Old concepts, new challenges: adapting landscape-scale conservation to the twenty-first century

Abstract

Landscape-scale approaches to conservation stem largely from the classic ideas of reserve design: encouraging bigger and more sites, enhancing connectivity among sites, and improving habitat quality. Trade-offs are imposed between these four strategies by the limited resources and opportunities available for conservation programmes, including the establishment and management of protected areas, and wildlife-friendly farming and forestry. Although debate regarding trade-offs between the size, number, connectivity and quality of protected areas was prevalent in the 1970-1990s, the implications of the same trade-offs for ongoing conservation responses to threats from accelerating environmental change have rarely been addressed. Here, we reassess the implications of reserve design theory for landscape-scale conservation, and present a blueprint to help practitioners to prioritise among the four strategies. We consider the new perspectives placed on landscape-scale conservation programmes by twenty-first century pressures including climate change, invasive species and the need to marry food security with biodiversity conservation. A framework of the situations under which available theory and evidence recommend that each of the four strategies be prioritized is provided, seeking to increase the clarity required for urgent conservation decision-making.

Quantifying resistance and resilience to local extinction for conservation prioritization

“…), particularly in developing regions, conservation planning must also consider what is practically achievable in modern landscapes when setting conservation priorities in the real world, aside from population viability alone (Donaldson et al. ).…”

“…Thus, not only are we faced with the challenge of ensuring sites are resistant and resilient to change, but we must apply this approach to multiple species residing in the same landscape (Darwall and Vi e 2005). Given the increasing pressures from growing human populations and acute shortage of land (Tilman et al 2017), particularly in developing regions, conservation planning must also consider what is practically achievable in modern landscapes when setting conservation priorities in the real world, aside from population viability alone (Donaldson et al 2017).…”

“…These concepts have been pivotal for site‐based design and more recently the establishment of landscape‐scale conservation initiatives (see Donaldson et al. ), though deciding which sites to invest in is complex (Hannah ) and remains the focus of much research (Whytock et al. ).…”

“…In general, populations residing in small and/ or low quality sites are at greater risk of extinction, while poorly connected sites are unlikely to be recolonized should extinction occur (MacArthur and Wilson 1967, Hanski 1999, Thomas et al 2001). These concepts have been pivotal for site-based design and more recently the establishment of landscape-scale conservation initiatives (see Donaldson et al 2017), though deciding which sites to invest in is complex (Hannah 2008) and remains the focus of much research (Whytock et al 2018). Although it was originally suggested that various species respond similarly to local and landscape-scale drivers of extinction and colonization such as habitat fragmentation (Hanski 1994a), this remains untested (Whytock et al 2018).…”

Conservation beyond protected areas: Using vertebrate species ranges and biodiversity importance scores to inform policy for an east African country in transition

“…The importance of Africa's PA network should not be undervalued, but it is evident that conservation practice and wildlife policy also need to incorporate LU options within the human realm (Sayer et al, 2013). Biodiversity within these human-dominated landscapes is under the greatest pressure (Di Marco, Venter, Possingham, & Watson, 2018), threatening ecosystem services and, therefore, human wellbeing (Donaldson, Wilson, & Maclean, 2017;Sayer et al, 2013). Widening the focus of conservation policy beyond PAs is essential for any country to reach global objectives such as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Sustainable Development Goals (Kareiva & Marvier, 2012).…”