Target Areas For Conservation Research Articles

A genetic warning system for a hierarchically structured wildlife monitoring framework.

Genetic variation is a well-known indicator of population fitness yet is not typically included in monitoring programs for sensitive species. Additionally, most programs monitor populations at one scale, which can lead to potential mismatches with ecological processes critical to species' conservation. Recently developed methods generating hierarchically nested population units (i.e., clusters of varying scales) for greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) have identified population trend declines across spatiotemporal scales to help managers target areas for conservation. The same clusters used as a proxy for spatial scale can alert managers to local units (i.e., neighborhood-scale) with low genetic diversity, further facilitating identification of management targets. We developed a genetic warning system utilizing previously developed hierarchical population units to identify management-relevant areas with low genetic diversity within the greater sage-grouse range. Within this warning system we characterized conservation concern thresholds based on values of genetic diversity and developed a statistical model for microsatellite data to robustly estimate these values for hierarchically nested populations. We found that 41 of 224 neighborhood-scale clusters had low genetic diversity, 23 of which were coupled with documented local population trend decline. We also found evidence of cross-scale low genetic diversity in the small and isolated Washington population, unlikely to be reversed through typical local management actions alone. The combination of low genetic diversity and a declining population suggests relatively high conservation concern. Our findings could further facilitate conservation action prioritization in combination with population trend assessments and (or) local information, and act as a base-line of genetic diversity for future comparison. Importantly, the approach we used is broadly applicable across taxa.

Ensemble modeling approach to predict the past and future climate suitability for two mangrove species along the coastal wetlands of peninsular India

Mangroves support numerous ecosystem services and help in reducing coastal ecological risks, yet they are declining rapidly due to climate change, sea level fluctuations and human activities. It is important to understand their responses to climate and sea level changes and identify conservation target areas at spatio-temporal scales, specifically in regions of rich mangrove biodiversity. In this study, we predicted the potential impact of past (Middle Holocene, ∼6000 years), current and future (2050s, 2070s; RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5) climate change scenarios on the two dominant species in the coastal mangrove forest wetlands of India, i.e., Rhizophora mucronata and Avicennia officinalis through an ensemble species distribution modeling approach. The ensemble modeling has been carried out by integrating eight single algorithm methods. Based on the receiver operating characteristics of area under the curve (AUC) and true skill statistics (TSS) values the ensemble modeling has yielded the highest predictive performance for SVM for both the species and lowest by CART for R. mucronata and BIOCLIM for A. officinalis. The internal evaluation metrics of the resulting Species distribution models (SDMs) tested its robustness with AUC-0.97 and TSS-0.89 for A. officinalis and AUC-0.99 and TSS-0.90 for R. mucronata. Precipitation of Wettest Month (Bio 13) and Mean Temperature of Warmest Quarter (Bio 10) was the most important variable (54–67%) for the distribution of A. officinalis and Precipitation Seasonality (Bio 15) and Precipitation of Warmest Quarter (Bio 18) for R. mucronata. High precipitation and sea-level highstand during middle Holocene led to the maximum range expansion of suitable habitat for the mangrove species which is also validated in the present study by the fossil pollen datasets. Total mangrove habitat in current and future climatic scenarios decreased in 2.6 and 8.5 Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) for 2050 and 2070 which indicates the vulnerability of the species to climate change impacts. Mangrove species are projected to shift their ranges more towards land in future experiencing a decrease in the amount of suitable coastal area available to them throughout the Indian coastline. The plausible cause for this range shift may be due to higher precipitation that is usually associated with longer period of soil inundation and because of the rise in sea level. Our findings will assist in formulating species-specific restoration plans for these keystone species in context of climate change in the Indian Subcontinent.

