Thesis (MScConsEcol)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Decision-making in conservation should be efficient and effective as time and resources are typically limited. Conservation planning is one process by which stakeholders collaboratively make decisions when attempting to ensure the persistence of biodiversity. Spatial prioritization is the activity of applying quantitative data to spatial analysis to select locations for conservation investment and is a distinct process within conservation planning. The use of experts in spatial prioritization, and more generally in conservation planning, is widely accepted and advocated, but there is no general operational model for how best to involve them. Acceptable standards of practice in selecting experts and in applying specific techniques for eliciting expert knowledge need to be developed and tested in different contexts to ensure robust and defensible results of spatial prioritization processes. Although experts and expert knowledge have limitations, including them in spatial prioritization can produce many benefits, such as increased robustness of decisions and time and cost savings. Timeous, decisive, cost-efficient and robust decision-making is essential when attempting to stem the continued loss of biodiversity across the world. Although widely used, very little research has been conducted into the role of experts in spatial prioritization processes. In this research, the role and use of experts and expert knowledge in spatial prioritization was explored through the following processes: 1) a review of the peer-reviewed literature examining the role, and different types, of experts included in spatial prioritization studies (Chapter 2) to identify the patterns of their involvement; 2) a study examining the process and the differences between individual and group expert outputs and outcomes produced from a typical spatial prioritization workshop to provide a baseline against which experts might be identified for future involvement (Chapter 3); and 3) a study examining the knowledge of local community and land management experts and their ability to predict private landowners self-reported attitudes towards conservation, willingness to partner with organizations and behavior relating to conservation, aimed to test if expert knowledge might replace interviews when mapping conservation opportunity (Chapter 4). The main findings of this research are, firstly, that experts primarily contributed to spatial prioritization through mapping of species, habitats and ecosystems (that can be input into spatial prioritization analyses), and specifically also the selection of areas important for implementing conservation action (e.g., priority conservation areas). Secondly, individual experts contributed different expertise to the spatial prioritization processes in which they were involved, sometimes despite being considered experts in the same field. Individual experts differed to each other in the knowledge they contributed, decisions they made, and in the information content and its spatial representation. Groups of experts collaborating to produce the same information were more effective at capturing expert knowledge than individuals. Thirdly, when seeking to map human and social data to inform the mapping of conservation opportunity, experts were unable to reliably score private landowner's attitudes towards conservation, willingness to partner with organizations and behavior relating to conservation. Experts were able though, to provide accurate knowledge on the general attitudes of landowners, the context of the area in which the research was conducted, and the challenges that landowners in the area face. Collectively, this research can be used to inform the development of standards of best practice to ensure the most effective and cost efficient approach to integrating spatial prioritization software with expert knowledge. