Active Management of Protected Areas Enhances Metapopulation Expansion Under Climate Change

TY - JOUR

T1 - Active Management of Protected Areas Enhances Metapopulation Expansion Under Climate Change

AU - Lawson, Callum R.

AU - Bennie, Jonathan J.

AU - Thomas, Chris D.

AU - Hodgson, Jenny A.

AU - Wilson, Robert J.

PY - 2014/3

Y1 - 2014/3

N2 - There is a need to adapt biodiversity conservation to climate change, but few empirical studies are available to guide decision-making. Existing networks of protected areas (PAs) have been preferentially colonized during species' range expansions, but this could be due to their original habitat quality and/or to ongoing management activity. Here, we examine how PA status and active conservation management have influenced the range expansion of a butterfly Hesperia comma through fragmented landscapes. PAs under active conservation management were over three times more likely to be colonized than unprotected, unmanaged sites of the same basic vegetation type. Conservation action also increased the survival rate of existing populations inside and outside of PAs. We conclude that PAs facilitate range expansions by preventing habitat degradation and encouraging active conservation that improves habitat quality, and that conservation interventions on nondesignated sites also have a role to play in adapting conservation to climate change.

AB - There is a need to adapt biodiversity conservation to climate change, but few empirical studies are available to guide decision-making. Existing networks of protected areas (PAs) have been preferentially colonized during species' range expansions, but this could be due to their original habitat quality and/or to ongoing management activity. Here, we examine how PA status and active conservation management have influenced the range expansion of a butterfly Hesperia comma through fragmented landscapes. PAs under active conservation management were over three times more likely to be colonized than unprotected, unmanaged sites of the same basic vegetation type. Conservation action also increased the survival rate of existing populations inside and outside of PAs. We conclude that PAs facilitate range expansions by preventing habitat degradation and encouraging active conservation that improves habitat quality, and that conservation interventions on nondesignated sites also have a role to play in adapting conservation to climate change.

KW - Agri-environment scheme

KW - Colonization

KW - Connectivity

KW - Dispersal

KW - Global warming

KW - Habitat fragmentation

KW - Metapopulation dynamics

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897433776&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/conl.12036

DO - 10.1111/conl.12036

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84897433776

SN - 1755-263X

VL - 7

SP - 111

EP - 118

JO - Conservation Letters

JF - Conservation Letters

IS - 2

ER -