Comparing the potential effectiveness of conservation planning approaches in central North Carolina, USA

Hess, George R.; Koch, Frank; Rubino, Matthew J.; Eschelbach, Katherine A.; Drew, C. Ashton; Favreau, Jorie M.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.10.003

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Such data have proved useful in several studies addressing the occurrence of rare species from inconspicuous taxa at the scale of landscapes over large regions (e.g., Lund and Rahbek 2002;Rubino and Hess 2003;Hess et al 2006). However, they also present limitations (Favreau et al 2006).…”

Section: Limitations Of the Datamentioning

confidence: 96%

The white-backed woodpecker: umbrella species for forest conservation planning?

2008

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In northern Europe, a long history of land use has led to profound changes within forest ecosystems. The white-backed woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos) is one of several specialised forest species whose populations have declined. Conservation management directed at this species' habitat has made it a de facto umbrella species for conservation of the biodiversity associated with forests rich in deciduous trees and dead wood. We assessed empirically the value of the white-backed woodpecker as an indicator and umbrella species in central Sweden. Occurrence of the woodpecker in breeding bird atlas squares (5 £ 5 km 2 ) indicated high species richness of forest birds, particularly species of special conservation concern, which included on average 13% more species in squares with than without the woodpecker. The number of red-listed cryptogam species expected to beneWt from conservation actions directed at white-backed woodpecker habitats was higher in squares where the woodpecker bred compared to where is was absent. However, no such pattern was found for red-listed beetles, a group with very few records in the studied squares. White-backed woodpecker occurrence was positively associated with the current area of deciduous and mixed forest of high conservation value. Considering its indicator value, its specialised habitat requirements and its potential as a communication tool, using the white-backed woodpecker as an umbrella species may provide a coarse Wlter for the conservation of several other deciduous forest species. However, focusing solely on white-1 C backed woodpecker habitat may not provide for the conservation of all such species, which stresses the need for a suite of complementary planning approaches.

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Section: Limitations Of the Datamentioning

confidence: 96%

The white-backed woodpecker: umbrella species for forest conservation planning?

2008

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“…Results from testing hypotheses would allow conservationists to choose surrogates with greater confidence and result in a higher probability of success. Evidence for guidelines such as ''surrogates should not be extremely rare or ubiquitous'' , ''simple conservation strategies are not as effective as surrogates'' (Hess et al 2004), ''specialists are more effective than generalists as surrogates'', ''regions with higher natural biodiversity require the selection of more surrogates than regions with low biodiversity'', or ''surrogates are equally reliable if based on guilds as on genera'' would facilitate the development of successful conservation plans. General patterns observed in large datasets and across multi-scaled case studies would provide a foundation for future hypothesis-driven research.…”

Section: Towards Generalized Rulesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recommendations for Assessing the Effectiveness of Surrogate Species Approaches

et al. 2006

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Surrogate species approaches, including flagship, focal, keystone, indicator, and umbrella, are considered an effective means of conservation planning. For conservation biologists to apply surrogates with confidence, they must have some idea of the effectiveness of surrogates for the circumstances in which they will be applied. We reviewed tests of the effectiveness of surrogate species planning to see if research supports the development of generalized rules for (1) determining when and where surrogate species are an effective conservation tool and (2) how surrogate species should be selected such that the resulting conservation plan will effectively protect biodiversity or achieve other conservation goals. The context and methods of published studies were so diverse that we could not draw general conclusions about the spatial or temporal scales, or ecosystems or taxonomic groups for which surrogate species approaches will succeed. The science of surrogate species can progress by (1) establishing methods to compare diverse measures of effectiveness; (2) taking advantage of data-rich regions to examine the potential effectiveness of surrogate approaches; (3) incorporating spatial scale as an explanatory variable; (4) evaluating surrogate species approaches at broader temporal scales; (5) seeking patterns that will lead to hypothesis driven research; and (6) monitoring surrogate species and their target species.

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“…This strategy has been proposed before to reduce uncertainties related to individual species distributions and to take advantage of coarse filter data (e.g., vegetation maps) at the same time (Lombard et al 2003;Hess et al 2006;Fjeldsa 2007a). However, this combination can only be achieved if enough coarse and fine filter elements are available to carry out the analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…The variables included as predictors were the three PCA axes from climate data, percent of each grid cell covered by forest, percent covered by forests of \20 m canopy height, and percent covered by young and intermediate forest. Residuals of all regressions were checked for spatial autocorrelation using a Moran's I test (Haining 2003). Latitude and longitude were included in the model if spatial autocorrelation in the residuals was significant.…”

Section: Distribution Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In increasing order of information needs, these strategies range from expert opinion, identification of hotspots, GAP analysis, and representation of vegetation heterogeneity or of individual species distributions (Feria and Peterson 2002;Wilson et al 2005b;Solano and Feria 2007). Strategies based on broad filter information, such as those based on land classifications, are often criticized by their limited representation of endangered or threatened species requirements (Pressey 2004;Hess et al 2006). On the other hand, strategies based on individual species distributions are limited by the quality and quantity of occurrence data, and are often criticized for the biases related to sampling more common taxa and the many uncertainties related to distribution maps (Wilson et al 2005a;Fjeldsa 2007a;Wisz et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparing alternative systematic conservation planning strategies against a politically driven conservation plan

2009

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Decisions regarding the level of detail included in conservation planning and the importance given to feasibility considerations can greatly influence management in terms of total area required, achievement of conservation targets and costs. This work had two main objectives: (1) to compare priority sites proposed by the Chilean commission for the environment in a politically driven process to the results of alternative systematic conservation planning scenarios; and (2) to compare the efficacy of systematic conservation planning based on different types of conservation targets (forest types and bird species) and minimum area thresholds. To address these issues, we used vegetation cover as well as field data on forest birds in central Chile. Bird species distributions were modeled using a variety of climatic and environmental layers, allowing for the integration of environmental heterogeneity into the planning process. We then ran several conservation planning scenarios considering conservation targets based on vegetation types alone, birds alone, or a combination of vegetation and birds. Collectively these results show that conservation planning results differ significantly when considering birds or vegetation types, and that minimum area requirements for each conservation feature has a great influence on the final results. Moreover, important conservation sites are not represented in the current government plan, and these sites are related to the small representation of rare vegetation types. This study suggests that using appropriate minimum area requirements can greatly affect the results of a conservation planning exercise and therefore represents a key knowledge gap in the region.

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Comparing the potential effectiveness of conservation planning approaches in central North Carolina, USA

Cited by 20 publications

References 39 publications

The white-backed woodpecker: umbrella species for forest conservation planning?

The white-backed woodpecker: umbrella species for forest conservation planning?

Recommendations for Assessing the Effectiveness of Surrogate Species Approaches

Comparing alternative systematic conservation planning strategies against a politically driven conservation plan

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