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Besluitneming in bewaring moet doeltreffend en effektief wees omdat tyd en hulpbronne skaars is. Bewaringsbeplanning is een proses waardeur aandeelhouers gesamentlik besluite kan neem wanneer hul poog om die voortbestaan van biodiversiteit te verseker. Ruimtelike prioritisering verwys na die proses waar kwantitatiewe data toegepas word op ruimtelike analise om areas vir bewaringsbelegging te selekteer. Dit is 'n afsonderlike proses binne bewaringsbeplanning. Die gebruik van deskundiges in die bepaling van ruimtelike prioritisering en meer algemene bewaringsbeplanning word wyd aanvaar en bepleit maar daar is geen algemene operationele model wat bepaal hoe om hul ten beste in te sluit nie. Aanvaarbare standaarde in die praktyk van die seleksie van kundiges en die aanwending van spesifieke tegnieke om kundige kennisstelsels uit te lok moet ontwikkel en getoets word in verskillende kontekste om robuuste en verdedigbare resultate te verseker. Daar is baie voordele verbonde aan die gebruik van deskundiges en kundige kennisstelsels, ten spyte van hul beperkings. Voordele sluit onder andere tyd- en kostebesparings in. Tydige, beslissende, koste-effektiewe en robuuste besluitneming is noodsaaklik wanneer daar gepoog word om die voortdurende wêreldwye verlies aan biodiversiteit te stuit. Al word hul algemeen gebruik is daar nog baie min navorsing gedoen oor die rol van kundiges tydens die proses van ruimtelike prioritisering. Die rol en gebruik van kundiges en kundige kennisstelsels in die bepaling van ruimtelike prioritisering is deur die volgende prosesse ondersoek: 1) 'n Oorsig van portuurbeoordeelde literatuur wat die rol van en verskillende tipes kuniges wat in ruimtelike prioritisering studies ingesluit word, bestudeer (Hoofstuk 2) ten einde die patrone van hul betrokkenheid te identifiseer; 2) 'n studie wat die proses en verskille tussen die insette en uitkomste van individuele en groepe kundiges, soos geproduseer by 'n tipiese ruimtelike prioritisering werkwinkel, bestudeer ten einde 'n grondlyn daar te stel waarteen kundiges vir toekomstige betrokkenheid geïdentifiseer kan word (Hoostuk 3); en 3) 'n bestudering van die kennis van plaaslike gemeenskaps- en grondbestuur kundiges en hul vermoë om privaat grondeienaars se selfgerapporteerde houdings teenoor bewaring, hul bereidwilligheid om met organisasies saam te werk en gedrag wat verband hou met bewaring te voorspel om te toets of kundige kennis onderhoude sal kan vervang tydens die kartering van bewaringsmoontlikhede (Hoofstuk 4). Die vernaamste bevindinge van hierdie navorsing is, ten eerste, dat kundiges se primêre bydrae tot ruimtelike prioritisering plaasvind deur die kartering van spesies, habitats en ekosisteme (wat alles in ruimtelike prioritisering analise vervat kan word), en meer bepaald die seleksie van areas wat belangrik is vir die implementering van bewaringsaksie (bv. prioriteit bewaringsareas). Tweedens, individuele kundiges se bydrae tot die ruimtelike prioritisering prosesse waar hul betrokke was, het verskil, selfs waar hul as kundiges in dieselfde veld beskou word. Individuele kundiges het van mekaar verskil ten opsigte van die kennis wat hul bygedra het, die besluite wat hul geneem het, die inhoud van inligting en die ruimtelike voorstelling daarvan. Groepe kundiges wat saamwerk om dieselfde inligting op te lewer was meer effektief in die vaslegging van kundige kennis as individuele kundiges. Derdens, tydens die soeke na menslike en maatskaplike data om die kartering van bewaringsmoontlikhede in te lig was kundiges nie in staat is om 'n betroubare skatting van privaat grondeienaars se houdings teenoor bewaring, bereidwilligheid om saam met organisasies te werk en gedrag wat verband hou met bewaring te maak nie. Deskundiges kon egter akkurate kennis meedeel ten opsigte van die algemene houdings van grondeienaars, die konteks van die area van navorsing en die uitdagings wat grondeienaars in die spesifieke areas in die gesig staar. Hierdie navorsing kan gesamentlik gebruik word om die ontwikkeling van standaarde van beste praktyk vas te stel om die mees doeltreffende en koste-effektiewe benadering tot die integrasie van ruimtelike prioritisering sagteware met deskundige kennis te verseker.

No description available.

Systematic conservation planning is an essential part of biodiversity preservation.

