Using the Species&amp;#8211;Area Relationship to Set Baseline Targets for Conservation

Desmet, Philip; Cowling, Richard M.

doi:10.5751/es-01206-090211

Cited by 142 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…Species-area approaches to conservation planning emphasize that the rate of extinctions from a habitat accelerates as it declines in area, placing a premium on minimizing further loss in already small habitat fragments (Desmet & Cowling 2004). However, our results suggest that such approaches could be misleading in areas where substantial intact landscapes remain, because the rate of habitat clearance accelerates dramatically once threatening processes penetrate intact areas.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Extreme contagion in global habitat clearance

et al. 2009

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Habitat clearance remains the major cause of biodiversity loss, with consequences for ecosystem services and for people. In response to this, many global conservation schemes direct funds to regions with high rates of recent habitat destruction, though some also emphasize the conservation of remaining large tracts of intact habitat. If the pattern of habitat clearance is highly contagious, the latter approach will help prevent destructive processes gaining a foothold in areas of contiguous intact habitat. Here, we test the strength of spatial contagion in the pattern of habitat clearance. Using a global dataset of land-cover change at 50 Â 50 km resolution, we discover that intact habitat areas in grid cells are refractory to clearance only when all neighbouring cells are also intact. The likelihood of loss increases dramatically as soon as habitat is cleared in just one neighbouring cell, and remains high thereafter. This effect is consistent for forests and grassland, across biogeographic realms and over centuries, constituting a coherent global pattern. Our results show that landscapes become vulnerable to wholesale clearance as soon as threatening processes begin to penetrate, so actions to prevent any incursions into large, intact blocks of natural habitat are key to their long-term persistence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

Extreme contagion in global habitat clearance

et al. 2009

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“…Discordance results firstly from the species sampling that were on the mainland landmass prior to sea level ascend (Gillespie & Roderick, 2002). After fragmenta-tion, this produces an impoverishment (or relaxation) that may be accentuated by subsequent extinction and failure of the species to recolonize (Powell & Wagner, 1993;González, 2000;Desmet & Cowling, 2004). Another factor to explain the hosts/inquiline impoverishment may be related with climatic variations through time, which could affect the composition and occurrence of aquatic insects, dropping the initial diversity to few species with better adaptative plasticity (Gillespie & Roderick, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arthropod gut symbionts from the Balearic Islands: Majorca and Cabrera. Diversity and biogeography

Valle¹,

Santamaria²

2009

Anal. Jard. Bot. Madr.

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“…The method developed by Desmet and Cowling (2004) that is based on the species-area relationship was therefore used to calculate conservation targets for the 12 vegetation types, expressed as the percentage of the original extent of the vegetation type required to represent 80% of the associated species. Ranging between 8% for Clay Grassland and 27% for Norite Koppies Bushveld (Table 2), these conservation targets compare favourably with those recommended in the conservation literature, which range between 12% and 75% (Cowling & Heijnis 2001).…”

Section: Coarse Filter Biodiversity Surrogates Mapping and Target Setmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Gauteng Conservation Plan: Planning for biodiversity in a rapidly urbanising province

et al. 2017

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Background: Gauteng, the smallest of South Africa’s nine provinces, is rich in biodiversity; yet it is also the most densely populated province and thus faces significant development pressures.Objective: A project was therefore initiated in 2001 to identify areas of biodiversity importance in the province, using the systematic spatial biodiversity planning approach that has been adopted in South Africa. This article reports on the final version of the provincial conservation plan as completed in 2011.Method: Vegetation types and quaternary catchments constituted the coarse filter biodiversity features, while rare and threatened taxa constituted the fine filter features. Ecological processes were captured by a range of landscape features, while planning for climate change primarily involved the design of a corridor network. Planning was undertaken within the ArcView linked C-plan decision support system, where a cost surface preferentially directed the selection of available sites towards low-cost areas.Results: Forty-four per cent of the province is required to achieve targets. Only 8% of features are close to having their targets met or are adequately conserved in the current protected area network of 23 protected areas covering 2.4% of the province, while 73% of features are absent or poorly represented.Conclusion: The existing protected area network is inadequate for the conservation of biodiversity in Gauteng. The Gauteng Conservation Plan identifies a set of areas that are required to achieve conservation targets. It is important that identified areas currently not in the protected area network are protected either formally or through legislated land use management processes.

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Using the Species–Area Relationship to Set Baseline Targets for Conservation

Cited by 142 publications

References 77 publications

Extreme contagion in global habitat clearance

Extreme contagion in global habitat clearance

Arthropod gut symbionts from the Balearic Islands: Majorca and Cabrera. Diversity and biogeography

The Gauteng Conservation Plan: Planning for biodiversity in a rapidly urbanising province

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