Effects of a Hydropower-Related Temporary Stream Dewatering on Fish Community Composition and Development: From Ecology to Policy

Hydropower use of rivers can exert multiple effects on aquatic species and habitats. Due to limitations of conservation projects in the main channels of hydropower-affected rivers, there has been an increasing focus on tributaries, side channels, and fish passes as target areas for conservation and restoration. However, some of these side channels require frequent dewatering for their maintenance, and the ecological effects of such measures remain largely unknown. In this study, we used two dewatering events in a side channel of the River Inn as an opportunity to assess the effects of these common measures on fish. All stranded fish were collected after the two dewatering events in remaining puddles of formerly restored bank habitats, determined to species level, and measured. The fish community was compared by electrofishing before and seven weeks after the dewatering in a subset of the same habitats. The dewatering created one to three remaining puddles in the bank habitats, covering 3% of the assessed bank habitat area. In these remaining puddles, 184 stranded fish from 12 species were found, including species strictly protected under national and international law. In relation to their relative abundance, smaller and less mobile species such as Cottus gobio were mostly affected by stranding in contrast to larger and open-water-oriented species such as Chondrostoma nasus. The dewatering also caused drying out of important nursery zones, resulting in a distinctly lower recruitment success of endangered riverine fish species in the summer following the dewatering. The evidence about the negative ecological effects documented herein should be transferred into policy measures to reduce the impairment of dewatering to a minimum and to contribute to the fulfilment to national and international legal requirements. This can be achieved by reducing the extent and frequency of periodical dewatering to a minimum, by slowing down the dewatering speed, by selecting the least critical time of the year, as well as by compensation measures.

Knowledge of the Critically Endangered Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) by local people in Sindhupalchok, Nepal

Species conservation planning is improved by the direct participation of local people that co-occur with the species of interest as they possess unique information based on their knowledge and experiences. We surveyed people living in suitable and unsuitable Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) habitat in Nepal to compare their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, this species. Based on availability of information on government policies for controlling wildlife trade, we expected that people living in suitable pangolin habitat would have greater knowledge of Chinese pangolin ecology, and people living in both suitable and unsuitable habitat would be aware of the protection status of pangolins and illegal pangolin trade. More respondents living in suitable pangolin habitat identified the Chinese pangolin and were aware of its legal status than did respondents living in unsuitable habitats. Overall, more than 81% of respondents had knowledge of pangolin’s diet and their ecosystem role. More than 86% of people were aware of local trade of Chinese pangolin in Nepal, but few respondents were aware of international trade. By integrating knowledge of local people with planning, the Nepal government can more effectively target areas for conservation. Based on demographic data and the knowledge of respondents from this study, we recommend that the Nepal government develop strategies that emphasize the conservation of threatened species and to minimize the illegal wildlife trade by increasing people’s awareness and knowledge of Chinese pangolins throughout its range.

An updated understanding of Texas bumble bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) species presence and potential distributions in Texas, USA.

Texas is the second largest state in the United States of America, and the largest state in the contiguous USA at nearly 700,000 sq. km. Several Texas bumble bee species have shown evidence of declines in portions of their continental ranges, and conservation initiatives targeting these species will be most effective if species distributions are well established. To date, statewide bumble bee distributions for Texas have been inferred primarily from specimen records housed in natural history collections. To improve upon these maps, and help inform conservation decisions, this research aimed to (1) update existing Texas bumble bee presence databases to include recent (2007–2016) data from citizen science repositories and targeted field studies, (2) model statewide species distributions of the most common bumble bee species in Texas using MaxEnt, and (3) identify conservation target areas for the state that are most likely to contain habitat suitable for multiple declining species. The resulting Texas bumble bee database is comprised of 3,580 records, to include previously compiled museum records dating from 1897, recent field survey data, and vetted records from citizen science repositories. These data yielded an updated state species list that includes 11 species, as well as species distribution models (SDMs) for the most common Texas bumble bee species, including two that have shown evidence of range-wide declines: B. fraternus (Smith, 1854) and B. pensylvanicus (DeGeer, 1773). Based on analyses of these models, we have identified conservation priority areas within the Texas Cross Timbers, Texas Blackland Prairies, and East Central Texas Plains ecoregions where suitable habitat for both B. fraternus and B. pensylvanicus are highly likely to co-occur.

