Testing conservation planning tools: Novel techniques for local-scale effort

With a rapidly growing human population exerting pressure on the planet's natural resources, the loss of species and degradation of natural habitats has accelerated at an unprecedented rate. To aid in stemming this unparalleled loss of biodiversity, the field of conservation planning emerged in the early 1980s. The goal of conservation planning is to identify areas of importance for biological diversity and ecological processes so that if these areas were protected, the processes and biodiversity in them would remain functioning into perpetuity. In this series of studies common conservation planning tools are investigated for use in local-scale efforts. Specifically, how the type of species distribution data (occurrence vs. predicted), the method (richness mapping vs. systematic conservation planning), the surrogate group (using mammals as a case study), and the conservation goals impact the spatial design and effectiveness of the product (proposed reserves) are explored. In addition, novel techniques for combining distribution data to minimize uncertainty and novel methods to incorporate results into land use planning are described. Most importantly, these studies were carried out on a scale so that the results would be directly applicable to local conservation planning efforts. The results show that the final product of small scale conservation planning is highly dependent on the data, techniques, and conservation goals employed. Little spatial overlap was found between reserves developed with different methods or types of species distribution data. Results also indicate that a surrogate group comprised of a single taxon will not adequately represent all biodiversity in the planning process. This information combined with the novel techniques illustrated should aid conservation planners to be more effective in meeting conservation objectives and protecting biodiversity when conservation planning.