A flexible tool to prioritize areas for conservation combining landscape units, measures of biodiversity, and threats

Expanding the reserve system is a key strategy to enhance biodiversity protection. Yet, conservation outcomes can be undermined by underrepresentation of some habitats and opportunistic placement of protected areas. Irreplaceability and vulnerability, the key principles of conservation, should thus be combined within a bioregionalization framework to implement protection in the habitats that most need it. We proposed a simple and flexible method to prioritize bioregions for conservation based on these principles and used it to rank the 85 bioregions of the Australian continent. To do so, we quantified biodiversity values and threats in each bioregion by gathering open‐access data on species, landscapes, and land use. Bioregions were then ranked using a set of customizable scenarios, including ecologically meaningful combinations of measures of irreplaceability and vulnerability. To identify biodiverse areas under threat but potentially overlooked, we compared our results with the location of already established biodiversity hotspots (i.e., areas identified as important for biodiversity and under threat). We found that bioregions with the highest biodiversity values are predominantly located in the southwest, east, and north of the continent. Similarly, threats, particularly land clearance, are concentrated along the east coast and in the southwest. When ranking bioregions using scenarios including both threats and biodiversity values, the majority (75%) of the highest‐ranking bioregions were already included in biodiversity hotspots. For five of these bioregions, the proportion of protected land to date still falls below the 17% recommended by the Convention on Biological Diversity and thus they likely require prompt prioritization and intervention. The method proposed can support ongoing monitoring and prioritization of land units for conservation. Its simplicity and flexibility mean it can be easily adopted for different areas and adjusted to local priorities.

[1]  Jennifer C. Merriman,et al.  Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs): the development and characteristics of a global inventory of key sites for biodiversity , 2018, Bird Conservation International.

[2]  Barry W. Brook,et al.  Nature’s untold stories: an overview on the availability and type of on-line data on long-term biodiversity monitoring , 2018, Biodiversity and Conservation.

[3]  Hugh P Possingham,et al.  Bias in protected‐area location and its effects on long‐term aspirations of biodiversity conventions , 2018, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[4]  J. L. Gittleman,et al.  Reductions in global biodiversity loss predicted from conservation spending , 2017, Nature.

[5]  D. Bowman,et al.  Collaborative Research on the Ecology and Management of the ‘Wulo’ Monsoon Rainforest in Wunambal Gaambera Country, North Kimberley, Australia , 2017 .

[6]  C. Packer,et al.  Future threats to biodiversity and pathways to their prevention , 2017, Nature.

[7]  David C. Smith,et al.  Australia state of the environment 2016: overview , 2017 .

[8]  J. Walsh,et al.  Invasive species triggers a massive loss of ecosystem services through a trophic cascade , 2016, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[9]  Naruemon Tantipisanuh,et al.  Biodiversity gap analysis of the protected area system of the Indo-Burma Hotspot and priorities for increasing biodiversity representation , 2016 .

[10]  B. Bryan,et al.  Scenarios for Australian agricultural production and land use to 2050 , 2016 .

[11]  Drew W. Purves,et al.  Evaluating the combined effects of climate and land-use change on tree species distributions , 2015 .

[12]  J. Overton,et al.  Vital sites and actions: an integrated framework for prioritizing conservation actions and reporting achievement , 2015 .

[13]  Nicolas Bailly,et al.  A Higher Level Classification of All Living Organisms , 2015, PloS one.

[14]  Brendan A. Wintle,et al.  Is my species distribution model fit for purpose? Matching data and models to applications , 2015 .

[15]  R. A. Pyron,et al.  Large-scale phylogenetic analyses reveal the causes of high tropical amphibian diversity , 2013, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

[16]  R. Kingsford,et al.  Amphibian Chytrid Prevalence in an Amphibian Community in Arid Australia , 2013, EcoHealth.

[17]  Matthew J. Smith,et al.  The Effects of Sampling Bias and Model Complexity on the Predictive Performance of MaxEnt Species Distribution Models , 2013, PloS one.

[18]  J. Thompson,et al.  Quantifying habitat vulnerability to assess species priorities for conservation management , 2013 .

[19]  Jocelyn L. Aycrigg,et al.  Representation of Ecological Systems within the Protected Areas Network of the Continental United States , 2013, PloS one.

[20]  M. Araújo,et al.  Additive threats from pathogens, climate and land-use change for global amphibian diversity , 2011, Nature.

[21]  Hadley Wickham,et al.  The Split-Apply-Combine Strategy for Data Analysis , 2011 .

[22]  W. Bond,et al.  Beyond the forest edge: Ecology, diversity and conservation of the grassy biomes , 2010 .

