Multi-Action Planning for Threat Management: A Novel Approach for the Spatial Prioritization of Conservation Actions
Author(s)
Cattarino, L
Hermoso, V
Carwardine, J
Kennard, MJ
Linke, S
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Planning for the remediation of multiple threats is crucial to ensure the long term persistence of biodiversity. Limited conservation budgets require prioritizing which management actions to implement and where. Systematic conservation planning traditionally assumes that all the threats in priority sites are abated (fixed prioritization approach). However, abating only the threats affecting the species of conservation concerns may be more cost-effective. This requires prioritizing individual actions independently within the same site (independent prioritization approach), which has received limited attention so far. We developed an action prioritization algorithm that prioritizes multiple alternative actions within the same site. We used simulated annealing to find the combination of actions that remediate threats to species at the minimum cost. Our algorithm also accounts for the importance of selecting actions in sites connected through the river network (i.e., connectivity). We applied our algorithm to prioritize actions to address threats to freshwater fish species in the Mitchell River catchment, northern Australia. We compared how the efficiency of the independent and fixed prioritization approach varied as the importance of connectivity increased. Our independent prioritization approach delivered more efficient solutions than the fixed prioritization approach, particularly when the importance of achieving connectivity was high. By spatially prioritizing the specific actions necessary to remediate the threats affecting the target species, our approach can aid cost-effective habitat restoration and land-use planning. It is also particularly suited to solving resource allocation problems, where consideration of spatial design is important, such as prioritizing conservation efforts for highly mobile species, species facing climate change-driven range shifts, or minimizing the risk of threats spreading across different realms.
Date Issued
2015-05-28
Date Acceptance
2015-04-21
Citation
PLOS One, 2015, 10 (5)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Journal / Book Title
PLOS One
Volume
10
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Cattarino et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Subjects
Algorithms
Animal Distribution
Animals
Australia
Climate Change
Conservation of Natural Resources
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Decision Making
Endangered Species
Fishes
Rivers
General Science & Technology
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e0128027