|
| Biodiversity conservation design, though difficult with fragmentary or insufficient
biological data, can be planned and evaluated with several methods. One of them, the
complementarity criterion, is commonly used to account for the distributions of a number of
species (i.e., an autoecological approach). At the same time, the patchiness and spatial bias of
available distribution data has also been dealt with through distribution modelling. However,
both the uncertainty of the ranges estimated and the changes in species’ distributions in response
to changing climates, limit the potential of single-species distributions as the biodiversity
attribute to be used in complementarity strategies. Several technical and theoretical advantages
of composite biodiversity variables (i.e., a synecological approach) may, however, make them
ideal biodiversity indicators for conservation area selection. The drawbacks associated with
current biodiversity data are discussed herein, along with the possible advantages and
disadvantages of conservation planning through a synecological or autoecological approach. | |
|