Convergent Foraging Tactics of Marine Predators with Different Feeding Strategies across Heterogeneous Ocean Environments

Advances in satellite tracking and archival technologies now allow marine animal movements and behaviour to be recorded at much finer temporal scales, providing a more detailed ecological understanding that can potentially be applicable to conservation and management strategies. Pelagic sharks are commercially exploited worldwide with current concerns that populations are declining, however, how pelagic sharks use exploited environments remains enigmatic for most species. Here we analysed high resolution dive depth profiles of two pelagic shark species with contrasting feeding strategies to investigate movement patterns in relation to environmental heterogeneity. Seven macropredatory blue (Prionace glauca) and six plankton-feeding basking (Cetorhinus maximus) sharks were tagged with pop-off satellite-linked archival tags in the North Atlantic Ocean to examine habitat use and investigate the function of dives. We grouped dives of both species into five major categories based on the two dimensional dive profile shape. Each dive-shape class presented similar frequency and characteristics among the two species with U- and V-shaped dives predominating. We tested the spatial occurrence of different U- and V-shape dive parameters in response to environmental field gradients and found that mean depth and mean depth range decreased with increasing levels of primary productivity (chlorophyll ‘a’), whereas ascent velocities displayed a positive correlation. The results suggest that a planktivore and a macropredator responded behaviourally in similar ways to encountered environmental heterogeneity. This indicates fine-scale dive profiles of shark species with different feeding strategies can be used to identify key marine habitats, such as foraging areas where sharks aggregate and which may represent target areas for conservation.

Motivating and engaging volunteer hunters to control the invasive alien American mink Neovison vison in Norway

AbstractInvasive alien species can have widespread negative effects on native biodiversity. We investigated the prospects of engaging hunters in large-scale collaborative efforts to control non-native mink Neovison vison populations in Norway. We invited members of the Norwegian Association of Hunters and Anglers to complete an online questionnaire to ascertain their support for conservation and their level of effort to remove mink, in the context of hunting motivations and bounty payments. The general interest in mink control programmes was low but participants perceived the mink to be of conservation concern. Bounty payments influenced mink catches, with hunters who received payments catching a mean of 4.70 more individuals per hunter than those who did not receive payments (P < 0.001). Mink hunters who preferred to hunt alone and had no preference for hunting locally reportedly caught on average 1.87 more mink per hunter than those who preferred to hunt in company (P < 0.001). The majority of hunters preferred government-led programmes (47%), and investment in bounty programmes (52%) was their main recommendation to improve mink hunting. Hunters can be a valuable component of a mink removal task force and could decrease the likelihood of recolonization of mink in the buffer areas of core conservation target areas.

Long-term land-cover/use change in a traditional farming landscape in Romania inferred from pollen data, historical maps and satellite images

Traditional farming landscapes in the temperate zone that have persisted for millennia can be exceptionally species-rich and are therefore key conservation targets. In contrast to Europe’s West, Eastern Europe harbours widespread traditional farming landscapes, but drastic socio-economic and political changes in the twentieth century are likely to have impacted these landscapes profoundly. We reconstructed long-term land-use/cover and biodiversity changes over the last 150 years in a traditional farming landscape of outstanding species diversity in Transylvania. We used the Regional Estimates of Vegetation Abundance from Large Sites model applied to a pollen record from the Transylvanian Plain and a suite of historical and satellite-based maps. We documented widespread changes in the extent and location of grassland and cropland, a loss of wood pastures as well as a gradual increase in forest extent. Land management in the socialist period (1947–1989) led to grassland expansion, but grassland diversity decreased due to intensive production. Land-use intensity has declined since the collapse of socialism in 1989, resulting in widespread cropland abandonment and conversion to grassland. However, these trends may be temporary due to both ongoing woody encroachment as well as grassland management intensification in productive areas. Remarkably, only 8% of all grasslands existed throughout the entire time period (1860–2010), highlighting the importance of land-use history when identifying target areas for conservation, given that old-growth grasslands are most valuable in terms of biodiversity. Combining datasets from different disciplines can yield important additional insights into dynamic landscape and biodiversity changes, informing conservation actions to maintain these species-rich landscapes in the longer term.