[23]  D. Driscoll,et al.  The distribution and host range of the pandemic disease chytridiomycosis in Australia, spanning surveys from 1956–2007 , 2010 .

[24]  P. Daszak,et al.  The ecology and impact of chytridiomycosis: an emerging disease of amphibians. , 2010, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[25]  Paul Beier,et al.  Use of Land Facets to Plan for Climate Change: Conserving the Arenas, Not the Actors , 2010, Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology.

[26]  L. Joppa,et al.  High and Far: Biases in the Location of Protected Areas , 2009, PloS one.

[27]  A. Dobson,et al.  Projected Impacts of Climate and Land-Use Change on the Global Diversity of Birds , 2007, PLoS biology.

[28]  T. Brooks,et al.  Global Biodiversity Conservation Priorities , 2006, Science.

[29]  W. Thuiller,et al.  Predicting species distribution: offering more than simple habitat models. , 2005, Ecology letters.

[30]  Kevin J. Gaston,et al.  Capturing biodiversity: selecting priority areas for conservation using different criteria , 2005, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[31]  T. Ricketts,et al.  Confronting a biome crisis: global disparities of habitat loss and protection , 2004 .

[32]  W. Darwall,et al.  Key Biodiversity Areas as Site Conservation Targets , 2004 .

[33]  Matthew E. Watts,et al.  Global Gap Analysis: Priority Regions for Expanding the Global Protected-Area Network , 2004 .

[34]  Belinda Reyers,et al.  Incorporating anthropogenic threats into evaluations of regional biodiversity and prioritisation of conservation areas in the Limpopo Province, South Africa , 2004 .

[35]  T. Brooks,et al.  Protected Areas and Species , 2004 .

[36]  Andrew J. Hamer,et al.  Amphibian decline and fertilizers used on agricultural land in south-eastern Australia , 2004 .

[37]  Matthew E. Watts,et al.  Effectiveness of the global protected area network in representing species diversity , 2004, Nature.

[38]  Denis White,et al.  INTEGRATING REPRESENTATION AND VULNERABILITY: TWO APPROACHES FOR PRIORITIZING AREAS FOR CONSERVATION , 2003 .

[39]  Robert L. Pressey,et al.  The expert or the algorithm?—comparison of priority conservation areas in the Cape Floristic Region identified by park managers and reserve selection software , 2003 .

[40]  Carlos Carroll,et al.  A Multicriteria Assessment of the Irreplaceability and Vulnerability of Sites in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem , 2002 .

[41]  R. L. Pressey,et al.  Representing biodiversity: Data and procedures for identifying priority areas for conservation , 2002, Journal of Biosciences.

[42]  R. L. Pressey,et al.  Persistence and vulnerability: Retaining biodiversity in the landscape and in protected areas , 2002, Journal of Biosciences.

[43]  Robert L. Pressey,et al.  Scheduling conservation action in production landscapes: priority areas in western New South Wales defined by irreplaceability and vulnerability to vegetation loss , 2001 .

[44]  Robert K. Colwell,et al.  Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness , 2001 .

[45]  Jeremy Russell-Smith,et al.  Fire ecology and Aboriginal land management in central Arnhem Land, northern Australia: a tradition of ecosystem management , 2001 .

[46]  P. Raven,et al.  Biodiversity: Extinction by numbers , 2000, Nature.

[47]  R. Mittermeier,et al.  Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities , 2000, Nature.

[48]  L. Fahrig,et al.  Effect of road traffic on amphibian density , 1995 .

[49]  I. R. Johnson,et al.  Shades of irreplaceability: towards a measure of the contribution of sites to a reservation goal , 1994, Biodiversity & Conservation.

[50]  I. Zonneveld,et al.  The land unit — A fundamental concept in landscape ecology, and its applications , 1989, Landscape Ecology.

[51]  Ailene K. Ettinger,et al.  Global change and local solutions: Tapping the unrealized potential of citizen science for biodiversity research , 2015 .

[52]  R Core Team,et al.  R: A language and environment for statistical computing. , 2014 .

[53]  Thomas M. Brooks,et al.  Global Biodiversity Conservation: The Critical Role of Hotspots , 2011 .

[54]  Matthew E. Watts,et al.  Marxan and relatives: Software for spatial conservation prioritization , 2009 .

[55]  R. Randall,et al.  The introduced flora of Australia and its weed status. , 2007 .

[56]  Christopher N. Johnson.  Australia's Mammal Extinctions: A 50,000-Year History , 2006 .

[57]  D. Theobald,et al.  Incorporating biological information in local land-use decision making: designing a system for conservation planning , 2004, Landscape Ecology.