Evaluating trade-offs between target persistence levels and numbers of species conserved
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A focus of conservation planning is to maximize the probability of species persistence, but this may reduce the number of species that can be secured with a limited budget. Using a data set of 700 New Zealand species, we examine the trade-off between providing a high level of persistence for some species and a lower level of persistence for more species. We find that the target persistence level that delivers the highest conservation outcome is a function of the annual budget, such that lower budgets have lower optimal targets. However, it is never optimal to manage species below a 75% probability of persistence. We introduce a prioritization approach that maximizes biodiversity gains based on a flexible persistence target, and demonstrate how strategies with fixed high-persistence targets can be inefficient. We also illustrate the risks in spreading conservation resources too thinly by undertaking low levels of management on more species.
Date Issued
2015-07-14
Date Acceptance
2015-04-22
Citation
Conservation Letters, 2015, 9 (1), pp.51-57
ISSN
1755-263X
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
51
End Page
57
Journal / Book Title
Conservation Letters
Volume
9
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2015 The Authors.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Biodiversity Conservation
Biodiversity & Conservation
Conservation planning
persistence
prioritization
resource allocation
target-setting
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION
PHYLOGENETIC DIVERSITY
PRIORITIES
METAANALYSIS
POPULATIONS
OBJECTIVES
MODELS
SIZE
Ecology
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published