European Bird distribution is “well” represented by Special Protected Areas: Mission accomplished?

Albuquerque, Fábio Suzart de; Assunção–Albuquerque, M. J. T.; Cayuela, Luis; Zamora, Regino; Benito, Blas M.

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2012.10.012

Cited by 41 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, the spatial configuration of protected areas is often influenced by limited conservation efforts; the design of protected areas is achieved while minimizing socio-economic costs (Naidoo et al 2006;Moilanen and Arponen 2011). Therefore, the resultant protected areas often do not reflect true biodiversity patterns (Scott et al 2001;Tognelli et al 2008;Albuquerque et al 2013). A key step to fill in gaps between conservation targets and solutions is by assessing representativeness, which considers the properties of an existing network of protected areas and how well the area covers regional biodiversity (Kukkala and Moilanen 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How well are biodiversity drivers reflected in protected areas? A representativeness assessment of the geohistorical gradients that shaped endemic flora in Japan

Kusumoto

Shiono

Konoshima

et al. 2017

Ecological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Protected areas function as a lifeboat that can preserve the origins and maintenance of biodiversity. We assessed the representativeness of biodiversity in existing protected areas in Japan using a distribution dataset and phylogenetic tree for 5565 Japanese vascular plant species. We first examined the overlap of species distribution with the existing protected areas and identified the minimum set representing all plant species. Second, we evaluated the relative importance of environmental variables in explaining the spatial arrangement of protected areas using a random forest model. Finally, we clarified how potential drivers of plant diversity were sufficiently captured within the protected areas network. Although the protected areas captured the majority of species, nearly half of the minimum set areas were selected from outside the existing protected areas. The locations of existing protected areas are mainly associated with geographical and socio-economic factors rather than key biodiversity features (including evolutionary distinctiveness). Moreover, critical biodiversity drivers, which include current climate, paleoclimatic stability, and geographical isolation, were biasedly emulated within the existing protected areas. These findings demonstrate that current conservation planning fails to represent the ecological and evolutionary processes relevant to species sorting, dispersal limitation, and allopatric speciation. In particular, under-representativeness of historically stable habitats that function as evolutionary hotspots or refugia in response to climate changes may pose a threat to the long-term persistence of Japan's endemic biota. This study provides a fundamental basis for developing prioritization measures to retain species assembly processes and in situ diversification along current climatic and geohistorical gradients.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How well are biodiversity drivers reflected in protected areas? A representativeness assessment of the geohistorical gradients that shaped endemic flora in Japan

Kusumoto

Shiono

Konoshima

et al. 2017

Ecological Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If some SACs are also designated as SPAs, an additional 11 HRR would be covered, and several unthreatened and threatened species would be better protected. Furthermore, SPAs bring substantial conservation benefits to bird populations [46], and also establishes a general policy to avoid bird kill or capture, destruction of eggs, and nest disturbance [20]. The grain of analysis however could affect this result, since the cell site is much larger than the spatial resolution at which sites are prioritized for conservation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Until recently, few maps featuring equal area grid cells that harbor the largest numbers of terrestrial birds, endangered terrestrial birds or range-restricted terrestrial birds were produced in Europe (e.g. [17,18,19,20,21]). However, species richness could be a poor indicator of bird diversity because richness does not reflect complementarity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The geography of hotspots of rarity-weighted richness of birds and their coverage by Natura 2000

Albuquerque

Gregory

2017

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A major challenge for biogeographers and conservation planners is to identify where to best locate or distribute high-priority areas for conservation and to explore whether these areas are well represented by conservation actions such as protected areas (PAs). We aimed to identify high-priority areas for conservation, expressed as hotpots of rarity-weighted richness (HRR)–sites that efficiently represent species–for birds across EU countries, and to explore whether HRR are well represented by the Natura 2000 network. Natura 2000 is an evolving network of PAs that seeks to conserve biodiversity through the persistence of the most patrimonial species and habitats across Europe. This network includes Sites of Community Importance (SCI) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), where the latter regulated the designation of Special Protected Areas (SPA). Distribution maps for 416 bird species and complementarity-based approaches were used to map geographical patterns of rarity-weighted richness (RWR) and HRR for birds. We used species accumulation index to evaluate whether RWR was efficient surrogates to identify HRRs for birds. The results of our analysis support the proposition that prioritizing sites in order of RWR is a reliable way to identify sites that efficiently represent birds. HRRs were concentrated in the Mediterranean Basin and alpine and boreal biogeographical regions of northern Europe. The cells with high RWR values did not correspond to cells where Natura 2000 was present. We suggest that patterns of RWR could become a focus for conservation biogeography. Our analysis demonstrates that identifying HRR is a robust approach for prioritizing management actions, and reveals the need for more conservation actions, especially on HRR.

