Salit Kark

Is conservation triage just smart decision making

Conservation efforts and emergency medicine face comparable problems: how to use scarce resources wisely to conserve valuable assets. In both fields, the process of prioritising actions is known as triage. Although often used implicitly by conservation managers, scientists and policymakers, triage has been misinterpreted as the process of simply deciding which assets (e.g. species, habitats) will not receive investment. As a consequence, triage is sometimes associated with a defeatist conservation ethic. However, triage is no more than the efficient allocation of conservation resources and we risk wasting scarce resources if we do not follow its basic principles.

Disentangling the role of environmental and human pressures on biological invasions across Europe

The accelerating rates of international trade, travel, and transport in the latter half of the twentieth century have led to the progressive mixing of biota from across the world and the number of species introduced to new regions continues to increase. The importance of biogeographic, climatic, economic, and demographic factors as drivers of this trend is increasingly being realized but as yet there is no consensus regarding their relative importance. Whereas little may be done to mitigate the effects of geography and climate on invasions, a wider range of options may exist to moderate the impacts of economic and demographic drivers. Here we use the most recent data available from Europe to partition between macroecological, economic, and demographic variables the variation in alien species richness of bryophytes, fungi, vascular plants, terrestrial insects, aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Only national wealth and human population density were statistically significant predictors in the majority of models when analyzed jointly with climate, geography, and land cover. The economic and demographic variables reflect the intensity of human activities and integrate the effect of factors that directly determine the outcome of invasion such as propagule pressure, pathways of introduction, eutrophication, and the intensity of anthropogenic disturbance. The strong influence of economic and demographic variables on the levels of invasion by alien species demonstrates that future solutions to the problem of biological invasions at a national scale lie in mitigating the negative environmental consequences of human activities that generate wealth and by promoting more sustainable population growth.

Motivations for Conserving Urban Biodiversity

In a time of increasing urbanization, the fundamental value of conserving urban biodiversity remains controversial. How much of a fixed budget should be spent on conservation in urban versus nonurban landscapes? The answer should depend on the goals that drive our conservation actions, yet proponents of urban conservation often fail to specify the motivation for protecting urban biodiversity. This is an important shortcoming on several fronts, including a missed opportunity to make a stronger appeal to those who believe conservation biology should focus exclusively on more natural, wilder landscapes. We argue that urban areas do offer an important venue for conservation biology, but that we must become better at choosing and articulating our goals. We explored seven possible motivations for urban biodiversity conservation: preserving local biodiversity, creating stepping stones to nonurban habitat, understanding and facilitating responses to environmental change, conducting environmental education, providing ecosystem services, fulfilling ethical responsibilities, and improving human well-being. To attain all these goals, challenges must be faced that are common to the urban environment, such as localized pollution, disruption of ecosystem structure, and limited availability of land. There are, however, also challenges specific only to particular goals, meaning that different goals will require different approaches and actions. This highlights the importance of specifying the motivations behind urban biodiversity conservation. If the goals are unknown, progress cannot be assessed.

Fluctuating asymmetry as an indicator of fitness: can we bridge the gap between studies?

There is growing evidence from both experimental and non‐experimental studies that fluctuating asymmetry does not consistently index stress or fitness. The widely held – yet poorly substantiated ‐ belief that fluctuating asymmetry can act as a universal measure of developmental stability and predictor of stress‐mediated changes in fitness, therefore staggers. Yet attempts to understand why the reported relationships between fluctuating asymmetry, stress and fitness are so heterogeneous – i.e. whether the associations are truly weak or non‐existent or whether they become confounded during different stages of the analytical pathways – remain surprisingly scarce. Hence, we attempt to disentangle these causes, by reviewing the various statistical and conceptual factors that are suspected to confound potential relationships between fluctuating asymmetry, stress and fitness. Two main categories of factors are discerned: those associated with the estimation of developmental stability through fluctuating asymmetry, and those associated with the effects of genotype and environment on developmental stability. Next, we describe a series of statistical tools that have recently been developed to help reduce this noise. We argue that the current lack of a theoretical framework that predicts if and when relationships with developmental stability can be expected, urges for further theoretical and empirical research, such as on the genetic architecture of developmental stability in stressed populations. If the underlying developmental mechanisms are better understood, statistical patterns of asymmetry variation may become a biologically meaningful tool.

