An analysis of the impact of incomplete species distribution information on our capacity to identify minimum size protected area networks was performed. Using bird distribution data for southern Quebec it was found that efficient protected area networks could be established using incomplete distribution information, as little as 30%. The results also revealed that reserve networks encompassing the majority of the biodiversity could be established using as little as 10% of the information. The key to producing efficient networks is the ability of the selection algorithm to identify complementary sets of sites in terms of species composition. The results reveal that the algorithm can best accomplish this when the data set used is produced using a geographically intensive site-based survey approach. The results were consistent over three data sets, the original and two modified, indicating that they are transferable to geographic areas and species groups with differing species distribution characteristics.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.30753 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Taylor, Kevin. |
| Contributors | Seutin, Gilles (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Geography.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001762186, proquestno: MQ64464, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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