Automated Integration of Aquatic and Terrestrial Conservation Areas in Conservation Planning: A New Method
The integration of conservation area designs for aquatic and terrestrial species has been a challenge for planners. The difficulties of crafting a single suitability index which reflects the landscape condition relative to all species, terrestrial and aquatic, and choosing assessment units appropria...
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| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.324.4208 http://science.natureconservancy.ca/centralinterior/docs/ERAtoolbox/11/Integration of Conservation Portfolios with SITEsv3.pdf |
| Summary: | The integration of conservation area designs for aquatic and terrestrial species has been a challenge for planners. The difficulties of crafting a single suitability index which reflects the landscape condition relative to all species, terrestrial and aquatic, and choosing assessment units appropriate for both realms, have made integration especially problematic. Here I will introduce a new technique, vertical integration, which allows planners to analyze aquatic and terrestrial targets simultaneously by using separate layers of assessment units, crafted to match the natural boundaries of the targets being assessed, with suitability indices incorporating impacts specific to those targets. Conservation Areas identified through a vertically integrated solution are efficient, and offer specific information about where to capture each target group individually, and where to capture them together. Examples of the use of this technique in planning will be presented for the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Alaska-Yukon Arctic bioregions. |
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