The efficiency of indicator groups for the conservation of amphibians in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

The adequate selection of indicator groups of biodiversity is an important aspect of the systematic conservation planning. However, these assessments differ in the spatial scale, in the methods used and in the groups considered to accomplish this task, which generally produces contradictory results. The quantification of the spatial congruence between species richness and complementarity among different taxonomic groups is a fundamental step to identify potential indicator groups. Using a constructive approach, the main purposes of this study were to evaluate the performance and efficiency of eight potential indicator groups representing amphibian diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Data on the geographic range of amphibian species that occur in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest was overlapped to the full geographic extent of the biome, which was divided into a regular equal-area grid. Optimization routines based on the concept of complementarily were applied to verify the performance of each indicator group selected in relation to the representativeness of the amphibians in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest as a whole, which were solved by the algorithm"simulated annealing", through the use of the software MARXAN. Some indicator groups were substantially more effective than others in regards to the representation of the taxonomic groups assessed, which was confirmed by the high significance of data (F = 312.76; p < 0.01). Leiuperidae was considered as the best indicator group among the families analyzed, as it showed a good performance, representing 71% of amphibian species in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (i.e. 290 species), which may be associated with the diffuse geographic distribution of its species. This study promotes understanding of how the diversity standards of amphibians can be informative for systematic conservation planning on a regional scale

GAP ANALYSIS OF THE ACTUAL VEGETATION OF CALIFORNIA 1. THE SOUTHWESTERN REGION

Volume: 42Start Page: 40End Page: 7

Coastal ecosystem-based management with nonlinear ecological functions and values

non-SEAFDEC main author, ISI-CC covered journal. Full text available (author version- preprint) at other digital library.A common assumption is that ecosystem services respond linearly to changes in habitat size. This assumption leads frequently to an “all or none” choice of either preserving coastal habitats of converting them to human use. However, our survey of wave attenuation data from field studies of mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass beds, nearshore coral reefs, and sand dunes reveals that these relationships are rarely linear. By incorporating nonlinear wave attenuation is estimating coastal protection values of mangroves in Thailand, we show that the optimal land use option may instead be the integration of development and conservation consistent with ecosystem-based management goals. This result suggests that reconciling competing demands on coastal habitats should not always result in stark preservation-versus conversion choices.This work was conducted as part of the “Measuring ecological, economic, and social values of coastal habitats to inform ecosystem-based management of land-sea interfaces” Working Group supported by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, funded by NSF grant DEB-0553768; the University of California, Santa Barbara; the State of California; and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. We thank B. Halpern for his assistance with this project and work, and three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments

Response to N. Koedam and F. Dahdouh-Guebas's E-Letter [original article: Barbier et al. (2008) Coastal ecosystem-based management with nonlinear ecological functions and values]

[Extract] Koedam and Dahdouh-Guebas raise the important issue that "there is a pressing need for in-depth investigation of the protection function of various mangrove formations and coast-geomorphological settings, various root types, and various species composition," and that "detangling the effect of such complexity under various water-related impacts" is essential for "understanding the power of mangroves and other coastal vegetation as protective barriers."\ud \ud We agree with their assessment, and consider our recent Science article (1) as a first step in a much-needed global research agenda for "detangling the effect" of the physical and vegetative properties that determine whether mangroves and other interface systems are effective coastal barriers against periodic, economically damaging storm events. We would like to make three additional points