A multivariate approach to the selection of biological reserves

Multivariate analysis provides an effective context for the examination of some significant aspects of biodiversity and conservation. The framework is a multidimensional space that integrates sample sites, taxa and environments. This approach enables terms such as representativeness, complementarity and irreplaceability to be integrated within an intuitive and practical framework for reserve design. Cluster analysis is proposed to determine what is there by defining a set of complementary clusters. These clusters are sampled in a representative manner; from the core outward. The degree of irreplaceability of a site is defined as the multivariate distance of each potential reserve site to its nearest neighbour.     

黄淮海地区湿地系统生物多样性保护格局构建

以黄淮海地区为研究对象,首先分析了区域现有湿地保护状况,再基于湿地类型、保护状况和目标保护物种分布,综合考虑GDP、人口密度等社会经济因素,以湿地生物多样性保护为目标,运用系统保护规划的理论和方法,以Marxan作为空间优化模型,进行多目标的湿地系统保护预案设计,构建区域湿地不同保护水平的保护空缺和不可替代性格局,确定合理的湿地系统保护格局。研究结果表明:现有的湿地保护体系仅覆盖了区域17%左右的湿地,尚有许多重要生境游离于现有保护区系统外。为完善黄淮海地区湿地保护体系,需要对黄海海区域内28个保护区进行功能区划调整或者保护等级提升,并在山东(5个县)和河北(4个县),河南、江苏和安徽(各3个县),北京和天津(各1个县)等20个县市内建立新的保护区,与现有湿地保护系统有机整合,最终形成一个黄淮海地区湿地生物保护网络合理格局。结果表明:同其他相关研究方法对比,系统保护规划方法在区域大尺度生物多样性保护方面更具有意义;同时也表明该方法在中国的应用前景广阔。     

系统保护规划和不可代替性分析在区域规划中的应用

在区域规划中应该把保护和发展密切结合起来,才能为实施可持续发展战略奠定基础。遵循系统保护规划和不可代替性分析的观点,内蒙古克 什克腾旗应该建立10个不同类型的保护区,并与有关部门和社区实施共同管理,建设成为一个可持续发展的示范基地。     

Conservation of Neotropical carnivores under different prioritization scenarios: mapping species traits to minimize conservation conflicts

Aim To define priority sets of ecoregions that should be sufficiently covered in a reserve system to represent all Neotropical carnivores (Mammalia: Carnivora) under three distinct conservation scenarios. Location The Neotropical region. Methods We used broad‐scale biogeographical data of species distribution to define priority sets of ecoregions for conservation of carnivores and mapped four species traits (phylogenetic diversity, body size, rarity and extinction risk), which were used as constraints in prioritization analyses, based on the complementarity concept. We proposed three scenarios: a very vulnerable one, one of species persistence and another of lower human impact. We used the simulated annealing algorithm to generate ecoregion‐irreplaceability pattern and to find the combinations of ecoregions in each conservation scenario. Results We found that only 8% of Neotropical ecoregions are needed to represent all 64 carnivore species at least once. Rain forest ecoregions harbour a greater amount of carnivore phylogenetic diversity, whereas the tropical Andes hold large‐bodied carnivores. Western and southern Neotropical ecoregions have more rare species as well as higher threat levels. In the lower human‐impact set, 12 ecoregions were needed to represent all species. These coincide only partially with those attained by other prioritization scenarios. In the very vulnerable and in the species persistence scenario, 14 and 12 ecoregions were represented, respectively, and the congruence between either one and the lower human‐impact set was fairly low. Shared ecoregions are located in Mexico, Costa Rica, northern Amazon and western Chile. Main conclusions Our results highlight areas of particular interest for the conservation of Neotropical carnivores. The inclusion of evolutionary and ecological traits in conservation assessments and planning helps to improve reserve networks and therefore to increase the effectiveness of proposed priority sets. We suggest that conservation action in the highlighted areas is likely to yield the best return of investments at the ecoregion scale.     

BIODIVERSITY RESEARCH: Conserving macroinvertebrate diversity in headwater streams: the importance of knowing the relative contributions of α and β diversity

