surveys, geospatial data and statistics to understand these perceptions and the roles of armed conflict and deforestation. Perceptions on ecosystem degradation were correlated with deforestation and past guerrilla attacks. Age and place of residence were influential pro-conservation factors, while younger respondents were most willing to invest time in conservation activities. Air purification and water supply and quality were the most identified NCPs and citizens differentiated conservation-related recreation activities from natural resource extraction. We suggest that the legacy of past armed conflict still affects conservation strategies and communities living near tropical highland protected areas.

Plant Community Response to Forest Fuel Management in Patagonian Pine Plantations

Reaching an equilibrium between timber production and biodiversity conservation is one of the aims increasingly pursued in forest plantations, since biodiversity favors plantation stability while contributing to the maintenance of native community structure and functions. This equilibrium is relevant for the Patagonian steppe, which has great diversity but low representation in protected areas. Residual slash management following pruning and thinning is necessary since the traditional practice of leaving slash on the floor may limit vegetation development and increase wildfire hazard. We assessed initial vegetation response to fuel reduction treatments in five exotic conifer plantations in the Patagonian forest-steppe ecotone. We implemented mastication, prescribed fire, and mastication plus prescribed fire fuel reduction treatments, and compared initial vegetation richness, abundance, and composition among treatments and with that of an untreated control, having residues on the forest floor. After three years, we compared vegetation among fuel treatments and with the adjacent steppe at each site. We also compared residue cover among fuel treatments. Vegetation richness reached similar values in most fuel treatments a year after their implementation, whereas abundance gradually increased in all fuel reduction treatments; in general, the greatest abundance increase was in mastication. After three years, richness reached steppe values in most treatments (about 9 species/4 m2), whereas abundance did not (about 40 % cover in the steppe and 5-25 % in fuel treatments), and species composition similarity was low among treatments and steppe in all sites (Bray-Curtis index 0.1-0.6). Plant community composition was positively correlated with annual precipitation and initial residual biomass. In sites with less precipitation and initial residual biomass, native species predominated, and mastication had the lowest negative impact on initial vegetation recovery, whereas in sites with high proportion of exotic, vegetation recovery was led by exotics in all fuel reduction treatments; in a site having scarce vegetation within plantation, we did not detect any substantial change. Woody residues only decreased when their initial cover was greater than 20 %, and litter debris cover reloaded by the second year after fuel reduction. Our results suggest that mastication had the lowest negative short-term impact on native vegetation.

An assessment of the representation of ecosystems in global protected areas using new maps of World Climate Regions and World Ecosystems

Representation of ecosystems in protected area networks and conservation strategies is a core principle of global conservation priority setting approaches and a commitment in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly call for the conservation of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Accurate ecosystem distribution maps are required to assess representation of ecosystems in protected areas, but standardized, high spatial resolution, and globally comprehensive ecosystem maps have heretofore been lacking. While macroscale global ecoregions maps have been used in global conservation priority setting exercises, they do not identify distinct localized ecosystems at the occurrence (patch) level, and instead describe large ecologically meaningful areas within which additional conservation planning and management are necessary. We describe a new set of maps of globally consistent climate regions and ecosystems at a much finer spatial resolution (250 m) than existing ecological regionalizations. We then describe a global gap analysis of the representation of these ecosystems in protected areas. The new map of terrestrial World Ecosystems was derived from the objective development and integration of 1) global temperature domains, 2) global moisture domains, 3) global landforms, and 4) 2015 global vegetation and land use. These new terrestrial World Ecosystems do not include either freshwater or marine ecosystems, but analog products for the freshwater and marine domains are in development. A total of 431 World Ecosystems were identified, and of these a total of 278 units were natural or semi-natural vegetation/environment combinations, including different kinds of forestlands, shrublands, grasslands, bare areas, and ice/snow regions. The remaining classes were different kinds of croplands and settlements. Of the 278 natural and semi-natural classes, 9 were not represented in global protected areas with a strict biodiversity conservation management objective (IUCN management categories I-IV), and an additional 206 were less than 8.5% protected (half way to the 17% Aichi Target 11 goal). Forty four classes were between 8.5% and 17% protected (more than half way towards the Aichi 17% target), and only 19 classes exceeded the 17% Aichi target. However, when all protected areas (IUCN management categories I-VI plus protected areas with no IUCN designation) were included in a separate global gap analysis, representation of ecosystems increases substantially, with a third of the ecosystems exceeding the 17% Aichi target, and another third between 8.5% and 17%. The overall protection (representation) of global ecosystems in protected areas is considerably less when assessed using only strictly conserved protected areas, and more if all protected areas are included in the analysis. Protected area effectiveness should be included in further evaluations of global ecosystem protection. The ecosystems with the highest representation in protected areas were often bare or sparsely vegetated and found in inhospitable environments (e.g. cold mountains, deserts), and the eight most protected ecosystems were all snow and ice ecosystems. In addition to the global gap analysis of World Ecosystems in protected areas, we report on the representation results for the ecosystems in each biogeographic realm (Neotropical, Nearctic, Afrotropical, Palearctic, Indomalayan, Australasian, and Oceania).

