PARENT SESSION
Symposium #14: Spatial control of natural and managed systems: theory and applications.
Sponsored by ESA Theoretical Ecology Section
Organized by: L. Gross.
Wednesday, August 8, 2001. 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Madison Ballroom A
Spatial and biological aspects of reserve design.
Chave, Jerome1,2, Levin, Simon1, 1 2
ABSTRACT- To the extent that mathematical theory has been applied to the problem of reserve design, the emphasis has mostly been on individual species. Despite recognition of the importance of considering communities as ensembles, there is no general theory for dealing with the preservation of communities, and the critical processes that sustain ecosystem services. Recently, a variety of spatial optimization models have been applied to reserve design. However, these are static models, and do not treat dynamics. Clearly, the need exists to go beyond such models; we address these in this presentation. We illustrate the subtle interplay between time, space and life history through the use of individual-based models of plant population dynamics, where essential biological processes, such as competition and dispersal, are simulated explicitly. We perform fragmentation experiments on the dynamically created landscape, exploring the differences among various geometric configurations. We find that increasing the interaction among protected areas, either by promoting long-distance dispersal, or by creating corridors, can have a negative impact at the community level. Indeed, there exists a threshold above which the dynamics of the local metacommunity are perfectly synchronized, enhancing the risk of global extinction. This reinforces the point that management policies must address the community-level implications of reserve design, rather than focus upon one or a small set of species.
KEY WORDS: Spatially-explicit model, reserve design, ecosystem processes, ecosystem services