show abstract

“…Despite the passing of more than 20 years since the launch of the System Natura 2000, it still causes great controversies in Poland and in other countries of the European Union (Maiorano et al 2007, Verovnik et al 2011, Albuquerque et al 2013, D'Amen et al 2013, Hochkirch et al 2013, Lisón et al 2013. Paradoxically, the most criticised aspect is the establishment of the areas based on scientific criteria, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The great capricorn beetle Cerambyx cerdo L. in south-western Poland – the current state and perspectives of conservation in one of the recent distribution centres in Central Europe

Kadej¹,

Zając²,

Smolis³

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Presence-only models can aid conservation and management of threatened, elusive species. A MaxEnt model has been developed for the great capricorn beetle (Cerambyx cerdo L., 1758) in south-western Poland and the variables identified best explaining the species' occurrence on a large scale. Once successfully validated, the model was used to (a) illustrate the expected location of the species' habitats in the region and in existing Natura 2000 sites (SACs) in S-W Poland and (b) assess the efficacy of the regional network of national protected areas (NPAs) versus Natura 2000 (SACs). Overall, information was gathered on 1025 localities of C. cerdo L., 1758 in Lower Silesia. All the records came from the pedunculate oak Quercus robur L., 1753. The occurrence of the great capricorn beetle in the study region is limited mainly to its eastern part, with a marked concentration in the valleys of the rivers Odra, Barycz and Bystrzyca. The kernel density estimation analysis also showed the high concentration of occupied trees in the north-western part of the region, clearly isolated from the above-mentioned main populations. Although a considerable part of the localities in the study region (74.2%) occurred within protected areas (PAs), their contribution to the species' conservation varied between the PAs groups. Natura 2000 SACs are the most important PAs, covering more than 30% of RESEARCH ARTICLE Launched to accelerate biodiversity conservation A peer-reviewed open-access journalMarcin Kadej et al. / Nature Conservation 19: 111-134 (2017) 112 the predicted area of suitable habitats in the region and more than 45% of optimal habitats. In total, 384 localities of C. cerdo L., 1758 were found within the cities, most of them (n = 356) in the city of Wrocław. Forty three percent (43%) of the urban localities of the species (n = 165) in the study region are protected within the regional network of protected areas (OPAs), while those unprotected are mainly concentrated in the city of Wrocław (n = 207). Wrocław also includes 17.1% of the area of suitable habitats and 29% optimal habitats of the species in the region outside the protected area network. To preserve C. cerdo L., 1758, forest corridors should be created or restored to bridge the otherwise impermeable gaps revealed by the authors' model and grant protection to the still largely unprotected area of the Lower Silesian territory. The species conservation programme in the region requires the cooperation of various authorities, not only those dealing with nature conservation, but also local governments, state forest management and flood protection authorities.

show abstract

European Bird distribution is “well” represented by Special Protected Areas: Mission accomplished?

Cited by 41 publications

References 18 publications

How well are biodiversity drivers reflected in protected areas? A representativeness assessment of the geohistorical gradients that shaped endemic flora in Japan

How well are biodiversity drivers reflected in protected areas? A representativeness assessment of the geohistorical gradients that shaped endemic flora in Japan

The geography of hotspots of rarity-weighted richness of birds and their coverage by Natura 2000

The great capricorn beetle Cerambyx cerdo L. in south-western Poland – the current state and perspectives of conservation in one of the recent distribution centres in Central Europe

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About