Distribución geográfica del sapito de rayas o sapo variegado Nannophryne variegata Günther, 1870, nuevas localidades y comentarios sobre su hábitat en Chile y Argentina

Nannophryne variegata is an endemic species of the southern forests of Chile and Argentina. It has a wide distribution in Chilean territory and to a lesser extent, in Argentine territory. Along this extensive latitudinal distribution, it comprises different ecological regions, characterized mainly by low temperatures and high precipitation. There are few antecedents regarding habitat preferences and threats to this species. This paper reports on new distribution records in the extreme south of Chile and Argentina. It also describes the characteristics of the habitats it occupies and the representation in protected areas of both countries. N. variegata is distributed from 37o28 'to 54o00' South latitude, becoming the southernmost amphibian in the world. It inhabits different environments that include humid forest associations, peat bogs, Magellan tundra and neighboring high Andean environments. It is well represented in protected areas with a large number of observed populations.

Kitam Bird Sanctuary, the only low elevation protected area of Sikkim: A conservation hotspot for butterflies in the Eastern Himalaya

Abstract The lowland areas of the Himalayan region are subjected to immense anthropogenic pressure because of least representation in the protected area network. Kitam Bird Sanctuary is the only representative protected area that occurs below 1000 m in Sikkim state of India (a part of globally significant biodiversity hotspot of Himalayas) and serves as the refuge for various species of flora and fauna. Here we studied butterfly diversity and community composition in Kitam Bird Sanctuary (a small protected area of 6 km2 geographical area) following point count method spread across predetermined transects. Altogether 1674 butterflies belonging to 111 species and six families were recorded after completion of 240 point counts. Among these, 18 species are federally protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972) of India. Most of the butterflies were forest specialist in terms of habitat preference, whereas based on host plant specificity, the butterfly community was mostly dominated by generalist feeder (Oligophagous II and Polyphagous). Butterfly community parameters showed a strong correlation with habitat variables. While Kitam Bird Sanctuary is primarily designated for conservation of lowland birds, the high diversity of butterflies both in terms of taxonomic richness and trait composition suggests that the sanctuary harbors an ideal habitat for butterflies of the tropical region and invites conservation attention.

Climate-induced fire regimes in the Russian biodiversity hotspots

Recent fire management policy in Russia assumes the complete exclusion of fires from the statutory reserves. We analyzed what the natural, climate-induced fire regimes for the historical years 1901–1998 in Russia, in the Russian biodiversity hotspots and in the selected statutory reserves would be if the human impacts were neglected. A global dynamic vegetation model with an incorporated global statistical fire module was used to reconstruct a fire history for potential vegetation. We demonstrated the feasibility of the fire module by comparison of the simulated area burnt for the period 1947–1998 with available fire statistics from Russia. Analysis of fire regimes in the three Russian biodiversity hotspots North Caucasus, South Siberia, and the Far East, and in representative protected areas within these hotspots, included inter-comparison of regional areas burnt, normalized for the period 1901–1998, and regional average and maximum fire sizes. We showed that large-scale areas of rich biodiversity in Russia coincide naturally with areas of frequent fires, which in turn are also highly variable in size. Considerable spatial climatic and vegetation variation in the hotspots influence the natural fire regimes of regional protected areas, making continental nature reserves the most fire-prone. We suggest that the fire management plans of large reserves in Russia should be adjusted according to the natural geographic pattern of fire regimes in the country for benefit of conservation policy.

Long-Term Bioclimatic Modelling the Distribution of the Fire-Bellied Toad, Bombina Bombina (Anura, Bombinatoridae), Under the Influence of Global Climate Change

Abstract The article describes the potential distribution area of B. bombina and fi gure out the signifi cant climatic factors of the species at a home range scale. Th is species is listed on Appendix II of the Bern Convention and on Annexes II and IV of the EU Natural Habitats Directive. It is protected by national legislation in many countries, occurs in many protected areas, and is listed in many national and sub-national Red Data books and lists. We collected the occurrence records and a set of climatic variables including 19 factors from 10’ resolution historical (summarizing annual trends, seasonality and extreme conditions during 1961-1990) and projected data (2050) available at the CliMond database. As a result, under climate predictions for 2050 there may be a substantial north and north-west shift of optimal habitat. Under such a scenario B. bombina populations may suff er mostly in the east and south of Ukraine. Under the modelled scenario the species representation in protected areas throughout the home range should be considered, but especially in Ukraine.

Low ecological representation in the protected area network of China.

Protected areas are considered as an essential strategy to halt the decline of biodiversity. Ecological representation in protected areas is crucial for assessment on the progress toward conservation targets. Although China has established a large number of protected areas since the 1950s, ecological representation of protected areas is poorly understood. Here, we performed the complementarity analysis to evaluate ecological representation of protected areas in China. We used a database of the geographical distribution for 10,396 woody plant species, 2,305 fern species, 406 amphibian species, 460 reptile species, 1,364 bird species, and 590 mammal species from 2,376 counties across China. We identified complementary sets of counties for all species or threatened species of plant and vertebrate species using a complementarity algorithm. We evaluated ecological representation of 3,627 protected areas and discerned conservation gaps by comparing the distribution of protected areas with complementary sets. The results show that the spatially representative and complementary sites for biodiversity are poorly covered, and a fairly large proportion of protected areas is not designed to efficiently represent biodiversity at the national scale. Our methodology can serve as a generic framework for assessment on ecological representation of protected areas at the national scale.