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Conserving mobile species
Author(s) -
Runge Claire A,
Martin Tara G,
Possingham Hugh P,
Willis Stephen G,
Fuller Richard A
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
frontiers in ecology and the environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.918
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1540-9309
pISSN - 1540-9295
DOI - 10.1890/130237
Subject(s) - habitat , geography , resource (disambiguation) , ecology , range (aeronautics) , umbrella species , environmental resource management , biology , computer science , environmental science , engineering , endangered species , computer network , aerospace engineering
The distributions of many species are dynamic in space and time, and movements made by individuals range from regular and predictable migrations to erratic, resource‐driven nomadism. Conserving such mobile species is challenging; the effectiveness of a conservation action taken at one site depends on the condition of other sites that may be geographically and politically distant (thousands of kilometers away or in another jurisdiction, for example). Recent work has shown that even simple and predictable linkages among sites caused by “to‐and‐fro” migration can make migratory species especially vulnerable to habitat loss, and substantially affect the results of conservation prioritizations. Species characterized by more erratic or nomadic movements are very difficult to protect through current conservation planning techniques, which typically view species distributions as static. However, collaborations between migration ecologists, conservation planners, and mathematical ecologists are paving the way for improvements in conservation planning for mobile species.