Conservation strategies frequently require prioritization of targets due to limited budgets and personnel. Prioritization involves choosing those areas that return the most conservation value for the time and money invested. Hence, the process of prioritization involves evaluating multiple conservation values and the uneven spatial distribution of those values across a landscape of concern. The goal of this study was to help conservation organizations improve decision making for implementation of prioritization-based strategies for land protection using a GIS-based, multi-criteria decision support system (GIS-MCDS). Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can assist conservation planners in quantifying the relative desirability of one area over another, therefore enabling better business and ecological decisions. GIS analyses for planning are routinely undertaken over large geographic extents such as ecoregions to identify priority areas. These analyses often summarize priority by pixel values in a raster image. Implementation of conservation strategy often takes place at the much larger parcel level. Therefore, aggregating pixel-based results by parcels is a prerequisite to implementation of a purchase or easement strategy. I developed a spatial decision support system in an attempt to quantify private land holdings in the High Knob area of Virginia for their relative conservation value, as defined by the Clinch Valley Program of The Nature Conservancy. It utilizes a proxy approach for measuring conservation values and an analytical hierarchy process to aggregate the results by privately held real estate parcels. Simple prioritizations are often based on parcel size alone, rather than consideration of the many conservation values that characterize land parcels. Though it is much quicker and easier to prioritize parcels in this manner, such simplicity risks missing important smaller areas for conservation while prioritizing larger parcels with less value. I compared this simple "bigger is better" ranking method to the GIS-based multi-criteria method developed for TNC. There was a 0.57 correlation between the ranked lists produced by the two models, suggesting that parcel size alone does partially explain the complexity modeled by the multi-criteria method. However, the more complex method did produce different top priority parcels, which could significantly change an organization's implementation strategy. I conclude that both methods have their applications, though the multi-criteria method is better for long-term implementations of strategic acquisition and easement. A secondary goal was to identify to what extent land trust organizations are prepared to implement a multi-criteria type analysis like the one considered in this study. I conducted an online survey of conservation professionals on how their organization currently uses GIS and their satisfaction with GIS analyses to meet their organizational mission. Sixty-one responses were collected and analyzed. The overwhelming majority of conservation organizations recognize the benefits that GIS bring and have already developed some level of internal expertise, though many barriers to using GIS were also identified. From these results, I conclude that most land trust conservation organizations are not currently utilizing the insights that multi-criteria GIS prioritization is capable of offering, but that their previous positive experience with GIS makes such analyses an attractive proposition for those on the cutting edge of the land conservation movement. / Master of Science

O interesse em valorizar os serviços ecossistêmicos fornecidos pela vegetação natural aumentou em um esforço para mitigar os efeitos da mudança do uso da terra. Nesta linha de pensamento, desenvolvemos um índice para valorar as comunidades de árvores - do ponto de vista antropocêntrico - da savana brasileira (Cerrado). O índice e a cartografia produzida servirão como ferramenta para a priorização da conservação, bem como para revelar como a colonização e a expansão da agricultura tem ocorrido. Para desenvolver o índice, foram produzidas novas camadas ambientais com resolução de 90m; A distribuição das 93 espécies mais comuns foi modelada; e a cartografia da distribuição de cada uso humano das árvores (alimentos, aromáticos, fibras, cosméticos, cortiça, etc., totalizando 20 usos) e um índice de valor total fo desenvolvido. O novo índice de valor, nomenado a Soma de Usos (SoU, Sum of Uses), representa o número esperado de usos para a montagem de espécies potenciais que poderia estar ocorrendo no lugar em condições ideais. O impacto da agricultura foi avaliado pela contabilização da área que foi convertida em lavouras. Nossos resultados indicam fortemente que a colonização humana e a expansão de terras cultivadas eliminaram as árvores de áreas que antes eram melhores prestadores de serviços ambientais. Por outro lado, observamos também que as áreas protegidas no Cerrado estão localizadas onde esperamos encontrar valor marginal para as espécies ótimas. Esses resultados nos levam a pensar que a estratégia de conservação pode estar longe de ser ideal para o maior remanescente arável do mundo. / The interest in valuing the ecosystem services provided by the natural vegetation has increased in an effort to mitigate the effects of land use change. In this line of thinking, we developed an index to value the tree communities -from an anthropocentric point of view- of the Brazilian savannah (Cerrado). The index and the cartography produced will serve as a tool for prioritization of conservation, has well as to unveil how colonization and agriculture expansion has taken place. In order to develop the index: new environmental layers at 90m resolution were produced; the most common 93 species’ distribution was modelled; and cartography for each use humans derive from the trees (food, aromatic, fiber, cosmetic, cork, etc., totaling 20 uses) and a total value index were developed. The new index of value, namely the Sum of Uses (SoU), represent the expected number of uses for the potential species assemblage that could be taking place under optimal conditions. The impact of agriculture was assessed by accounting for the area that has been converted to croplands. Our results strongly indicate that human settlement and cropland expansion have cleared the trees of areas that once were better than average ecosystem service providers. On the other hand, we also observe that protected areas in the Cerrado are located where we expect to find marginal value for the optimal communities. These results lead us to think that the conservation strategy might be far from optimal for the largest remaining arable patch in the world.