Aim We investigated partitioning of aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity in eight headwater streams to determine the relative contributions of α and β diversity to γ diversity, and the scale dependence of α and β components. Location Great Dividing Range, Victoria, Australia. Methods We used the method of Jost (Ecology, 2007, 88, 2427–2439) to partition γ diversity into its α and β components. We undertook the analyses at both reach and catchment scales to explore whether inferences depended on scale of observation. Results We hypothesized that β diversity would make a large contribution to the γ diversity of macroinvertebrates in our dendritic riverine landscape, particularly at the larger spatial scale (among catchments) because of limited dispersal among sites and especially among catchments. However, reaches each had relatively high taxon richness and high α diversity, while β diversity made only a small contribution to γ diversity at both the reach and catchment scales. Main conclusions Dendritic riverine landscapes have been thought to generate high β diversity as a consequence of limited dispersal and high heterogeneity among individual streams, but this may not hold for all headwater stream systems. Here, α diversity was high and β diversity low, with individual headwater stream reaches each containing a large portion of γ diversity. Thus, each stream could be considered to have low irreplaceability since losing the option to use one of these sites in a representative reserve network does not greatly diminish the options available for completing the reserve network. Where limited information on individual taxonomic distributions is available, or time and money for modelling approaches are limited, diversity partitioning may provide a useful ‘first‐cut’ for obtaining information about the irreplaceability of individual streams or subcatchments when establishing representative freshwater reserves.     

基于不可替代性的青海省三江源地区保护区功能区划研究

具有代表性、灵活性、综合性的保护区功能区划指标是决定区域划分合理与否的关键因素。不可替代性是近年来引入生物多样性保护规划的新概念,表达一个规划单元在实现整体保护目标中的重要性,能够反映生物多样性保护价值的空间分异规律,将其与人类活动干扰指数结合,可以在划分不同值域与功能分区之间建立联系。在系统保护规划框架下,首先根据三江源生物多样性特征确定了研究区域的指示物种和优先保护生态系统,然后结合物种生境特性,利用地理信息系统（GIS）技术进行了指示物种潜在分布范围预测,最后借助生物多样性保护规划软件（C-Plan）计算了三江源地区不可替代性指数,结合人类活动干扰进行了功能区划分,并对比了现有功能区划与新功能区划的贡献率。研究结果表明,不可替代性较高区域与原核心区空间分布基本一致（包括东部中铁、军功、麦秀森林灌丛区;西部索加、曲麻莱湖泊湿地区,高寒草甸区;北部扎陵湖、鄂陵湖、星星海湿地区;及南部玉树、囊谦森林灌丛区,当曲沼泽湿地区）;在保护区总面积未增加条件下,基于不可替代性的新功能区划较原功能区划的保护贡献率及保护效率有显著提高,核心区保护贡献率由61.20%增长到71.21%,新核心区 缓冲区总贡献率由77.57%增长到92.45%,保护区整体贡献率由91.20%增长到95.40%;从保护对象被保护情况看,新功能区划与原功能区划均能完全涵盖所有保护对象,但新功能区所包含的满足保护目标的保护对象明显增多,原功能区核心区,核心区 缓冲区,核心区 缓冲区 实验区完全实现目标的保护对象分别占27.50%,47.50%和80%,新功能区分别为32.50%,77.50%和87.50%（新功能区划下,只有苔草草甸、冰川雪山、湖泊3种生态系统类型和盘羊、黑颈鹤两个动物物种未达到保护目标）。在本研究基础上,讨论了该研究的意义、方法评价及现实问题,并提出三江源自然保护区功能区划调整建议：1）结合实际情况,基于不可替代性和人类活动的功能区划对现功能区划进行适当调整以增加保护区的保护贡献率;2）对于缓冲区中保护价值较高、人类活动干扰又较强的区域应进行严格的管理,制定完善的管理策略,避免因人类活动引起生物多样性丧失;3）鉴于当地经济发展需求,可以考虑在本研究确定的实验区及其外围开展水电站与矿产开发项目,但必须考虑开发项目对周围水域、植被及居民的影响。以期为三江源自然保护区功能区划的调整及资源开发提供参考,对三江源生物多样性的保护具有重要意义。     

基于系统保护规划的三江平原湿地保护网络体系优化

综合三江平原湿地不同层次、不同维度的生物多样性特征,在系统保护规划方法(Systematic Conservation Planning,SCP)框架下,以集水区为规划单元,计算研究区域不可替代性指数,确定高保护价值网络体系,通过保护空缺分析对现有保护网络进行优化,并评估优化体系的有效性。结果表明:三江平原湿地高保护价值区域的分布呈现沿河流分布的特点;现有保护区中湖泊和目标物种的保护状态比较好;保护网络体系优化后,沼泽湿地在保护网络中的比重由22.88%重增加到50%以上;河流湿地由16.20%增加到33.92%;地下水资源在现有保护网络中的比重非常低,仅为2.01%,优化后保护网络中保护比重增加到12.05%,因此在今后的保护区规划中,应该重视对地下水资源的保护和管理。另外本研究结合生态脆弱性对高保护价值的空缺设计3个情景方案,并根据生态威胁的种类和强度提出各优先保护方案的保护建议,为保护管理决策提供依据。     

Ensemble models predict Important Bird Areas in southern Africa will become less effective for conserving endemic birds under climate change