Remotely Sensed Spectral Heterogeneity As a Proxy of Species Diversity: Recent Advances and Open Challenges

Abstract Environmental heterogeneity is considered to be one of the main factors associated with biodiversity given that areas with highly heterogeneous environments can host more species due to their higher number of available niches. In this view, spatial variability extracted from remotely sensed images has been used as a proxy of species diversity, as these data provide an inexpensive means of deriving environmental information for large areas in a consistent and regular manner. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the state of the art in the use of spectral heterogeneity for estimating species diversity. We will examine a number of issues related to this theme, dealing with: i) the main sensors used for biodiversity monitoring, ii) scale matching problems between remotely sensed and field diversity data, iii) spectral heterogeneity measurement techniques, iv) types of species taxonomic diversity measures and how they influence the relationship between spectral and species diversity, v) spectral versus genetic diversity, and vi) modeling procedures for relating spectral and species diversity. Our review suggests that remotely sensed spectral heterogeneity information provides a crucial baseline for rapid estimation or prediction of biodiversity attributes and hotspots in space and time.

Biodiversity hotspots and beyond: the need for preserving environmental transitions

A great deal of effort and many resources are directed at identifying and conserving regions of high species diversity 1xBiodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Myers, N. et al. Nature. 2000; 403: 853–858Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (9363)See all References, 2xBiodiversity, hotspots and defiance. Kitching, R. Trends Ecol. Evol. 2000; 15: 484–485Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | Scopus (8)See all References. Although defining ‘biodiversity hotspots’ helps prioritize areas for conservation, overemphasis on such sites ignores the need for preserving adaptive variation across environments. A more comprehensive approach would be to include regions important to the generation and maintenance of biodiversity, regardless of whether they are ‘species rich’. With climate change threatening large-scale shifts in species distributions and the habitats on which they depend, the hotspots of today are unlikely to be the hotspots of tomorrow. Only by maximizing adaptive variation can one hope to preserve the evolutionary response to changing climate and environmental conditions.The ‘hotspot’ approach to species preservation is risky, particularly when applied at a local scale. Preserving populations in only one pure habitat type, such as central tropical rainforests, is analogous to building an investment portfolio made up of a single stock. Diversifying risk by conserving populations from across diverse habitats will ensure that adaptive variation is maximized. Species are assemblages of populations that are often distributed across a landscape of habitat types and those populations have specific adaptations to regional environmental conditions. Populations are being lost at a much higher rate than are species 3xPopulation diversity: its extent and extinction. Hughes, J.B. et al. Science. 1997; 278: 689–692Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (290)See all References3 and, consequently, the loss of populations in unique habitats could result in the loss of novel adaptations that are necessary to meet future environmental challenges 4xConsidering evolutionary processes in conservation biology. Crandall, K.A. et al. Trends Ecol. Evol. 2000; 15: 290–295Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (990)See all References4. A strategy is urgently needed that preserves the adaptive diversity represented by the range of populations within a species, thus assuring the maximum potential of that species to respond to future environmental conditions.We believe that one strategy for conserving the maximum amount of adaptive variation is to preserve populations that occur along environmental gradients, thus preserving the full range of populations across habitats, as well as the unique traits of those populations. Adaptive diversity within species is often well represented along environmental gradients or ecotones that represent the transition from one habitat type (e.g. tropical rainforest) to another (e.g. grassland or savanna) 5xEndler, J.A. See all References5. Recent research on a wide range of taxa suggests that environmental gradients are important in diversification and speciation 6xSchluter, D. See all References, 7xEcotone: speciation-prone. Schilthuizen, M. Trends Ecol. Evol. 2000; 15: 130–131Abstract | Full Text | Full Text PDF | PubMed | Scopus (44)See all References, 8xNonrandom mating in Drosophila melanogaster laboratory populations derived from closely adjacent ecologically contrasting slopes at ‘Evolution Canyon’. Korol, A. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2000; 97: 12637–12642Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (79)See all References, 9xRapid evolution of reproductive isolation in the wild: evidence from introduced salmon. Hendry, A.P. et al. Science. 2000; 290: 516–518Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (333)See all References.There is little current emphasis on the conservation of ecological gradients. Recent attempts to prioritize conservation areas ignore these regions entirely 1xBiodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Myers, N. et al. Nature. 2000; 403: 853–858Crossref | PubMed | Scopus (9363)See all References, 10xThe Global 200: A representation approach to conserving the Earths most biologically valuable ecoregions. Olson, D.M. and Dinerstein, E. Conserv. Biol. 1998; 12: 502–515CrossrefSee all References. We maintain that a more sound conservation strategy would focus on both hotspots of biodiversity and on associated transitional zones. Given future uncertainty, preserving such areas will maximize the probability of a viable response at the species level to changing climatic conditions. In the absence of extensive data on population variation, we suggest that this diversity is likely to be summarized along environmental gradients. Saving the biota of the Earth will require greater efforts to preserve not only the pattern of biodiversity but also the processes that generate and maintain it. Integrating information on both pattern and process will ensure that the capacity for populations to change with changing environments is preserved.

