Toward better application of minimum area requirements in conservation planning

Pe’er, Guy; Tsianou, Mariana A.; Franz, Kamila W.; Matsinos, Yiannis G.; Mazaris, Antonios D.; Storch, David; Kopsová, Lenka; Verboom, J.; Baguette, Michel; Stevens, Virginie M.; Henle, Klaus

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2013.12.011

Cited by 60 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Embora autores discutam e proponham diferentes métodos de estimar o tamanho mínimo viável de uma unidade de conservação (Smith et al 2010;Pe'er et al 2014), não existe um número mínimo absoluto e geral para todos grupos taxonômicos. Um exemplo disto é que para macacos neotropicais, a área mínima de conservação é de cerca de 11.000 ha (Brito & Grelle 2006).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Fragmentação florestal na Área de Proteção Ambiental de Tambaba, Paraíba, Brasil

Rodrigues

Salimon

Vital

2017

PECEN

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Um dos ecossistemas brasileiros mais fragmentados, devido ao desmatamento histórico, é a Mata Atlântica, que abriga uma das maiores diversidades biológicas do planeta. A área e a forma destes fragmentos podem influenciar o efeito de borda sobre padrões e processos em um ecossistema florestal. O presente estudo mapeou e caracterizou a fragmentação florestal da Área de Proteção Ambiental de Tambaba (APA), no litoral sul da Paraíba, utilizando métricas da paisagem com o objetivo de verificar a efetividade da proteção ambiental na unidade de conservação. Para isto, foi feita uma classificação supervisionada por máxima verossimilhança, da cobertura do solo, a partir de imagens RapidEye em duas classes: (1) floresta (vegetação nativa); (2) não-floresta (todos outros tipos de cobertura). A análise métrica da paisagem (total de fragmentos, área núcleo, proporção de área núcleo por fragmento, entre outros) foi realizada com a extensão Patch Analyst em ambiente ArcGis. Da área total da APA (11.550 ha), 2.200 ha (19%) foram classificados como floresta, distribuídos em 1.364 fragmentos. A área núcleo total variou de 1.470 (efeito de borda de 10 m) a 370 ha (efeito de borda de 50 m), proporcionando uma conservação real entre 13 e 3% da área total. Estes resultados apontam para a necessidade de uma fiscalização intensa e rigorosa do cumprimento das leis, bem como um gerenciamento racional e participativo por meio dos órgãos públicos e do conselho consultivo da APA, para que se protejam os fragmentos remanescentes.Palavras chave: Efeito de borda, conservação, métricas da paisagem, desmatamento.Forest fragmentation in the Environmental Protection Area of Tambaba, Paraíba, BrazilAbstract: One of the most fragmented ecosystems in Brazil is the Atlantic Rain Forest, due to centuries of deforestation along the coast which holds one of the world’s greatest biodiversity. Landscape metrics and shape can impact on border effect on patterns and processes of a forested ecosystem. In this paper, we map and characterize the forest fragmentation of the Tambaba Environmental Protection Area (APA), on the coast of Paraíba State, Brazil, using landscape metrics to verify the effectiveness of this protected area. We conducted a land cover classification (supervised classification by maximum likelyhood, RapidEye imagery) into two categories (1) forest and (2) non forest. Landscape metrics (number of fragments, total core area, proportion of core area, among others) were calculated using ArcGis extension Patch Analyst. From the APA’s total 11.550 ha, 2.200 ha were classified as forest (19%), distributed in 1.364 fragments of different sizes. Total core area varied from 1.470 (10 m border effect) to 370 ha (50 m border effect), dependending on edge effect distance, which provides a true conservation of only 13 to 3% of the total APA. These results point to the necessity of an intense and rigorous surveillance of the compliance with laws, as well as a rational and participatory management, through the APA’s management council and public agencies, in order to protect the remnant fragments.Key words: Border effect, conservation, landscape metrics, deforestation.

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Section: Discussionunclassified

Fragmentação florestal na Área de Proteção Ambiental de Tambaba, Paraíba, Brasil

Rodrigues

Salimon

Vital

2017

PECEN

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“…Another important metric is the Minimum Area Requirement (MAR), defining the minimum habitat area for a viable population. While offering policy-relevant information, especially for spatial planning, it is notable that alternative scenarios, explored within a given study, may offer MAR values differing by as much as two orders of magnitude for the same species and site (Pe'er et al 2014b). Under such uncertainty, the MAR values finally communicated to stakeholders may reflect primarily subjective decisions.…”

Section: Overconfidencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, a range of uncertainties remain poorly considered or communicated (Pe'er et al 2014b). Communicated values and confidence intervals are subject to judgment interpretation, often dictated by societal aspects: thresholds that are over-restrictive may be rejected by civil society or policymakers (Pe'er et al 2014b), promote misreporting and thereby enhance uncertainty with respect to population status (Quaas et al 2013), or are simply posing goals that are too challenging to meet (e.g. Palazy et al 2011;Quaas et al 2013).…”

