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Measuring Habitat and Biodiversity Outcomes
Sara Vickerman and Frank Casey
September 26, 2013
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What is biodiversity?
Variety of life and its processes Genetic, species, habitat, large landscapes
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Biodiversity conservation requires:
• Right amount, configuration, and management of land and water in each region (coarse filter) • Attention to individual elements (fine filter)
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Broad agreement that biodiversity is threatened by:
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Human development Degradation, conversion of native habitat Invasive species Toxics, other direct mortality Climate change Defenders of Wildlife
Many approaches to tracking impacts and conservation outcomes to habitats and species but . . . Little progress reaching agreement on more consistent approach Defenders of Wildlife
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Effectiveness of biodiversity conservation is difficult to measure
Goals often not stated or agreed upon May conflict with human activities Focus on single species, habitats Need measures at multiple scales – species to landscapes
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Status and trends for biodiversity poorly monitored
Nobody is responsible for comprehensive system Biodiversity is not uniformly regulated Tendency to re-invent the wheel Low priority for public and policy-makers
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Why consistent metrics?
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To help improve conservation outcomes – what works, what doesn’t Work across land ownership boundaries Connect disparate program investments to address scale issues Align management plans Apply adaptive management Defenders of Wildlife
Practicality Speed Cost Level of involvement Capture everything Precision Defenders of Wildlife
Purpose
• • • • To examine a few efforts to date Engage experts in conversation Propose workable, practical framework Test alternative approaches
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Three approaches with considerable overlap
• • • Individual habitat metrics Ecological Integrity Assessments Biodiversity Index
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Site level metrics
• • • • Developed by Willamette Partnership and others Prairie, wetland, salmon, water temperature Focus on regulations that drive trading or mitigation programs Measuring Up report outlined framework for biodiversity metrics
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• • • • Natural Resources Conservation Service, Bullitt funded Address unregulated biodiversity values in Western U.S. Oak, floodplain, sage brush / sage grouse Percent of optimal ecological functioning
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What the metrics measure
• Site level conditions
– Context – Vegetation – Species – Abiotic – Practices – Risk
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Sagebrush metric: Final scores
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Where to find these metrics
• Marketplace for Nature web site http://marketplace.conservationregistry.org
• Counting on the Environment – Willamette Partnership http://willamettepartnership.org/
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Challenge with site level metrics
• • • • • Should they be habitat specific?
How many habitats? Who develops, maintains, updates them? How do they connect to larger landscape scale metrics? Not useful for landscape scale conservation planning
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Setting Ecological Integrity Goals
Rank A Rank B Ecosystem Conservation Goal Rank C Rank D Increasing human disturbance
Ecological Integrity Monitoring
Level 1) Remote assessment Level 2) Rapid field assessment Level 3) Intensive assessment
Level 1: Remote assessment
Landscape context – Connectivity, surrounding land use, patch size, and stressors
Level 2: Rapid field assessment
Landscape characteristics
Vegetation cover and composition
Soil condition
Disturbance regimes
Wildlife abundance and composition
Stressors
Calibration of remote techniques
Level 2: Rapid field assessment
Photo plots as example 1957 2006
Level 3: Intensive assessment
Application
• • • • • • Initially to select priority conservation areas Useful where natural habitat of interest Also used for wetland assessment, monitoring Expanded to measure habitat quality Can be applied at multiple scales NatureServe network supports
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Challenges
• • Might not fit where biodiversity is a secondary goal Less useful where data are limited - like other methods, requires sustained investment
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Challenge of representing biodiversity
Biodiversity is an ecosystem service
• People harvest, consume wild plants and animals • Healthy ecosystems filter water, control erosion, pollinate crops • Nature has cultural (existence) values • Landscape pattern, functions, species, combine – Biodiversity Service Score
Biodiversity can be characterized by:
• Mapped features • Quantitative tabular data • Narrative description
Assumptions underlying biodiversity framework
• Coarse filter looks at habitat abundance, type, integrity, rarity and distribution • Fine filter looks at species needs not captured in coarse filter • Ecological integrity characterizes functioning systems that support native biodiversity
Ecological integrity
• Vegetation, structure, composition • Ecological processes – fire, hydrology • Species composition – Common species – Invasive species • Rare, uncommon species not good indicators
Species measures
• Rarity weighting applied – priority • Relevant regulations • Migratory patterns for some fish, wildlife • Population sizes • Biotic condition
Application for biodiversity index
• • • • Broad scale conservation planning Context of ecosystem service assessments Linked to social, economic factors Impact of corporate sourcing decisions
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Challenges
• • • May be too complex as presented Needs translation for broad application Requires high quality, detailed information
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Questions for the group
• • • • Examples of habitat/biodiversity measures ?
Other approaches?
Field applications?
Collaborate to find creative solutions?
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Sara Vickerman Defenders of Wildlife Svickerman@defenders http://marketplace.conservationregistry.org/ Defenders of Wildlife