Between-country collaboration and consideration of costs increase conservation planning efficiency in the Mediterranean Basin

The importance of global and regional coordination in conservation is growing, although currently, the majority of conservation programs are applied at national and subnational scales. Nevertheless, multinational programs incur transaction costs and resources beyond what is required in national programs. Given the need to maximize returns on investment within limited conservation budgets, it is crucial to quantify how much more biodiversity can be protected by coordinating multinational conservation efforts when resources are fungible. Previous studies that compared different scales of conservation decision-making mostly ignored spatial variability in biodiversity threats and the cost of actions. Here, we developed a simple integrating metric, taking into account both the cost of conservation and threats to biodiversity. We examined the Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspot, which encompasses over 20 countries. We discovered that for vertebrates to achieve similar conservation benefits, one would need substantially more money and area if each country were to act independently as compared to fully coordinated action across the Basin. A fully coordinated conservation plan is expected to save approximately US

EcotonEs: Marginal or cEntral arEas of transition?

67 billion, 45% of total cost, compared with the uncoordinated plan; and if implemented over a 10-year period, the plan would cost ≈0.1% of the gross national income of all European Union (EU) countries annually. The initiative declared in the recent Paris Summit for the Mediterranean provides a political basis for such complex coordination. Surprisingly, because many conservation priority areas selected are located in EU countries, a partly coordinated solution incorporating only EU-Mediterranean countries is almost as efficient as the fully coordinated scenario.

Setting Priorities for Regional Conservation Planning in the Mediterranean Sea

Areas of environmental transition, where ecological communities coincide, are sometimes termed ecotones. These regions often correspond with sharp environmental gradients. Ecotones occur at multiple spatial scales, ranging from transitions between biomes to local small-scale transitions. In recent years ecotones have received increasing scientific attention after being neglected for years, as studies historically often focused on distinct communities. However, it is still debatable whether these transitional regions are speciation and biodiversity hotspots that deserve special conservation interest or are actually areas that hold marginal populations that depend on other parts of the range for the maintenance of their biodiversity and therefore should not deserve primary investment. This paper discusses some of the recent advancements in our understanding of the role of ecotones in ecology, evolution, and conservation.

Accurate prediction of bird species richness patterns in an urban environment using Landsat-derived NDVI and spectral unmixing

Spatial prioritization in conservation is required to direct limited resources to where actions are most urgently needed and most likely to produce effective conservation outcomes. In an effort to advance the protection of a highly threatened hotspot of marine biodiversity, the Mediterranean Sea, multiple spatial conservation plans have been developed in recent years. Here, we review and integrate these different plans with the goal of identifying priority conservation areas that represent the current consensus among the different initiatives. A review of six existing and twelve proposed conservation initiatives highlights gaps in conservation and management planning, particularly within the southern and eastern regions of the Mediterranean and for offshore and deep sea habitats. The eighteen initiatives vary substantially in their extent (covering 0.1–58.5% of the Mediterranean Sea) and in the location of additional proposed conservation and management areas. Differences in the criteria, approaches and data used explain such variation. Despite the diversity among proposals, our analyses identified ten areas, encompassing 10% of the Mediterranean Sea, that are consistently identified among the existing proposals, with an additional 10% selected by at least five proposals. These areas represent top priorities for immediate conservation action. Despite the plethora of initiatives, major challenges face Mediterranean biodiversity and conservation. These include the need for spatial prioritization within a comprehensive framework for regional conservation planning, the acquisition of additional information from data-poor areas, species or habitats, and addressing the challenges of establishing transboundary governance and collaboration in socially, culturally and politically complex conditions. Collective prioritised action, not new conservation plans, is needed for the north, western, and high seas of the Mediterranean, while developing initial information-based plans for the south and eastern Mediterranean is an urgent requirement for true regional conservation planning.