No description available.

O interesse em valorizar os serviços ecossistêmicos fornecidos pela vegetação natural aumentou em um esforço para mitigar os efeitos da mudança do uso da terra. Nesta linha de pensamento, desenvolvemos um índice para valorar as comunidades de árvores - do ponto de vista antropocêntrico - da savana brasileira (Cerrado). O índice e a cartografia produzida servirão como ferramenta para a priorização da conservação, bem como para revelar como a colonização e a expansão da agricultura tem ocorrido. Para desenvolver o índice, foram produzidas novas camadas ambientais com resolução de 90m; A distribuição das 93 espécies mais comuns foi modelada; e a cartografia da distribuição de cada uso humano das árvores (alimentos, aromáticos, fibras, cosméticos, cortiça, etc., totalizando 20 usos) e um índice de valor total fo desenvolvido. O novo índice de valor, nomenado a Soma de Usos (SoU, Sum of Uses), representa o número esperado de usos para a montagem de espécies potenciais que poderia estar ocorrendo no lugar em condições ideais. O impacto da agricultura foi avaliado pela contabilização da área que foi convertida em lavouras. Nossos resultados indicam fortemente que a colonização humana e a expansão de terras cultivadas eliminaram as árvores de áreas que antes eram melhores prestadores de serviços ambientais. Por outro lado, observamos também que as áreas protegidas no Cerrado estão localizadas onde esperamos encontrar valor marginal para as espécies ótimas. Esses resultados nos levam a pensar que a estratégia de conservação pode estar longe de ser ideal para o maior remanescente arável do mundo. / The interest in valuing the ecosystem services provided by the natural vegetation has increased in an effort to mitigate the effects of land use change. In this line of thinking, we developed an index to value the tree communities -from an anthropocentric point of view- of the Brazilian savannah (Cerrado). The index and the cartography produced will serve as a tool for prioritization of conservation, has well as to unveil how colonization and agriculture expansion has taken place. In order to develop the index: new environmental layers at 90m resolution were produced; the most common 93 species’ distribution was modelled; and cartography for each use humans derive from the trees (food, aromatic, fiber, cosmetic, cork, etc., totaling 20 uses) and a total value index were developed. The new index of value, namely the Sum of Uses (SoU), represent the expected number of uses for the potential species assemblage that could be taking place under optimal conditions. The impact of agriculture was assessed by accounting for the area that has been converted to croplands. Our results strongly indicate that human settlement and cropland expansion have cleared the trees of areas that once were better than average ecosystem service providers. On the other hand, we also observe that protected areas in the Cerrado are located where we expect to find marginal value for the optimal communities. These results lead us to think that the conservation strategy might be far from optimal for the largest remaining arable patch in the world.

