Effectiveness of biodiversity indicators varies with extent, grain, and region

Hess, George R.; Bartel, Rebecca A.; Leidner, Allison K.; Rosenfeld, Kristen M.; Rubino, Matthew J.; Snider, Sunny B.; Ricketts, Taylor H.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2006.04.037

Cited by 128 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…However, these differences are clearly attributable to methodological considerations: Mellin et al 31 use 4100 km 2 as their highest category of spatial extent, six orders of magnitude lower than our maximum recorded values, whereas Wolters et al 30 use analysis of grain size rather than spatial extent. These are independent metrics that-as we and others have shown-have differing effects on observed patterns of biodiversity 35,50 . These contrasts show that the choice of scales-and the metrics used in assessments of the effects of scale-can strongly influence the outcome of ecological studies and meta-analyses, and can thereby influence inferred patterns of biodiversity 35,50 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

“…These are independent metrics that-as we and others have shown-have differing effects on observed patterns of biodiversity 35,50 . These contrasts show that the choice of scales-and the metrics used in assessments of the effects of scale-can strongly influence the outcome of ecological studies and meta-analyses, and can thereby influence inferred patterns of biodiversity 35,50 . We found no evidence for an effect of higher-level phylogeny on cross-taxon congruence, a result that has several key implications.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

“…Our analysis revealed that high variance in cross-taxon congruence is the norm in the ecology and conservation literature. This suggests that there are few circumstances in which pairs of taxa will be consistent surrogates for each other across a range of metrics, locations and spatial scales 35 , despite most studies returning estimates of cross-taxon congruence that are 40. Further, variables describing the spatial scale of congruence studies, as well as biogeographic and phylogenetic parameters, explain limited variance in cross-taxon congruence, even though they are well-known proxies for broadscale and globally important biological processes 39,40 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although these developments have been valuable, they present a challenge to those attempting to synthesize global knowledge on cross-taxon congruence because of the array of different methods that have been applied in the literature 28,29 . Therefore, despite the publication of a number of valuable reviews of the congruence literature 15,28,[30][31][32][33][34] , one important theme has yet to be addressed; namely, the observation that congruence is often highly variable when measured in different locations or at different times 29,35,36 . A key property of biodiversity surrogates and indicators is that they should be able to be applied with confidence in novel contexts 37 , and so this lack of consistency has the potential to undermine the usefulness of biodiversity surrogates in ecology and conservation 38 .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Global meta-analysis reveals low consistency of biodiversity congruence relationships

et al. 2014

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Knowledge of the number and distribution of species is fundamental to biodiversity conservation efforts, but this information is lacking for the majority of species on earth. Consequently, subsets of taxa are often used as proxies for biodiversity; but this assumes that different taxa display congruent distribution patterns. Here we use a global meta-analysis to show that studies of cross-taxon congruence rarely give consistent results. Instead, species richness congruence is highest at extreme spatial scales and close to the equator, while congruence in species composition is highest at large extents and grain sizes. Studies display highest variance in cross-taxon congruence when conducted in areas with dissimilar areal extents (for species richness) or latitudes (for species composition). These results undermine the assumption that a subset of taxa can be representative of biodiversity. Therefore, researchers whose goal is to prioritize locations or actions for conservation should use data from a range of taxa.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 50%

Section: Discussionmentioning

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global meta-analysis reveals low consistency of biodiversity congruence relationships

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“…As this study shows, that would mean that an area exceptionally rich in tree species would lose its protected status. We therefore argue caution in using limited biodiversity data as a basis for protected area management decisions and join with other authors (Prendergast and Eversham 1997;Caro and O'Doherty 1999;Lindenmayer et al 2002;Hess et al 2006) to caution against the use of indicator taxa as surrogates for biodiversity at fine levels of spatial scale.…”

Section: Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Cross-taxon congruence in tree, bird and bat species distributions at a moderate spatial scale across four tropical forest types in the Philippines

Weerd

Haes

2010

Biodivers Conserv

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Indicator species groups are often used as surrogates for overall biodiversity in conservation planning because inventories of multiple taxa are rare, especially in the tropics where most biodiversity is found. At coarse spatial scales most studies show congruence in the distribution of species richness and of endemic and threatened species of different species groups. At finer spatial scale levels however, cross-taxon congruence patterns are much more ambiguous. In this study we investigated cross-taxon patterns in the distribution of species richness of trees, birds and bats across four tropical forest types in a ca. 100 9 35 km area in the Northern Sierra Madre region of Luzon Island, Philippines. A non-parametric species richness estimator (Chao1) was used to compensate for differential sample sizes, sample strategies and completeness of species richness assessments. We found positive but weak congruence in the distribution of all and endemic tree and bird and tree and bat species richness across the four forest types; strong positive congruence in the distribution of all and endemic bat and bird species richness and low or negative congruence in the distribution of globally threatened species between trees, birds and bats. We also found weak cross-taxon congruence in the complementarity of pairs of forest types in species richness between trees and birds and birds and bats but strong congruence in complementarity of forest pairs between trees and bats. This study provides further evidence that congruence in the distribution of different species groups is often ambiguous at fine to moderate spatial scales. Low or ambiguous cross-taxon congruence complicates the use of indicator species and species groups as a surrogate for biodiversity in general for local systematic conservation planning.

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Strategies of Reserve Selection

Cabeza

Teeffelen

2009

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Existing protected areas contain only a biased sample of the Earth's biodiversity. This is because conservation has to compete with other land‐uses. Limitations in space and budget highlight the importance of effective and efficient conservation strategies. In this context, questions like what elements of biodiversity should we focus on, and where to protect them, are difficult to answer. The field of spatial conservation planning has evolved to address these questions, with attention to cost‐efficiency, representativeness, adequacy, flexibility, threat and vulnerability. It encourages politicians and conservation planners to set quantitative conservation goals, and offers tools to prioritize among large sets of species, ecosystem types and areas. The implementation of this approach is becoming essential in order to halt the loss of biodiversity in a world of increasing human population and increasing demand for natural resources. Key concepts Protected areas have long been established opportunistically resulting in inefficient spending of conservation funds. Scoring methods rank individual sites according to their conservation value, but cannot guide the design of networks efficiently. Complementarity‐based approaches instead, evaluate the value of the network as a whole, thus achieving cost‐efficiency in reserve network design. Aiming at representation of species or ecosystems in reserves is insufficient. Conservation goals and their derived targets should aim at persistence if biodiversity loss is to be halted. To achieve cost‐efficiency, targets have to be explicit and quantitative. A large suit of tools exists to aid conservation decision‐making under conditions where data is incomplete or of poor quality – typical for biodiversity data. More or better data is indispensable, but meanwhile decision‐making can proceed. Although the perfect biodiversity surrogate does not exist, basing the design of reserve networks on information for a number of taxa produces promising results. Connectivity of reserve networks promotes the persistence of species in fragmented landscapes. One‐size‐fits‐all solutions do not always exist. Species or habitats may require different conservation actions, leading to inevitable trade‐offs. Although spatial prioritization has been mostly used to locate protected areas, it can be used to assist the identification and location of most suitable management actions.

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Effectiveness of biodiversity indicators varies with extent, grain, and region

Cited by 128 publications

References 54 publications

Global meta-analysis reveals low consistency of biodiversity congruence relationships

Global meta-analysis reveals low consistency of biodiversity congruence relationships

Cross-taxon congruence in tree, bird and bat species distributions at a moderate spatial scale across four tropical forest types in the Philippines

Strategies of Reserve Selection

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