An analysis of spatio-temporal landscape patterns for protected areas in northern New England: 1900–2010

Abstract

Context Landscape ecology theory provides insight about how large assemblages of protected areas (PAs) should be configured to protect biodiversity. We adapted these theories to evaluate whether the emergence of decentralized land protection in a largely private landscape followed the principles of reserve design. Objectives Our objectives were to determine: (1) Are there distinct clusters of PAs in time and space?(2) Are PAs becoming more spatially clustered through time? and (3) Does the resulting PA portfolio have traits characteristic of ideal reserve design? Methods We developed an historical dataset of the PAs enacted since 1900 in the northern New England region of the US. We conducted spatio-temporal clustering, landscape pattern, and aggregation analyses at both the landscape scale and for specific classes of land ownership, conservation method, and degree of protection. Results We found the frequency of PAs increased through time, and that area-weighted clusters of PAs were heavily influenced by a few recent large PAs. PA clustering around preexisting PAs was driven primarily by establishment of large PAs focused on natural resource management, rather than strict reserves. Since 1990, the complete portfolio has increased in aggregation, but reserve patches have become less aggregated and smaller, while patches that allow extractive uses have become more aggregated and larger. Conclusions Our extension of landscape ecology theory to a diverse portfolio of PAs underscores the importance of prioritizing conservation choices in the context of existing PAs, and elucidates the landscape scale effects of individual actions within a portfolio of protected areas.

Quantifying the need and potential of assisted migration

“…and the estimated I = 0.44 for the pattern of architectural landscape in Jinan, China (Xue et al 2015). These urban landscapes represent a higher degree of fragmentation than the protected areas in northern New England (Meyer et al 2015), where the highest values of Moran's I > 0.70 are similar to the landscapes we simulated with the highest autoregression coefficient (φ = 0.999).…”

Can protected areas mitigate the impacts of climate change on bird's species and communities?

“…Nevertheless, Canova () and Meyer et al . () showed that the process of habitat change (encompassing increasing urban areas, changes in farming and decreasing natural habitats) was substantially mitigated in PAs, and promoted higher species richness. Similarly, the greater stability of landscape dynamics is likely to explain the enhanced effect of PAs on specialist species.…”

“…Note, however, that this hypothesis should be confirmed by finer investigations of the relationships between habitat stability and PA, but relevant and high-resolution data on temporal land use changes are still lacking. Nevertheless, Canova (2006) and Meyer et al (2015) showed that the process of habitat change (encompassing increasing urban areas, changes in farming and decreasing natural habitats) was substantially mitigated in PAs, and promoted higher species richness. Similarly, the greater stability of landscape dynamics is likely to explain the enhanced effect of PAs on specialist species.…”

Anthropogenic impacts in protected areas: assessing the efficiency of conservation efforts using Mediterranean ant communities

“…Revealing the patterns that impact the efficiency of PAs networks for biodiversity conservation, our results can inform management decisions and influence the prioritization of conservation efforts. This is especially important given that the future PAs networks will likely face fragmentation problems due to the increase in the proportion of smaller PAs (Maiorano et al, 2015; Meyer, Beard & Cronan, 2015) and urban expansion around PAs (Bonet-García et al, 2015; Martinuzzi et al, 2015; Wood et al, 2015). …”