O interesse em valorizar os serviços ecossistêmicos fornecidos pela vegetação natural aumentou em um esforço para mitigar os efeitos da mudança do uso da terra. Nesta linha de pensamento, desenvolvemos um índice para valorar as comunidades de árvores - do ponto de vista antropocêntrico - da savana brasileira (Cerrado). O índice e a cartografia produzida servirão como ferramenta para a priorização da conservação, bem como para revelar como a colonização e a expansão da agricultura tem ocorrido. Para desenvolver o índice, foram produzidas novas camadas ambientais com resolução de 90m; A distribuição das 93 espécies mais comuns foi modelada; e a cartografia da distribuição de cada uso humano das árvores (alimentos, aromáticos, fibras, cosméticos, cortiça, etc., totalizando 20 usos) e um índice de valor total fo desenvolvido. O novo índice de valor, nomenado a Soma de Usos (SoU, Sum of Uses), representa o número esperado de usos para a montagem de espécies potenciais que poderia estar ocorrendo no lugar em condições ideais. O impacto da agricultura foi avaliado pela contabilização da área que foi convertida em lavouras. Nossos resultados indicam fortemente que a colonização humana e a expansão de terras cultivadas eliminaram as árvores de áreas que antes eram melhores prestadores de serviços ambientais. Por outro lado, observamos também que as áreas protegidas no Cerrado estão localizadas onde esperamos encontrar valor marginal para as espécies ótimas. Esses resultados nos levam a pensar que a estratégia de conservação pode estar longe de ser ideal para o maior remanescente arável do mundo. / The interest in valuing the ecosystem services provided by the natural vegetation has increased in an effort to mitigate the effects of land use change. In this line of thinking, we developed an index to value the tree communities -from an anthropocentric point of view- of the Brazilian savannah (Cerrado). The index and the cartography produced will serve as a tool for prioritization of conservation, has well as to unveil how colonization and agriculture expansion has taken place. In order to develop the index: new environmental layers at 90m resolution were produced; the most common 93 species’ distribution was modelled; and cartography for each use humans derive from the trees (food, aromatic, fiber, cosmetic, cork, etc., totaling 20 uses) and a total value index were developed. The new index of value, namely the Sum of Uses (SoU), represent the expected number of uses for the potential species assemblage that could be taking place under optimal conditions. The impact of agriculture was assessed by accounting for the area that has been converted to croplands. Our results strongly indicate that human settlement and cropland expansion have cleared the trees of areas that once were better than average ecosystem service providers. On the other hand, we also observe that protected areas in the Cerrado are located where we expect to find marginal value for the optimal communities. These results lead us to think that the conservation strategy might be far from optimal for the largest remaining arable patch in the world.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-07-14T14:59:37Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Mateus Atadeu Moreira - 2015.pdf: 3009996 bytes, checksum: 1a2c29fc3dae91ef371d08eaa0f6b9e2 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-07-14T15:01:03Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Mateus Atadeu Moreira - 2015.pdf: 3009996 bytes, checksum: 1a2c29fc3dae91ef371d08eaa0f6b9e2 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-14T15:01:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Mateus Atadeu Moreira - 2015.pdf: 3009996 bytes, checksum: 1a2c29fc3dae91ef371d08eaa0f6b9e2 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-04-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / We only have described a small fraction of the world’s biodiversity. The influence of how much we know biodiversity and how that hinders our strategies for conserving it is a genuine and weighty concern. Brazil has the greatest amphibian diversity in the world with 1026 amphibian species, and the number of described species is increasing at a high rate. It is likely that many of these Brazilian amphibians still undescribed are threatened. Although many new species are being described in Brazil some protected areas are being downsized or downgraded. In this study we aim to analyze how much the Linnean shortfall impairs our ability to prioritize areas for the conservation of a highly diverse and still poorly known group such as the Brazilian amphibians, and whether the main conservation strategy in Brazil is prepared to deal with this shortfall. We made four spatial prioritizations of the known Brazilian amphibians of four arbitrarily chosen scenarios (1980, 1990, 2000 and 2013), then we overlapped these prioritizations with the existing federal protected areas of each scenario, and compared the results, calculating the proportions of the high priority areas that changed place and the proportion of high priority areas federally protected at each scenario. In the first change of scenario 921 of the 4672 cells that comprises the seventeen per cent of highest priority cells in 1980 changed place to form the seventeen per cent most priority cells in 1990 (19,71% of the cells). On the 1990-2000 change 905 of the 4686 cells changed place (19,31%) and on the last change of scenario (2000-2013) 983 of the 4675 (21,01%) highest priority cells has changed place. The percentage of these highest priority areas that was federally