Aim  To examine the impacts of climate change on endemic birds, which are of global significance for conservation, on a continent with few such assessments. We specifically assess projected range changes in relation to the Important Bird Areas (IBAs) network and assess the possible consequences for conservation.
Location  South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.
Methods  The newly emerging ensemble modelling approach is used with 50 species, four climate change models for the period 2070–2100 and eight bioclimatic niche models in the statistical package biomod . Model evaluation is done using the receiver operating characteristic and the recently introduced true skill statistic. Future projections are made considering two extreme assumptions: species have full dispersal ability and species have no dispersal ability. A consensus forecast is identified using principal components analysis. This forecast is interpreted in terms of the IBA network. An irreplaceability analysis is used to highlight priority IBAs for conservation attention in terms of climate change.
Results  The majority of species (62%) are predicted to lose climatically suitable space. Five species lose at least 85% of their climatically suitable space. Many IBAs lose species (41%; 47 IBAs) and show high rates of species turnover of more than 50% (77%; 95 IBAs). Highly irreplaceable regions for endemic species become highly localized under climate change, meaning that the endemic species analysed here experience similar range contractions to maintain climate niches.
Main conclusions  The South African IBAs network is likely to become less effective for conserving endemic birds under climate change. The irreplaceability analysis identified key refugia for endemic species under climate change, but many of these areas are not currently IBAs. In addition, many of these high-priority areas that are IBAs fall outside the current formal protected areas network.     

Management options for river conservation planning: condition and conservation re-visited

1. Systematic conservation planning is a process widely used in terrestrial and marine environments. A principal goal is to establish a network of protected areas representing the full variety of species or ecosystems. We suggest considering three key attributes of a catchment when planning for aquatic conservation: irreplaceability, condition and vulnerability. 2. Based on observed and modelled distributions of 367 invertebrates in the Australian state of Victoria, conservation value was measured by calculating an irreplaceability coefficient for 1854 subcatchments. Irreplaceability indicates the likelihood of any subcatchment being needed to achieve conservation targets. We estimated it with a bootstrapped heuristic reserve design algorithm, which included upstream–downstream connectivity rules. The selection metric within the algorithm was total summed rarity, corrected for protected area. 3. Condition was estimated using a stressor gradient approach in which two classes of geographical information system Layers were summarised using principal components analysis. The first class was disturbance measures such as nutrient and sediment budgets, salinisation and weed cover. The second class was land use layers, including classes of forestry, agricultural and urban use. The main gradient, explaining 56% of the variation, could be characterised as agricultural disturbance. Seventy‐five per cent of the study area was classified as disturbed. 4. Our definition of vulnerability was the likelihood of a catchment being exposed to a land use that degrades its condition. This was estimated by comparing land capability and current land use. If land was capable of supporting a land use that would have a more degrading effect on a river than its current tenure, it was classified vulnerable (66% of the study area). 79% of catchments contained more then 50% vulnerable land. 5. When integrating the three measures, two major groups of catchments requiring urgent conservation measures were identified. Seven per cent of catchments were highly irreplaceable, highly vulnerable but in degraded condition. These catchments were flagged for restoration. While most highly irreplaceable catchments in good condition were already protected, 2.5% of catchments in this category are on vulnerable land. These are priority areas for assigning river reserves.     

Geographical ecology and conservation of Eugenia L. (Myrtaceae) in the Brazilian Cerrado: Past,present and future

Human actions have caused the fragmentation of natural vegetation, habitat loss and climate change. The Cerrado, considered one of the global hotspots of diversity, has suffered great habitat loss due to these factors, which has been aggravated by the agricultural expansion that took place during the last 60 years. In this context, we chose species of the genus Eugenia L. (Myrtaceae) occurring in the Brazilian Cerrado to describe richness patterns and range loss, and determine conservation priorities for the Cerrado. Ecological niche models (ENMs) were applied to calculate the geographical range of each species in the past (Last Glacial Maximum – LGM, 21 000 years ago), present (PIP, representing current climatic conditions – 1760 years ago) and future (near future – NF, 2080–2100). These results were combined to calculate the richness of the group and also to estimate the range loss of these species in the future. Moreover, we evaluated the irreplaceability of areas for species conservation, aiming to maximize the biotic stability of Eugenia species. Our results showed that the highest species richness in the past was found in the southwestern region of the Cerrado and, currently, the richest regions are found in the central and southeastern areas. However, in the future, we predict a shift of the greatest values of richness towards the southeastern region, an area currently occupied by the Atlantic forest. Although areas with high conservation priorities were found scattered across the biome, this shift is worrisome due to the high fragmentation rate and intensive human occupation thoughout the Atlantic region. Thus, conservation efforts should focus on areas found within these limits.