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Applying population & community ecology to conservation decision…
Applying population &
community ecology to
conservation decision-making
Components of conservation decision making
Goal: overarching + broad
intent of what management or conservation needs to achieve
Often so broad that we have no idea what to do + how to do it
Quantifiable objective: quantitative + time-bound
Needs a quantitative expression of a species objective
Maxwell et al 2015. Being smart about SMART environmental targets. ScienceTear et al. 2005. How much is enough? The recurrent problem of settingmeasurable objectives in conservation. Bioscience 55, 835-849. = Engaging with SDG negotiation process to meet environmental targets
Threats: what is stressing the system?
Identifying threats is important – where do certain factors impact biodiversity (ecosystems, communities, species, populations
Reyers, B. (2004). "Incorporating anthropogenic threats into evaluations of regional biodiversity and prioritisation of conservation areas in the Limpopo Province, South Africa." Biological Conservation 118(4): 521-531.
= the threats of land-usage in High altitude Savannah areas leads to prioritisation to conserve that biodiversity, whereas low groud Savannah are already well conserved due to lack of land use
Tulloch, V. J., et al. (2015). "Why do we map threats? Linking threat mapping with actions to make better conservation decisions." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 13(2): 91-99
Current condition: Is it healthy?
Condition or health of ecosystems/ species/ populations is not always obvious
Lunney, D., et al. (2011). "Turning the spotlight onto the conservation of Australian batsand the extinction of the Christmas Island Pipistrelle."
= Extinction of bats on Christmas island Pipistrella, brings to mind how research on individual species + ecosystems, which they dwell is required to underpin management actions.
Brown, M. G. and J. E. Quinn (2018). "Zoning does not improve the availability of ecosystem services in urban watersheds. A case study from Upstate South Carolina, USA." Ecosystem Services 34: 254-265.
= Cities are not bad, just poor management decision due to construction cites. Zoning is the best option.
Actions: What can we do about it?
Can we actually do something to manage the species/ threat/ issue (e.g. protected areas like a boardwalk)
Van Erp, G. and D. Rogers (2008). A highly sustainable fibre composite building panel. Proceedings of the international workshop on fibre composites in civil infrastructure–past, present and future.
= CarbonLoc structure for North Stradbroke island emplaced for pedestrians over a sensitive ecosystem
CaraDonna, P. J., et al. (2017). "Interaction rewiring and the rapid turnover of plant–pollinator networks." Ecology letters 20(3): 385-394.
= Example of Plant-pollinator interactions: week-to-week in turnover of interactions: high, followed consistent seasonal progression + dominated by interaction rewiring
Linking action to condition: How does it work?
Twidwell, D., et al. (2013). "National‐scale assessment of ecological content in the world's largest land management framework." Ecosphere 4(8): 1-27.
= Can be highly subjective, inconsistent in design + application, ESD not shown to not be effective shifting ecosystem management to long- term practices to modern scientific ecological theory.
IUCN redlist of species
Population ecology approaches= ideal way to assess species trajectories
How do we know a species is threatened ?
Most species are not assessed or data deficient
Data deficient species might actually be threatened
Jarić, I., et al. (2017). "Science responses to IUCN Red Listing." PeerJ 5: e4025.
= Data deficient and Cristically Endanagered are put into 2 groups and research priorities are assessed. To increase conservation research focus you need international science planning, also funded by finance.
Butchart, S. H. M., et al. (2004). "Measuring Global Trends in the Status of Biodiversity: Red List Indices for Birds." PLOS Biology 2(12): e383.
Population ecology in conservation
Species specific management informed by population ecology
For species management, we can apply actions to improve or reduce any of the vital rates, Growth, Fecundity or survival
Overpopulation
Masters, P., et al. (2004). "Koalas on Kangaroo Island: from introduction to pest status in less than a century." Wildlife Research 31(3): 267-272.
Invasive species
Wood, L., et al. (2021). "Options for the control of Dikerogammarus villosus (killer shrimp) and other invasive amphipods: Invasive Amphipod Control." Management of Biological Invasions 12.
Community ecology in conservation
Communities = lots of species
Different ways of picking
representative organisms
Flagship: cool species
Home, R., et al. (2009). "Selection criteria for flagship species by conservation organizations." Environmental Conservation 36(2): 139-148
unattractive species rarely attract funding, carefully selected flagships to represent their ecosystems
Focal: species we care about
Indicator: quick responders to impact
Keystone: important, e.g. otters
Umbrella: = surrogate spp (Subsets of species which are ‘representative’ of multiple species or aspects of the environment -Overarching term for spp that
represent others)
Meurant, M., et al. (2018). "Selecting surrogate species for connectivity conservation." Biological Conservation 227: 326-334.
Selecting the habitat to conserve that has the high number of species. However found that species based surrogates are shown to be more effective than habitat. The sub technique movement diversity is found to be more effective
Biodiversity assessments for multiple species: environmental DNA (eDNA)
eDNA
Environmental DNA is “genetic material obtained directly from environmental samples (soil, sediment, water) without any obvious signs of biological source material”, Thomsen and Willerslav, 2015)
Spatial Planning for Species
Communities
Steps in the systematic planning process
Pressey and Bottrill 2008
Conservation decision science
transparent, objective-driven decisions for natural resource management that considers the needs of both species/ecosystems and people for effective management
Basic principles
Goals/ objectives need to be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable,
realistic, time-bound)
Actions/ interventions exist
Ecological relevance
Human context
Efficient (limited by a budget)
criteria to identify areas in space
Adequacy = sufficient amount of
Representation = Replicate the environment in the protect areas, stop damage happening to that area
Efficient= Small adjustment, compromisies from human activities must be relocated
Complementarity = sites that converse all the species combined
Spatial management: decide WHERE to implement a certain management type
Marxan – a decision support tool
Marxan is the world’s most used software to help users with complex spatial planning
key is to minimise cost and represent all species
Andersson, K., et al. (2013). "Green infrastructures and intensive forestry: Need and opportunity for spatial planning in a Swedish rural–urban gradient." Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 28(2): 143-165.
= Modelling the forestry landscapes in Sweden. Looking into the green infrastructure areas and forestry, analysing the conflict between urban and rural areas. Also anakysing the species-specific habitats at landscape scale.
