Journal ArticleDOI
What to do in the face of multiple threats? Incorporating dependencies within a return on investment framework for conservation
Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
In this paper, the authors focused on the management of the European red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) at two spatial scales: across 72 biogeographic regions of Australia and within one high-priority biogeographical region.Abstract:
Aim Our study aimed to determine priority areas for conservation investment with explicit consideration of the impacts of multiple threatening processes, and the dependencies that exist between actions required to abate these threats. Location Australia. Methods We analysed the return on investment for two different management actions aimed at reducing the impact of invasive species on the native fauna and flora of Australia. We focussed on the management of the European red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) at two spatial scales: across 72 biogeographic regions of Australia and within one high-priority biogeographic region. We considered each action independently and also explicitly accounted for the option of an integrated fox and rabbit management action. We accounted for the spatial distributions of the threatened species within our analysis and determined how this refined spatial information influenced both the priority areas and the timing of this investment. Results Integrated fox and rabbit management was identified as a higher priority than singular threat abatement in most bioregions, whereas rabbit control alone was the most frequent priority if dependencies between actions were ignored. At the regional scale, funding was entirely directed to integrated action when seven or more species within the priority region were impacted by more than one threat. The total allocation of funding and timing of initial investment remained relatively insensitive to differences in the spatial overlap of species distributions. Main conclusions Our findings indicate that prioritizing conservation actions without explicit consideration of the impacts of multiple threats can reduce the cost-effectiveness of investments. The benefits expected from investment in abating one threat alone may be overestimated where other processes continue to threaten species persistence. We conclude that future attention should be directed to refining our understanding of the cost-efficiencies delivered through integrated actions and institutional mechanisms to achieve their delivery. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Species Diversity in Space and Time
Journal ArticleDOI
Joint analysis of stressors and ecosystem services to enhance restoration effectiveness
J. David Allan,Peter B. McIntyre,Sigrid D. P. Smith,Benjamin S. Halpern,Gregory L. Boyer,Andy Buchsbaum,G. A. Burton,G. A. Burton,Linda M. Campbell,W. Lindsay Chadderton,Jan J. H. Ciborowski,Patrick J. Doran,Tim Eder,Dana M. Infante,Lucinda B. Johnson,Christine A. Joseph,Adrienne L. Marino,Alexander A. Prusevich,Jennifer Read,Joan B. Rose,Edward S. Rutherford,Scott P. Sowa,Alan D. Steinman +22 more
TL;DR: Joint spatial analysis of stressors and ecosystem services can provide a critical foundation for maximizing social and ecological benefits from restoration investments and find that many important areas for fisheries and recreation are subject to high stress, indicating that ecosystem degradation could be threatening key services.
Journal ArticleDOI
Why do we map threats? Linking threat mapping with actions to make better conservation decisions
Vivitskaia J. D. Tulloch,Ayesha I. T. Tulloch,Ayesha I. T. Tulloch,Piero Visconti,Benjamin S. Halpern,Benjamin S. Halpern,James E. M. Watson,James E. M. Watson,Megan C. Evans,Nancy A. Auerbach,Megan Barnes,Maria Beger,Iadine Chadès,Sylvaine Giakoumi,Eve McDonald-Madden,Eve McDonald-Madden,Nicholas J. Murray,Nicholas J. Murray,Nicholas J. Murray,Jeremy Ringma,Hugh P. Possingham,Hugh P. Possingham +21 more
TL;DR: It is shown that threat mapping can be a useful tool when incorporated within a transparent and repeatable structured decision-making (SDM) process that ensures transparent and defendable conservation decisions by linking objectives to biodiversity outcomes, and by considering constraints, consequences of actions, and uncertainty.
Journal ArticleDOI
Scale mismatches, conservation planning, and the value of social-network analyses.
Angela M. Guerrero,Angela M. Guerrero,Ryan R. J. McAllister,Jonathan Corcoran,Kerrie A. Wilson +4 more
TL;DR: An understanding of the social networks associated with conservation planning will help determine the potential for implementing conservation actions at the required scales and social-network analyses can be used to explore whether these networks constrain or enable key social processes and how multiple scales of action are linked.
Journal ArticleDOI
A global assessment of current and future biodiversity vulnerability to habitat loss–climate change interactions
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present the first global assessment of current and potential future impacts on biodiversity of a habitat loss and fragmentation-climate change (HLF-CC) interaction, finding that recent climate change is likely (probability > 66%) to have exacerbated the impacts of HLF in 120 (18.5%) ecoregions, containing over half of all known terrestrial amphibian, bird, mammal, and reptile species.
References
More filters
Book
Species Diversity in Space and Time
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a hierarchical dynamic puzzle to understand the relationship between habitat diversity and species diversity and the evolution of the relationships between habitats diversity and diversity in evolutionary time.
Journal ArticleDOI
A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas
TL;DR: The articles in this special feature challenge the presumption that scholars can make simple, predictive models of social–ecological systems (SESs) and deduce universal solutions, panaceas, to problems of overuse or destruction of resources.
Journal ArticleDOI
Synergies among extinction drivers under global change.
Barry W. Brook,Navjot S. Sodhi,Corey J. A. Bradshaw,Corey J. A. Bradshaw,Corey J. A. Bradshaw +4 more
TL;DR: Estimates of extinction risk for most species are more severe than previously recognised and conservation actions which only target single-threat drivers risk being inadequate because of the cascading effects caused by unmanaged synergies.
Journal ArticleDOI
The need for evidence-based conservation
TL;DR: A format for web-based databases that could provide the required information in accessible form is suggested that is a major problem for conservationists and requires a rethinking of the manner in which conservation operates.
Journal ArticleDOI
Money for nothing? A call for empirical evaluation of biodiversity conservation investments.
TL;DR: The field of conservation policy must adopt state-of-the-art program evaluation methods to determine what works, and when, if it is to stem the global decline of biodiversity and improve the effectiveness of conservation investments.
Related Papers (5)
A Global Map of Human Impact on Marine Ecosystems
Benjamin S. Halpern,Shaun Walbridge,Kimberly A. Selkoe,Kimberly A. Selkoe,Carrie V. Kappel,Fiorenza Micheli,Caterina D'Agrosa,Caterina D'Agrosa,John F. Bruno,Kenneth S. Casey,Colin M. Ebert,Helen E. Fox,Rod Fujita,Dennis Heinemann,Hunter S. Lenihan,Elizabeth M. P. Madin,Matthew T. Perry,Elizabeth R. Selig,Elizabeth R. Selig,Mark Spalding,Robert S. Steneck,Reg Watson +21 more