Using metapopulation theory for practical conservation of mangrove endemic birds.

Huang, Ryan

Pimm, Stuart L

Giri, Chandra

2021-08-02T16:53:34Z

2021-08-02T16:53:34Z

2020-02

2021-08-02T16:53:32Z

As a landscape becomes increasingly fragmented through habitat loss, the individual patches become smaller and more isolated and thus less likely to sustain a local population. Metapopulation theory is appropriate for analyzing fragmented landscapes because it combines empirical landscape features with species-specific information to produce direct information on population extinction risks. This approach contrasts with descriptions of habitat fragments, which provide only indirect information on risk. Combining a spatially explicit metapopulation model with empirical data on endemic species' ranges and maps of habitat cover, we calculated the metapopulation capacity-a measure of a landscape's ability to sustain a metapopulation. Mangroves provide an ideal model landscape because they are of conservation concern and their patch boundaries are easily delineated. For 2000-20015, we calculated global metapopulation capacity for 99 metapopulations of 32 different bird species endemic to mangroves. Northern Australia and Southeast Asia had the highest richness of mangrove endemic birds. The Caribbean, Pacific coast of Central America, Madagascar, Borneo, and isolated patches in Southeast Asia in Myanmar and Malaysia had the highest metapopulation losses. Regions with the highest loss of habitat area were not necessarily those with the highest loss of metapopulation capacity. Often, it was not a matter of how much, but how the habitat was lost. Our method can be used by managers to evaluate and prioritize a landscape for metapopulation persistence.

0888-8892

1523-1739

https://hdl.handle.net/10161/23515

eng

Wiley

Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology

10.1111/cobi.13364

Animals

Birds

Conservation of Natural Resources

Ecosystem

Population Dynamics

Models, Biological

Caribbean Region

Central America

Borneo

Malaysia

Myanmar

Australia

Madagascar

Using metapopulation theory for practical conservation of mangrove endemic birds.

Journal article

Pimm, Stuart L|0000-0003-4206-2456

266

275

1

Nicholas School of the Environment

Environmental Sciences and Policy

Duke Science & Society

Duke

Initiatives

Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

Published

34