Spatial Analysis of Greater Sage-grouse Habitat Use in Relation to Landscape Level Habitat Structure

Greater sage-grouse (GSG; Centrocercus urophasianus) selectively utilize portions of sagebrush and sagebrush associated habitats within broad and heterogeneous landscapes. Until recently, sage-grouse research has generally focused on fine-scale vegetation structure and composition and less on landscape-scale habitat requirements. Insufficient information at broad scales limits a manager’s ability to interpret and predict habitat use patterns, assess habitat suitability, and target areas for conservation and ecological rehabilitation. We identified environmental attributes associated with GSG habitat use at broad spatial scales. In 2006, we captured 50 GSG, radio-collared each bird, and tracked each bird’s position within a 31,416 ha study area in central Oregon, USA. We monitored birds year-long between March 2006 and March 2008 across the study area. Each time a bird was located, we collected a coordinate position at the point where it was observed. We generated spatially explicit predictor variables in a Geographic Information System to quantify the association between landscape structure and GSG occurrence. Predictor variables included elevation, slope, aspect, curvature, solar radiation, landscape ruggedness, orientation, distance from roads, distance from leks, distance from mesic habitats, and cover type. We used spatial modeling (Maximum Entropy) to 1) develop predictive models of GSG seasonal resource use, 2) generate probability maps for visual assessment, and 3) characterize response curves associated with GSG habitat preference based on individual landscape predictor variables. Results indicate that during the breeding season GSG will use big sagebrush, low sagebrush or complexes of low and mountain big sagebrush cover types. During the summer season, GSG use low sagebrush, mountain big sagebrush, and mesic areas. Additionally, summer season use areas include higher elevation sites within or in close proximity to habitats that sustain succulent forbs throughout most of the growing season. Maps of modeled data identify spatially explicit areas of preferred habitat and predicted bird use patterns. This information can help managers identify and protect important GSG habitat across heterogeneous landscapes.

Conservation plan based on the concept of integrity

Abstract. Value based concept has been accepted as a universal principle for the conservation of Cultural Heritage. Authenticity and integrity are two main issues protecting those values. Authenticity is the major tool in the value assessment and integrity plays an important role in the procedure of conservation plan. From the perspective of integrity, this research explores the principle of conservation plan and discusses its relation with the restoration plan and urban plan. A conservation plan in Quing-Lin village, Kinmen, will be taken as an example for implementation. The research shows that a conservation plan with integrity in mind helps to clarify the conservation target areas and their buffer zones. It also serves as a tool for developing control and risk management. Cultural mapping is an efficient tool for the communication with stakeholders in the process of the conservation plan.

Coastal impact ranking of small islands for conservation, restoration and tourism development: A case study of The Bahamas