Section: Overconfidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a different attitude to uncertainty

Pe’er¹,

Mihoub²,

Dislich³

et al. 2014

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The ecological literature deals with uncertainty primarily from the perspective of how to reduce it to acceptable levels. However, the current rapid and ubiquitous environmental changes, as well as anticipated rates of change, pose novel conditions and complex dynamics due to which many sources of uncertainty are difficult or even impossible to reduce. These include both uncertainty in knowledge (epistemic uncertainty) and societal responses to it. Under these conditions, an increasing number of studies ask how one can deal with uncertainty as it is. Here, we explore the question how to adopt an overall alternative attitude to uncertainty, which accepts or even embraces it. First, we show that seeking to reduce uncertainty may be counterproductive under some circumstances. It may yield overconfidence, ignoring early warning signs, policy-and societal stagnation, or irresponsible behaviour if personal certainty is offered by externalization of environmental costs. We then demonstrate that uncertainty can have positive impacts by driving improvements in knowledge, promoting cautious action, contributing to keeping societies flexible and adaptable, enhancing awareness, support and involvement of the public in nature conservation, and enhancing cooperation and communication. We discuss the risks of employing a certainty paradigm on uncertain knowledge, the potential benefits of adopting an alternative attitude to uncertainty, and the need to implement such an attitude across scales -from adaptive management at the local scale, to the evolving Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) at the global level.

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“…Similarly, dispersal distances have been compared with the distances between different sites to assess functional habitat connectivity and determine the maximum distance between sites that will permit movement of individuals (Calabrese & Fagan 2004). Finally, estimates of home range sizes have been used to determine the quantity of habitat area that might be required by each individual, and therefore the total amount that should be protected to achieve persistence or other recovery objectives Pe'er et al 2014). The use of different measures will result in different sets of sites identified as critical habitat; therefore, deciding which measure, or combination of measures, should be used is central to critical habitat identification.…”

Section: Step 3 Identifying the Alternativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Identifying critical habitat for threatened species requires information about 1) habitat quality and its influence on the abundance and distribution of populations , 2) the functional connectivity of habitat patches and its role in species persistence (Calabrese & Fagan 2004;Kindlmann & Burel 2008), and 3) the quantity of habitat needed to achieve the recovery objectives Pe'er et al 2014) (Fig. 5.2).…”

Section: Step 3 Identifying the Alternativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying critical habitat for threatened species: concepts and challenges

Camaclang¹

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Critical habitat is defined scientifically as the subset of habitat necessary for the long-term persistence of a given species. Based on this definition, loss of any part of the critical habitat would result in extinction of the species. In the United States, Australia, and Canada, critical habitat of threatened species is protected, to various degrees, under endangered species legislation. Effective protection of critical habitat depends on it being identified accurately. Where there is potential for conflict with landowners and industry stakeholders, accurate critical habitat identifications are more defensible in court, and minimise the opportunity costs of protecting areas that may not be as beneficial to species persistence. However, obtaining the data required to accurately identify critical habitat can take up considerable time and resources that may otherwise be spent on conservation actions. At the same time, delaying protection of critical habitat to improve knowledge can result in further habitat loss. In this thesis, I review key concepts and challenges surrounding the identification of critical habitat, and develop decision tools to assist in deciding when and how to identify it.In Chapter 2, I present a systematic review of critical habitat documentation from the United States, Canada, and Australia to identify the types of data and criteria that have been used to identify critical habitat in the last decade. Contrary to scientific recommendations that long-term species persistence should be used as the criterion for identifying critical habitat, information about the location of species occurrences and particular habitat features were used instead to identify critical habitats for most of the species reviewed. Insufficient data and the desire to avoid potential opposition from landowners are likely to be the main reasons for the use of such approaches to critical habitat identification. Chapter 3 continues with an examination of the merits of the different criteria that could be used to inform critical habitat identification, and the types of errors associated with each. I also considered the potential consequences of the errors, and recommended that more explicit recognition of the potential for errors is important in minimising their negative consequences for species persistence.While the accuracy of critical habitat identification may be improved by collecting more data, delaying protection to do so may result in additional habitat loss if habitats are left unprotected in the meantime. In Chapter 4, I used an optimisation approach to examine this trade-off between the benefits of delaying protection to improve accuracy and the costs of additional habitat loss in the interim. I modelled the change in the proportion of habitat correctly identified over time as a function of both accuracy and habitat loss, and determined the optimal amount of time to spend iii learning that maximises this value. I found that at low rates of habitat loss, slow learning rates resulted in a longer optimal lea...

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Toward better application of minimum area requirements in conservation planning

Cited by 60 publications

References 59 publications

Fragmentação florestal na Área de Proteção Ambiental de Tambaba, Paraíba, Brasil

Fragmentação florestal na Área de Proteção Ambiental de Tambaba, Paraíba, Brasil

Towards a different attitude to uncertainty

Identifying critical habitat for threatened species: concepts and challenges

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