Spatial modelling of biodiversity conservation priorities in Portugal’s Montado ecosystem using Marxan with Zones

Abstract

SummarySpatial models are increasingly being used to target the most suitable areas for biodiversity conservation. This study investigates how the spatial tool Marxan with Zones (MARZONE) can be used to support the design of cost-effective biodiversity conservation policy. New in this study is the spatial analysis of the costs and effectiveness of different agro-environmental measures (AEMs) for habitat and biodiversity conservation in the Montado ecosystem in Portugal. A distinction is made between the financial costs paid to participating landowners and farmers for adopting AEMs and the broader economic opportunity costs of the corresponding land-use changes. Habitat and species conservation targets are furthermore defined interactively with the local government agency responsible for the management of protected areas, while the costs of agro-forestry activities and alternative land uses are estimated in direct consultation with local landowners. MARZONE identifies the spatial distribution of priority areas for conservation and the associated costs, some of which overlap with existing protected areas. These results provide useful insights into the trade-offs between nature conservation and the opportunity costs of protecting ecologically vulnerable areas, helping to improve current and future conservation policy design.

Conservation Prioritization in a Tiger Landscape: Is Umbrella Species Enough?

“…[56]. It has been used to identify restoration and conservation sites across the globe [41][42][43][44][45]. It uses simulated annealing as the optimization method to design reserves that meet the target (or a set of criteria) at the lowest cost [57].…”

“…Conservation of these features can be carried out through spatial prioritization by setting conservation targets. Based on the availability of data and objectives, past studies have set targets for features such as natural areas, species richness and diversity, geological and topographical features, vegetation types, and ecosystem services [41][42][43][44][45]. Data availability for species and their habitat is an important challenge to this approach, which can be overcome by earth observation data, which play important roles in computing taxonomic and environmental surrogates for conservation features in areas with no or insufficient field data [46][47][48][49][50].…”

Conservation planning for adaptive and neutral evolutionary processes

“…We also compared these priority areas with those from conventional prioritization approaches that neglect evolutionary processes. Although challenges remain in implementing effective conservation policies, recent work—within our study area—shows how engaging with local stakeholders and governmental agencies can make systematic conservation planning exercises more policy‐relevant (Pinto et al., 2019).…”