Location of protected areas vital to wildlife survival

New research says location of protected areas vital to wildlife survival

Scientists identify hotspots for Canada’s protected areas. Location, location, location is not just a buzzword for homebuyers. A new study, by 17 conservation scientists and environmental scholars, say the exact location of protective wild spaces is just as vital as committing to set these areas aside.

“Where Canada protects land is a significant decision,” says UBC Okanagan researcher Laura Coristine, the study’s lead author. “We wouldn’t build a school in the highest traffic density area in a city—especially if few children live there. Selecting a site for a protected area similarly needs to guard against current threats to species and safeguard biodiversity into the future.”

The research provides a first-ever framework to identify geographical hotspots that have the ecological potential to protect wild places and species from biodiversity loss associated with the global extinction crisis. The study, “Informing Canada’s Commitment to Biodiversity Conservation” uses five key ecological principles to guide the creation of the next generation of Canada’s protected areas: preserve habitat for species at risk, represent Canada’s diverse ecosystems, conserve remaining wilderness, ensure landscape connectivity, and protect areas that are more resilient to climate changes.

“Canada is a country rich and diverse in natural beauty, wildlife and resources,” says Coristine. “As one of the largest countries in the world, Canada’s commitment to protect 17 per cent of our land and inland water areas by 2020 is of global consequence. However, the Canadian government currently has no systematic, scientific way of accomplishing this goal to maximize conservation benefits.”

Coristine is a Liber Ero postdoctoral researcher at UBC’s Okanagan campus. She works out of the Wildlife Restoration Ecology research lab with Assistant Professor Adam T. Ford, who teaches biology in the Irving K. Barber School of Arts and Sciences.

“The world’s wildlife is in rapid decline,” says Ford, a Canada Research Chair in Wildlife Restoration Ecology.