An 11-year project to characterize, then assess, the health of coastal environments of The Bahamas ranked a total of 238 sites on ten different islands. Satellite images and aerial photography were used to characterize coastal types (e.g. substrate, geomorphology and wave energy to describe beaches, mangroves, or rocky shores), and then field assessments ranked four types of anthropogenic impacts that influence ecosystem function and coastal system services. The ranking of coastal health was based on physical alterations, destructive use of the coastal zone, coastal development and occurrence of Invasive Alien Species (IAS). The characterization and assessment methods were developed to serve as a rapid survey of coastal stability, biological diversity and quality of wildlife habitats. A system of coastal ranking is presented using numerical scores for four impact criteria along with terrestrial plant surveys to examine the intactness of the coastal environment. Some locations (Exuma and Great Guana Cay) were repeatedly monitored over time. Scores ranged from “0” for no human impacts or invasive coastal plants to “20” for highly altered with dredging, coastal development and loss of native vegetation. The mean impact rank for all sites across all islands was 5.7 ± 4.3, which indicates “Medium” ranks for at least two of the four human impact criteria. Only one uninhabited island (Cay Sal) had all coastal impacts scores of “None”. Over 77% of all the sites surveyed had abundant occurrences of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) coastal plants. The Australian Pine (Casuarina equisetifolia) was the more pervasive and the most wide-spread IAS in the coastal environment, and its abundance increased in all sites that were re-surveyed over time. Degradation of coastal function can signal greater risks to coastal property, flooding events or loss of wildlife populations. The coastal impact ranking protocol presented here helps identify target areas for conservation as well as identify areas with the greatest feasibility for coastal restoration.

Diverging responses of tropical Andean biomes under future climate conditions.

Observations and projections for mountain regions show a strong tendency towards upslope displacement of their biomes under future climate conditions. Because of their climatic and topographic heterogeneity, a more complex response is expected for biodiversity hotspots such as tropical mountain regions. This study analyzes potential changes in the distribution of biomes in the Tropical Andes and identifies target areas for conservation. Biome distribution models were developed using logistic regressions. These models were then coupled to an ensemble of 8 global climate models to project future distribution of the Andean biomes and their uncertainties. We analysed projected changes in extent and elevational range and identified regions most prone to change. Our results show a heterogeneous response to climate change. Although the wetter biomes exhibit an upslope displacement of both the upper and the lower boundaries as expected, most dry biomes tend to show downslope expansion. Despite important losses being projected for several biomes, projections suggest that between 74.8% and 83.1% of the current total Tropical Andes will remain stable, depending on the emission scenario and time horizon. Between 3.3% and 7.6% of the study area is projected to change, mostly towards an increase in vertical structure. For the remaining area (13.1%–17.4%), there is no agreement between model projections. These results challenge the common believe that climate change will lead to an upslope displacement of biome boundaries in mountain regions. Instead, our models project diverging responses, including downslope expansion and large areas projected to remain stable. Lastly, a significant part of the area expected to change is already affected by land use changes, which has important implications for management. This, and the inclusion of a comprehensive uncertainty analysis, will help to inform conservation strategies in the Tropical Andes, and to guide similar assessments for other tropical mountains.

Allocating active conservation measures using species distribution models: a case study of red‐footed falcon breeding site management in the Carpathian Basin

AbstractThe red‐footed falcon Falco vespertinus is an enigmatic colonial raptor of high international conservation concern. One of the identified threatening factors responsible for the recent worldwide population decline is the shortage of suitable colonial nesting sites. In theory, this problem can easily be resolved by establishing artificial colonies. However, the key to a successful large scale nest‐box scheme is to provide these artificial colonies in habitats suitable for the species. A Hungarian–Serbian project aimed to establish such nesting facilities in northern Serbia, although the lack of recent full‐scale habitat surveys hindered the designation of the locations of these artificial nesting sites. We used five different species distribution models to model the distribution of nest sites on a 10 × 10 km grid in Hungary and in Romania. We then used the ensemble predictions of the best performing models to project the probability of red‐footed falcon nest site presence in northern Serbia (predicted area). The models showed that three variables (grasslands, pastures and broad‐leaved forests) had the highest importance in describing the spatial pattern of nest sites in the modelling area. The extent of grasslands and pastures had positive effects, while broad‐leaved forests had negative impact on the probability of nest site presence. The predictions classified all the currently known colonies in the predicted area correctly. Our results suggest that the potential breeding distribution in Serbia is similar to that of two decades ago, thus large‐scale land use changes are presumably not responsible for the reported population decline. We have also reduced the extent of conservation target areas to 11.5%, allowing to pinpoint locations for these future nest box colonies, and also provided a basis for future conservation measures like allocating monitoring efforts and designating future Natura 2000 sites in Serbia.

