Defining and Evaluating the Umbrella Species Concept for Conserving and Restoring Landscape Connectivity

Abstract

Conserving or restoring landscape connectivity between patches of breeding habitat is a common strategy to protect threatened species from habitat fragmentation. By managing connectivity for some species, usually charismatic vertebrates, it is often assumed that these species will serve as conservation umbrellas for other species. We tested this assumption by developing a quantitative method to measure overlap in dispersal habitat of 3 threatened species-a bird (the umbrella), a butterfly, and a frog-inhabiting the same fragmented landscape. Dispersal habitat was determined with Circuitscape, which was parameterized with movement data collected for each species. Despite differences in natural history and breeding habitat, we found substantial overlap in the spatial distributions of areas important for dispersal of this suite of taxa. However, the intuitive umbrella species (the bird) did not have the highest overlap with other species in terms of the areas that supported connectivity. Nevertheless, we contend that when there are no irreconcilable differences between the dispersal habitats of species that cohabitate on the landscape, managing for umbrella species can help conserve or restore connectivity simultaneously for multiple threatened species with different habitat requirements.

Bobcats (Lynx rufus) as a Model Organism to Investigate the Effects of Roads on Wide-Ranging Carnivores

“…Since 1989, bobcats have been protected in New Hampshire. In recent years, incidental sightings and road mortalities suggest that bobcats are becoming more abundant in New Hampshire (Broman et al 2014), similar to reports from other regions of North America (Roberts and Crimmins 2010).…”

“…However, more recent observations indicate that bobcats are re-colonizing portions of the state that contains dense road networks with substantial traffic volumes (Broman et al 2014). In comparison to other wide-ranging carnivores, such as coyotes (Canis latrans) and cougars (Felis concolor), Crooks (2002) indicated that bobcats are intermediate in their demographic responses to roads and they are able to persist in fragmented landscapes if there are habitat linkages.…”

“…Bobcats in New Hampshire encounter a wide range of conditions that range from sparsely settled regions with limited roads to intensively developed landscapes that contain interstate highways (Litvaitis et al 2006;Broman et al 2014;Reed 2013). As a result, we considered this species to be a suitable model organism to investigate a variety of demographic and genetic responses to roads (Simmons et al 2010).…”

Decision support tools for forest landscape restoration: Current status and future outlook

“…As species do not benefit uniformly from restoration interventions, a common approach is to design habitat protection and restoration of landscape connectivity based on an umbrella species concept (Breckheimer et al 2014). This concept holds that conservation of sufficient habitat for an animal with a very large home range should require areas large enough to provide sufficient area for most species that have smaller home ranges.…”

“…This concept holds that conservation of sufficient habitat for an animal with a very large home range should require areas large enough to provide sufficient area for most species that have smaller home ranges. Considering the potential for species movement within a landscape matrix, an umbrella species is one for which conservation or restoration of its dispersal habitat also facilitates dispersal of other target species (Breckheimer et al 2014). …”