Prioritizing species for conservation planning |
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Authors: | Anni Arponen |
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Institution: | (1) Metapopulation Research Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65, 00014 Helsinki, Finland |
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Abstract: | The efforts to protect biological diversity must be prioritized because resources for nature conservation are limited. Conservation
prioritization can be based on numerous criteria, from ecological integrity to species representation, but in this review
I address only species-level prioritization. Criteria used for species prioritization range from aesthetical to evolutionary
considerations, but I focus on the aspects that are biologically relevant. I distinguish between two main aspects of diversity
that are used as objectives: Maintenance of biodiversity pattern, and maintenance of biodiversity process. I identify two
additional criteria typically used in species prioritization that serve for achieving the objectives: The species’ need of
protection, and cost and effectiveness of conservation actions. I discuss how these criteria could be combined with either
of the objectives in a complementarity-based benefit function framework for conservation prioritization. But preserving evolutionary
process versus current diversity pattern may turn out to be conflicting objectives that have to be traded-off with each other,
if pursued simultaneously. Although many reasonable criteria and methods exist, species prioritization is hampered by uncertainties,
most of which stem from the poor quality of data on what species exist, where they occur, and what are the costs and benefits
of protecting them. Surrogate measures would be extremely useful but their performance is still largely unknown. Future challenges
in species prioritization lie in finding ways to compensate for missing information. |
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