What species-specific traits make a bird a better surrogate of native species richness? A test with insular avifauna

Identification of species-specific traits that make a species a better surrogate of biodiversity is a need in order to implement successful conservation programmes in the face of limited data and resources. This study analyzes the relationship between the abundance of different surrogate species and species richness for terrestrial native avifauna of autochthonous steppe and semiarid environments in Fuerteventura Island (Spain) at different spatial grains, and explores which species-specific ecological traits (body mass, ecological density, habitat breadth, coverage of urban and agricultural environments) and conservation features (endemicity, conservation status) make a species more efficient as a surrogate. Results indicate that abundance of those surrogate species which are typically targeted by local conservation managers (according to their rarity and increase public awareness) proves to be a poor predictor of three different measures of species richness of the native terrestrial avifauna of Fuerteventura at all spatial resolutions. Nonetheless, some species were found to perform better than others according to partial least squares regression analyses applied to relate species-specific ecological traits and conservation features with correlation coefficients between abundance of each bird species and total bird richness. The best surrogates for global bird species richness are those smaller birds of medium–high abundances, broad habitat preferences, less threatened status, and with a high degree of endemicity. No scale-dependency was observed in the surrogacy power of species. Conservation planners in island scenarios should use a selection of bird species with these characteristics to identify conservation target areas in order to maximize the efficiency of surrogacy approaches.

Spatial ecology of critically endangered hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata: implications for management and conservation

Elucidating spatio-temporal movements of animals is an integral component of wildlife conservation and protected species management. Between 2008 and 2010 we satellite tracked 15 adult female hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata in the eastern Pacific Ocean to evaluate their movement behavior and to guide management and conservation efforts of this highly endangered population. Movements and habitat use were highly neritic, and post-nesting mi g - ration distances (maximum = 283.11 km) were short relative to migrations of other sea turtle species. In foraging areas, the majority of hawksbills established restricted, inshore home ranges within mangrove estuaries. A large proportion (>65%) of turtle location points fell within protected areas, although many of these sites lack enforcement and monitoring. The consistent use of estuar- ine and mangrove habitat for nesting and foraging may explain why hawksbills went virtually un- detected in the eastern Pacific for decades. The spatially restricted and neritic life cycles of adult hawksbills in the eastern Pacific highlight threats (e.g. overlap with coastal fisheries, increased sus- ceptibility to habitat degradation and/or catastrophic events) and opportunities for conservation (e.g. acute conservation target areas, less variant jurisdictional boundaries/regulations) for this spe- cies. Our results underscore the importance of strengthening protected area management, man- grove estuary protection and hawksbill research and conservation in the eastern Pacific.

Mapping the potential distribution of shorebirds in Japan: the importance of landscape-level coastal geomorphology

Several recent studies have predicted potential habitats along coastal areas using large-scale physical environmental variables to identify target areas for conservation. However, no indices or methodologies for predicting tidal-flat habitats at a large spatial scale have been developed. Tidal flats supporting large populations of shorebirds have been identified in semi-enclosed seas. Thus, bays are probably important topographic units for evaluating the locations of shorebirds' non-breeding habitats. A GIS-based methodology was developed to extract ‘bay units’ at any scale from coastline data. Using three environment variables (the area of the bay units at three spatial scales, the percentage of shallow water area in each bay unit, and the spring-tide range), it was possible to predict tidal-flat habitats for six shorebird species with high accuracy (AUC > 0.95, sensitivity >90%). Results showed that the percentage of shallow water area in small- and medium-scale bays was the best predictor of tidal-flat habitats, followed by the area of bays at a large spatial scale. This indicates that the size (scale) of a bay and the percentage of shallow water present are highly related to the presence of tidal-flat habitats. The prediction maps for individual species of shorebirds clearly showed differences in the distribution patterns of species. These maps were overlaid to identify potentially species-rich areas and thus where conservation and restoration of the tidal flats in these bays would be important. The model, which uses simple coastal data, is a useful, resource-efficient method for identifying target conservation and restoration areas across broad scales. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A Conservation Design for the Central Coast of California and the Evaluation of Mountain Lion as an Umbrella Species

