Identifying high priority conservation areas for Patagonian wetlands biodiversity

Epele, Luis B.; Grech, Marta G.; Manzo, Luz M.; Macchi, Pablo A.; Hermoso, Virgilio; Miserendino, María Laura; Bonada, Núria; Cañedo‐Argüelles, Miguel

doi:10.1007/s10531-021-02146-2

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…MSF and LCBD showed a strong spatiotemporal variability, but they were weakly related. In agreement with our second hypothesis, MSF usually selects a combination of sites with high local richness and very rare taxa (Epele et al, 2021). In our study, under some circumstances, MSF was able to adequately represent all taxa by selecting a few sites (e.g., only two sites for diatoms in summer).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Integrating spatiotemporal hydrological connectivity into conservation planning to protect temporary rivers

Fernández‐Calero,

Cunillera‐Montcusí,

Hermoso

et al. 2024

Aquatic Conservation

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Temporary rivers (TRs) have been largely overlooked in conservation assessments. Because TRs are such dynamic ecosystems, spatial and temporal aspects of their hydrology and ecology need to be taken into account when designing conservation plans. The aim of this paper is to propose a set of recommendations that could be useful for managers to do this, using seasonal diatom and macroinvertebrate data from north‐eastern Spain as a case study. Beta diversity was partitioned into local and species contributions to beta diversity (LCBD and SCBD). Additionally, priority conservation sites covering the spatial distribution of all species were identified using Marxan and the selection frequency (MSF) of the sites served as a measure of the relative irreplaceability of each site. Using both approaches (beta diversity and Marxan), the effects of changing spatiotemporal connectivity and habitat heterogeneity on the selection and prioritization of sites to be conserved were assessed. It was found that LCBD and MSF ranged widely both in space and time. However, LCBD and MSF were weakly related. Marxan adequately represented all taxa by selecting a few sites, while LCBD selected communities with higher differentiation but not necessarily those with rare species. In addition, SCBDs assigned low values to rare taxa, thus care must be taken when using this index for conservation planning. Spatiotemporal connectivity and local habitat heterogeneity played a critical role at the regional and local scales, driving site prioritization. Overall, we recommend: 1) monitoring multiple hydrological phases to encompass the different community types and capturing total diversity; 2) using Marxan and LCBD in combination, to benefit from their complementary insights; and 3) integrating spatiotemporal isolation and habitat heterogeneity into conservation plans, since they are the main drivers of community variation over space and time in TRs.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Integrating spatiotemporal hydrological connectivity into conservation planning to protect temporary rivers

Fernández‐Calero,

Cunillera‐Montcusí,

Hermoso

et al. 2024

Aquatic Conservation

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“…This combination thus aligns with the principle of complementarity, which is incorporated in Marxan's prioritization approach (Margules & Pressey, 2000 ). Similar patterns have been found for wetlands in Patagonia, where the inclusion of nonperennial sites in conservation priorities increased regional diversity due to the occurrence of taxa adapted to recurrent drying (Epele et al., 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 70%

Ecological relevance of non‐perennial rivers for the conservation of terrestrial and aquatic communities

