Lecture 10: Landscape-scale Conservation Flashcards
Already covered
- Ecosystem services & sustainable farming (New York drinking water (L3)).
- Rewilding, Land sharing & land sparing, sustainable farming (L4).
- Landscape scale conservation - connectivity (L5).
- National and international agreements on pollution control & climates (L5&8).
- Management & control of invasive species (L7).
- Landscape- scale management for refugia & migration corridors (L8).
- Climate mitigation & green infrastructure (L8).
Landscape-scale conservation
- conserving entire communities or ecosystems can protect more biodiversity with greater success & lower cost than species-scale conservation.
- primary tool: Protected areas - clearly defined geographical space, dedicated and managed to achieve long term conservation of nature & associated ecosystem services.
Protected areas
- Not new concept e.g. Sacred fengshui forests in China (960-1279 CE), Bogd Khan Mountain nature reserve in Mongolia (1783), Yellowstone in USA (1872).
- Started for religious value or scenic beauty.
- now used for conservation.
Protected areas
World Commission on Protected Areas (part of IUCN) has classified them into 6 different types with different levels of protection:
- Strict nature reserves & wilderness areas
- National park
- Natural monument or feature
- Habitat/species management area
- Protected landscape/seascape
- Protected areas with sustainable use of resources
Protected areas
- Types of protected areas recognised by the IUCN (table)
- level of protection is higher at top
- UK ‘National parks’ are category 5 rather than 3 (protects landscape)
Study by Starnes et al (2021):
- In UK mostly IUCN Category 5 ‘landscape’ designations
- Not much Category 1 or 2
- as little as 5% of UK may be effectively protected for nature
- protected area condition monitoring is inconsistent/lacking
- future targets must emphasise quality as well as quantity
Protected areas - global legislation
United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 2010 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity:
- 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets
- Target 11: protect 10% of marine area & 17% terrestrial area in 10 years
- Achieved: ~8% marine area protected & ~15% terrestrial area
- Not a single Aichi target was fully met but progress was made
Protected areas - where should they be?
Biodiversity hotspots - high biodiversity & a lot under threat
- E.g. BirdLife International identified ~15,000 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) covering 7% land
- cost of conservation = $7 billion per year
Protected areas - where should they be?
Biome / Ecoregion
- WWF identified 867 terrestrial ecoregions
- target those with high species richness, endemism (species not found elsewhere) & rarity (rare).
- Dinerstein et al (2017)measured protection for each ecoregion. Most do not reach Aichi Target 11 (amount protected).
- using biodiversity hotspots & biome/ecoregion there is difficulty as country boundaries important
Protected areas - where should they be?
Ecosystem services
- can aim for areas with high biodiversity & preserve ecosystem services
- but might not match well (mammal & bird diversity don’t match ecosystem services well in China, but amphibian & reptile diversity does)
Protected areas - where should they be?
Cultural importance
- e.g. UNESCO Biosphere Reserves & World Heritage Sites. E.g. Deja Biosphere Reserve in Congo basin - 4000 indigenous occupants hunt using traditional methods but no commercial hunting allowed.
Protected areas - design
Desirable properties of individual protected areas
- SIZE: better to have larger nature reserve as larger population size & greater diversity
- SHAPE: circular areas better (high interior-edge ratio) to reduce edge effect (looked over that previously).
- IRREPLACEABILITY: preserve unique community/ecosystem rather than just common ones
- VULNERABILITY: prioritise area facing immediate threat
- COMPLETENESS: preserve complete ecosystem not just part
- BUFFERS: buffer zone present (restrictions on what people can do to limit human activity)
- INCLUSION: don’t exclude people, incorporating indigenous communities & traditional lifestyles
Protected areas - design
Desirable properties of protected area networks
- NUMBER OF AREA: more nature reserves better
- PROXIMITY: close together so migration can occur
- CONNECTIVITY: joined by corridors or stepping stones rather than fragmented, disconnected or isolated so can be managed as a meta-population
- REPRESENTATION: incorporate more habitat types to protect a greater diversity of species
- MANAGEMENT: areas managed collectively rather than independently
Protected areas - design
Behavioural considerations
- Barriers & corridors differ between species, e.g. small mammals don’t use same type of road crossing points as large mammals
- Animal state is important, e.g. in poor condition / diseased and ages / sexes might influence dispersal, or likelihood to approach human features
- More flexible animals may be more likely to suffer mortality via ecological traps, e.g. coyotes that more diurnal (active in day) & more willing to cross roads are more likely to be in accidents
Ecological traps: rapid environmental change leads organisms to prefer poor quality environments e.g. hedgehogs in hedgerow, but may be either side of of a busy road.
Protected areas - how well do they work?
- Reduce habitat loss.
- Increase species richness & abundance.
- Benefit people through tourism, jobs, health/wellbeing etc. e.g. USA protected areas have 250 million visitors PA (per year), generate $1 trillion PA, protect 9 million jobs.
- must ensure indigenous communites aren’t evicted from their lands (conditions improve when local people close to protected area that allows them to use it)
Need to have:
1. Adequate infrastructure/facilities & administration
2. Protection activities & law enforcement
3. Communication & community involvement
4. Monitoring & research
Protected areas - how well do they work?
- Indigenous lands / groups good at preventing deforestation.
- strict protection not much better than allowing sustainable use.
- Balance between development and conservation = integrated conservation & development project
