Lecture 9: Conservation Planning

Question 1

With limited funds, conservation planners must focus their efforts on high priority areas. In choosing priorities, conservation planners must address three questions. What are they?

Answer 1

1. What needs to be protected?
2. Where should it be protected?
3. How should it be protected?

Question 2

In establishing priorities, what three criteria are used to answer the first two questions:

Answer 2

1. Distinctiveness
2. Endangerment
3. Utility

Question 3

Distinctiveness

Answer 3

• essentially means irreplaceability

- how unique is the list of candidates that we would never be able to restore, how distinct is it

Question 4

Endangerment

Answer 4

• the same thing as vulnerability of a species to extinction

Question 5

Utility

Answer 5

• if a particular ecosystem is important to people
• humans get a use out of it
• i.e. a watershed that provides water to all of New York

Question 6

Utilizing the above criteria, several prioritization approaches have been developed. What are they (3 of them)

Answer 6

1. the species approach (small)
2. the hotspot approach
3. the ecosystem approach (big)

Question 7

Focal species

Answer 7

• species that provide the impetus to protect an area and ecosystems
• the species focused on by conservation planners used in their conservation efforts

Question 8

The Species Approach:

- protected areas are often established to protect individual species of concern such as…

Answer 8

• rare species
• endangered species
• keystone species
• culturally significant species (if we lost them we would not be able to substitute them)

Question 9

What are three different types of focal species?

Answer 9

1. Indicator
2. Flagship
3. Umbrella

Question 10

What is the species approach?

Answer 10

• protected areas are often established to protect individual species of concern
  
  • rare species
  • endangered species
  • keystone species
  • culturally significant species (if we lost them we would not be able to substitute them)

Question 11

Indicator species

Answer 11

species that are associated with an endangered biological community or set of unique ecosystem processes

Question 12

List one example of an indicator species

Answer 12

E.g. the Northern Spotted Owl is associated with old growth and mature forest in the Pacific Northwest

Question 13

Flagship species

Answer 13

• usually large and well known species that capture public attention, have symbolic value, and/or are crucial to ecotourism
• often include ‘charismatic megafauna’

Question 14

Charismatic megafauna

Answer 14

they are big sexy animals (i.e. the Giant Panda is associated with WWF, tigers, humpback whales, etc.)

Question 15

What is an example of a flagship species?

Answer 15

E.g., Giant Panda is recognizable the world over and has been adopted as the symbol of WWF

Question 16

Umbrella species

Answer 16

Flagship and indicator species whose protection automatically extends protection to other species and the community

Question 17

What is an example of an umbrella species?

Answer 17

E.g., 18 Project Tiger reserves were created in India after surveys revealed that Bengal Tigers were near extinction
- in protecting the tiger they also protected 18 of the highest quality forested fragment/lands in India

Question 18

What are some problems are the species approach?

Answer 18

• by focusing on species we might be ignoring greater ecosystem processes
• by focusing on species we are potentially protecting cute fuzzy species and not protecting other species that are equally important
• by focusing on species we might be missing other non-biological things of importance, i.e. a geological feature or a scenic vista

Question 19

What is the hotspot approach?

Answer 19

rather than focus on single species, another approach is to focus on regions that are deemed of high conservation value

Question 20

What 3 criteria is the hotspot approach usually based on?

Answer 20

1. High species richness
2. High endemism
3. high rate of habitat loss

Question 21

What approach is usually based on these three criteria:

1. High species richness
2. High endemism
3. high rate of habitat loss

Answer 21

the hotspot approach

Question 22

Biodiversity indicator

Answer 22

organisms or groups of organisms that are used to identify hotspots when data about whole ecosystems are unavailable

Question 23

What is an example of a biodiversity indicator?

Answer 23

E.g., Myers et al. (2000) identified 25 global hotspots based on 2,500 endemic plant species that have lost at least 70% of their primary vegetation

Question 24

Can the hotspot approach can also be used on a national or regional scale?

Answer 24

Yes,

• e.g. in the US, species richness is exceptionally high in 6 areas (Hawaii not shown)
• The Nature Conservancy focuses its land acquisition funds to regions targeted by this approach

Question 25

The hotspot approach:
Sometimes conservation priorities differ depending upon the criteria used.
List an example

Answer 25

E.g., Orme et al. (2005) examined hotspots using species richness, threatened, species, and endemic species and found them to result in different high priority areas

Question 26

What are some problems with the hotspot approach?

Answer 26

• using hotspots to guide the establishment of protected areas has the consequence of forfeiting other important areas
• spectacular wildlife areas that are relatively species poor
  - e.g., the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem harbors the last complete assemblage of large mammals in the lower 47 states
  - area is cool (unique geological features) but not many species there
• areas that provide exceptionally important ecosystem services
  - e.g., Spartina marshes along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast has only 20-30 plant species, yet this area serves as an essential fish nursery and as a buffer against tropical storms - not very many species in marsh

Question 27

What is the ecosystem approach?

Answer 27

• using this approach, as many representative types as possible are protected
• aka ecoregion approach
• analysis of 13 biomes shows that the amount of protected land varies considerably
• temperate grasslands, mediterranean forests, and tropical forests should be the highest conservation priority

Question 28

What are some problems of the ecosystem approach?

Answer 28

• since ecoregions don’t follow political boundaries, it can be difficult to get governments to cooperate to prioritize efforts within ecoregions
• in the face of climate change, ecoregions are shifting
  - since political boundaries may be more stable than ecosystems, it may make more sense to plan using political boundaries

Question 29

Gap analysis

Answer 29

• a methodology to help organizations identify which sites to protect by comparing biodiversity priorities with existing and proposed protected areas

Question 30

What are some examples of gap analysis?

Answer 30

• E.g., a gap analysis of 12,000 vertebrate species found that 12% were found in no protected area, and an additional 12% occurred only in small areas or those with weak protection
• E.g., another study mapped 794 animal and plant species that were in imminent danger of extinction at 595 sites around the world - many were at unprotected sites

Question 31

Gap analysis model

Answer 31

• the model provides a solid theoretical framework for the decision-making process, and has been used many times
• however, applying scientific rigor at key stages is difficult, especially when information is unavailable (or unaffordable)
• value judgements and arbitrary scoring also come into play
• land managers are often caught up in politics, fund-raising public relations, and competing demands for land resources, which further complicates strict application of the model

Question 32

Geographic Information Systems

Answer 32

• Conservation planners increasingly combine gap analysis with GIS
• Integrate a wide variety of data for analysis and display
  - E.g., existing endangered species distributions, existing protected areas, areas of remaining habitat, and areas of human disturbance
• Such techniques can also lead to a prediction of where rare species may occur