Bruno

Hermoso

Sánchez‐Montoya

et al. 2022

Conservation Biology

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River conservation efforts traditionally focus on perennial watercourses (i.e., those that do not dry) and their associated aquatic biodiversity. However, most of the global river network is not perennial and thus supports both aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity. We assessed the conservation value of nonperennial rivers and streams (NPRS) in one of Europe's driest regions based on aquatic (macroinvertebrates, diatoms) and terrestrial (riparian plants, birds, and carabid beetles) community data. We mapped the distribution of taxa at 90 locations and across wide environmental gradients. Using the systematic planning tool Marxan, we identified priority conservation sites under 2 scenarios: aquatic taxa alone or aquatic and terrestrial taxa together. We explored how environmental factors (runoff, flow intermittence, elevation, salinity, anthropogenic impact) influenced Marxan's site selection frequency. The NPRS were selected more frequently (over 13% on average) than perennial rivers when both aquatic and terrestrial taxa were considered, suggesting that NPRS have a high conservation value at the catchment scale. We detected an underrepresentation of terrestrial taxa (8.4–10.6% terrestrial vs. 0.5–1.1% aquatic taxa were unrepresented in most Marxan solutions) when priority sites were identified based exclusively on aquatic biodiversity, which points to a low surrogacy value of aquatic taxa for terrestrial taxa. Runoff explained site selection when focusing on aquatic taxa (all best‐fitting models included runoff, r2 = 0.26–0.27), whereas elevation, salinity, and flow intermittence were more important when considering both groups. In both cases, site selection frequency declined as anthropogenic impact increased. Our results highlight the need to integrate terrestrial and aquatic communities when identifying priority areas for conservation in catchments with NPRS. This is key to overcoming drawbacks of traditional assessments based only on aquatic taxa and to ensure the conservation of NPRS, especially as NPRS become more prevalent worldwide due to climate change and increasing water demands.

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“…Species distribution models (SDMs) have been widely used across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine realms to identify species-environment relationships and to identify priority areas, 'hotspots' of vulnerable species (Ovando et al, 2019;Pennino et al, 2019a;Lyons et al, 2020;Epele et al, 2021) or essential fish habitat (Colloca et al, 2015;Laman et al, 2018). A variety of methodological approaches have been developed over the last decades to generate SDMs, such as Neural Networks (Özesmi and Özesmi, 1999), Boosted Regression Trees (Elith et al, 2008;Wege et al, 2021), Maximum Entropy (Phillips et al, 2006), Generalized Linear Regression Model (Guisan et al, 2002), and Additive Regression Models (Swartzman et al, 1992;Austin, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying Priority Conservation Areas of Largehead Hairtail (Trichiurus japonicus) Nursery Grounds in the East China Sea

et al. 2022

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Identifying the spatio-temporal distribution hotspots of fishes and allocating priority conservation areas could facilitate the spatial planning and efficient management. As a flagship commercial fishery species, Largehead hairtail (Trichiurus japonicus) has been over-exploited since the early 2000s. Therefore, the spatio-temporal management of largehead hairtail nursery grounds could effective help its recovery. This study aims to predict juvenile largehead hairtail distribution patterns and identify priority conservation areas for nursery grounds. A two-stage hierarchical Bayesian spatio-temporal model was applied on independent scientific survey data (Catch per unit effort, CPUE) and geographic/physical variables (Depth, Distance to the coast, Sea bottom temperature, Dissolved oxygen concentration and Net primary production) to analyze the probability of occurrence and abundance distribution of juvenile largehead hairtail. We assessed the importance of each variable for explaining the occurrence and abundance. Using persistence index, we measured the robustness of hotspots and identified persistent hotspots for priority conservation areas. Selected models showed good predictive capacity on occurrence probability (AUC = 0.81) and abundance distribution (r = 0.89) of juvenile largehead hairtail. Dissolved oxygen, net primary production, and sea bottom temperature significantly affected the probability of occurrence, while distance to the coast also affected the abundance distribution. Three stable nursery grounds were identified in Zhejiang inshore waters, the largest one was located on the east margin of the East China Sea hairtail national aquatic germplasm resources conservation zones (TCZ), suggesting that the core area of nursery grounds occurs outside the protected areas. Therefore, recognition of these sites and their associated geographic/oceanic attributes provides clear targets for optimizing largehead hairtail conservation efforts in the East China Sea. We suggested that the eastern and southern areas of TCZ should be included in conservation planning for an effective management within a network of marine protected areas.

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Identifying high priority conservation areas for Patagonian wetlands biodiversity

Cited by 20 publications

References 70 publications

Integrating spatiotemporal hydrological connectivity into conservation planning to protect temporary rivers

Integrating spatiotemporal hydrological connectivity into conservation planning to protect temporary rivers

Ecological relevance of non‐perennial rivers for the conservation of terrestrial and aquatic communities

Identifying Priority Conservation Areas of Largehead Hairtail (Trichiurus japonicus) Nursery Grounds in the East China Sea

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