protected at each scenario and in each of the biomes was severely low in all cases, but is maidenly rising with time. The new protected areas created between the scenarios (both the strict protection and sustainable use areas) do not follow the new priority areas. It is crucial that Brazilian taxonomy continues to grow. Since Brazil is so important for the future of the global diversity of amphibians is also crucial a systematic planning of new protected areas, using scientific models to account for the Linnean shortfall, in order to protect such an astonishing diversity. Keywords: Linnean shortfall, Biodiversity, Conservation, Brazilian Amphibians, Spatial Conservation Prioritization / A ciência descreveu menos da metade do número total de espécies existentes. A influência do quanto conhecemos ou não a biodiversidade e o quanto isso pesa nas nossas estratégias de conservação é uma preocupação genuína e séria. O Brasil possui a maior diversidade de anfíbios do mundo com 1026 espécies, e esse número tem crescido em uma alta taxa. É provável que muitos dos anfíbios que ainda não foram descritos no Brasil estejam ameaçados. Enquanto muitas espécies têm sido descritas ultimamente o Brasil está diminuindo o tamanho e o grau de proteção de diversas áreas protegidas. Nesse estudo avaliamos o quanto a lacuna Linneana afeta a definição de áreas prioritárias para a conservação de um grupo altamente diverso e ainda pobremente conhecido como os anfíbios do Brasil, e se a principal estratégia de conservação brasileira está preparada pra lidar com essa lacuna. Nós fizemos quatro priorizações espaciais da fauna de anfíbios conhecida no Brasil em quatro cenários no tempo (1980, 1990, 2000 e 2013), em seguida sobrepusemos essas priorizações com as Unidades de Conservação Federais de cada um desses cenários e comparamos os resultados. Calculamos o quanto a configuração das áreas mais prioritárias mudou de um cenário para outro e o quanto das áreas mais prioritárias estava protegido em cada cenário. De 1980 para 1990, 921 das 4672 células mais prioritárias mudaram de lugar (19,71% das células). De 1990 para 2000, 905 das 4686 células mudaram (19,31%) e na última mudança de cenário (2000-2013) 983 das 4675 (21,01%) tiveram mudança espacial. A proporção dessas áreas mais importantes para conservação que estava protegida em cada cenário e em cada bioma foi muito pequena, mas está crescendo modestamente com o tempo. As novas Unidades de conservação criadas entre os cenários não acompanham as novas áreas mais prioritárias que surgem com o acréscimo das novas espécies. Sendo o Brasil tão importante para a proteção da tão ameaçada fauna global de anfíbios é crucial que exista um planejamento sistemático de novas áreas protegidas, e que esse planejamento use modelos científicos para levar em conta a lacuna Linneana.

Conservation managers worldwide are increasingly faced with the challenges of managing and protecting fragmented landscapes, largely as a consequence of human activities. Over recent decades, ecological theory has made a significant contribution to the development of landscape-scale conservation and practice. However, recommendations accounting for what is practically achievable in the modern-day landscape are currently lacking, while criteria for conservation planning and prioritisation continue to neglect the role of habitat networks at the required spatial scale for the long-term persistence of biodiversity. In this thesis, I test and apply ideas surrounding the complexities of managing and conserving species in a landscape context, using a suite of bird species endemic to papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) swamps in East and Central Africa as a model system. In the face of large-scale habitat loss and degradation, practical measures that account for the fragmented nature of this system, the needs of multiple specialist species, and the reliance on this habitat by local people, are urgently required. I first review the concepts originating from reserve design theory to provide a decision-making framework for those involved in landscape-scale conservation amid 21st century challenges to biodiversity, highlighting the key principles to be considered for informed choices to be made. Second, I show that the needs of local people can be compatible with conservation planning in the tropics, and may play an important part in maintaining habitat quality for species residing in historically disturbed landscapes. Third, I develop a novel framework to make an explicit link between metapopulation dynamics and conservation planning. Despite differences in the patch-level dynamics of individual species, areas of habitat where populations of multiple species are resistant to extinction, and resilient because of high chances of (re)colonization can be identified, highlighting where resources could be invested to ensure species have the capacity to respond to future change. Finally, I simulate the metapopulation dynamics of the papyrus-endemic birds to demonstrate that the optimal conservation strategy for the long-term persistence of all species residing in a network depends on the characteristics of individual species, and the total area that can be protected. Overall, this thesis develops and tests the ecological theory used in spatial conservation planning, emphasising the importance of habitat disturbance and interspecific ecological differences for the effective management of habitat networks. The results increase the evidence base for the conservation of wetland birds in Africa, as well as for species residing in fragmented landscapes more generally.