Abstract Conservation planners use several methods to select conservation target areas. These include the use of umbrella species for large area requirements, site-specific locations of important biodiversity elements, and indications of ecosystem health. We tested the adequacy of using an umbrella species to represent finer-scale biodiversity elements on 45,205 km2 of the central coast of California. A network of core and linkages for mountain lion (Puma concolor [Kerr]) was developed and 22,069 km2, or 49% of the region, was selected. We analyzed network representation of a variety of biodiversity elements. The conservation network contained between 8% and 27% of five different endangered species locations in the region. It captured 77% of mapped serpentine rock, a surrogate for rare plants, 88% of the old-growth redwood (Sequoia sempervirens [(D. Don) Endl.]), 55% of the The Nature Conservancy conservation portfolio areas, a surrogate for biodiversity, a majority of three types of oak woodlands, and 79...

A Method for Setting the Size of Plant Conservation Target Areas

Abstract: Realistic time frames in which management decisions are made often preclude the completion of the detailed analyses necessary for conservation planning. Under these circumstances, efficient alternatives may assist in approximating the results of more thorough studies that require extensive resources and time. We outline a set of concepts and formulas that may be used in lieu of detailed population viability analyses and habitat modeling exercises to estimate the protected areas required to provide desirable conservation outcomes for a suite of threatened plant species. We used expert judgment of parameters and assessment of a population size that results in a specified quasiextinction risk based on simple dynamic models. The area required to support a population of this size is adjusted to take into account deterministic and stochastic human influences, including small‐scale disturbance, deterministic trends such as habitat loss, and changes in population density through processes such as predation and competition. We set targets for different disturbance regimes and geographic regions. We applied our methods to Banksia cuneata, Boronia keysii, and Parsonsia dorrigoensis, resulting in target areas for conservation of 1102, 733, and 1084 ha, respectively. These results provide guidance on target areas and priorities for conservation strategies.

Application of a low‐cost database to soil erosion and soil conservation studies in the Awash Basin, Ethiopia

AbstractIn large‐scale land resource planning exercises, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) form a valuable means of storing, retrieving, displaying, and analysing spatially‐referenced data, as well as enabling the simulation of the consequences of various alternative development options. However, at this scale only generalized policies for the allocation of finance can be made, and the implementation of those policies will invariably require detailed evaluation at the local level. This suggests that expenditure on the central planning process itself should be limited, with funds reserved for later site studies. The form of GIS adopted centrally should also lend itself to easy use and interpretation by policymakers and planners. These requirements suggest that GIS development using proprietary off‐the‐shelf database management software may be preferable to high‐technology GIS software. This paper outlines the development of such a GIS, based on dBase‐III‐plus and its internal programming language, in the analysis of problems of soil erosion and soil conservation in the large (110,000 km2) drainage basin of the Awash River in Ethiopia. The methodology employed involves the FAO modification of the Universal Soil Loss Equation, which clearly lacks a secure process basis, but is appropriate for the scale of planning involved and the quality of calibration data available. The GIS is used to map patterns of soil erosion, to identify target areas for conservation on the basis of criteria of sensitivity to land use change, and to assess the costs and benefits of conservation work in those areas. It is suggested that the simple form of GIS involved in this study has much to offer environmental managers in developing countries in the rapid development of plans for soil conservation.