Spatial Analysis For Conservation and Sustainability
Conservation
Biodiversity is threatened, and conservation is urgent. The reality of limited resources for conservation requires prioritization among actions, species, and places, and the building of capacity in countries where threats are high.
During the Pleistocene, red fox (Vulpes vulpes) populations in North America were isolated in glacial refugia
and diverged into 3 major lineages: the Nearctic-Eastern subclade of eastern Canada, the Nearctic-Mountain
subclade of the western mountains, and the Holarctic clade of Alaska. Following glacial retreats, these genetically
distinct populations of foxes expanded into newly available habitat. Along with subsequent translocation from fur
farms, these expansions have resulted in red foxes now occupying most of the continent. The origin of foxes that
colonized the Great Lakes Region, however, remains unknown. Furthermore, it is unclear whether contemporary
populations inhabiting this region are the result of natural range expansion or if foxes released from fur farms
colonized the landscape in the 1900s. To determine the origin of red foxes in the Great Lakes Region, we collected
genetic samples from 3 groups: 1) contemporary wild foxes, 2) historical wild foxes collected before fur farming,
and 3) fur-farmed foxes from a contemporary fur farm. We constructed a network of mtDNA haplotypes to identify
phylogeographic relationships between the 3 sample groups, and examined genetic signatures of fur-farmed
foxes via the androgen receptor gene (AR) associated with tame phenotypes. Historical wild foxes demonstrated
natural colonization from all 3 major North American lineages, which converged within the Great Lakes Region,
and contemporary wild foxes maintained the historically high genetic diversity. Most contemporary wild foxes
also matched haplotypes of fur-farmed foxes; however, AR was not useful in distinguishing fur-farm origins
in samples of contemporary wild foxes. Our results show that geographically disparate populations naturally
merged in the Great Lakes Region before fur-farmed foxes were introduced. Due to the historically high genetic
diversity in the Great Lakes Region, any introductions from fur farms likely contributed to, but did not create, the
genetic structure observed in this region.
Forest fragmentation can lead to habitat reduction, edge increase, and exposure to disturbances.
A key emerging policy to protect forests is payments for ecosystem services (PES), which
offers compensation to landowners for environmental stewardship. Mexico was one of the first countries
to implement a broad-scale PES program, enrolling over 2.3 Mha by 2010. However, Mexico’s
PES did not completely eliminate deforestation in enrolled parcels and could have increased incentives
to hide deforestation in ways that increased fragmentation. We studied whether Mexican forests
enrolled in the PES program had less forest fragmentation than those not enrolled, and whether the
PES effects varied among forest types, among socioeconomic zones, or compared to the protected
areas system. We analyzed forest cover maps from 2000 to 2012 to calculate forest fragmentation. We
summarized fragmentation for different forest types and in four socioeconomic zones. We then used
matching analysis to investigate the possible causal impacts of the PES on forests across Mexico and
compared the effects of the PES program with that of protected areas. We found that the area covered
by forest in Mexico decreased by 3.4% from 2000 to 2012, but there was 9.3% less forest core area.
Change in forest cover was highest in the southern part of Mexico, and high-stature evergreen tropical
forest lost the most core areas (17%), while oak forest lost the least (2%). Our matching analysis
found that the PES program reduced both forest cover loss and forest fragmentation. Low-PES areas
increased twice as much of the number of forest patches, forest edge, forest islets, and largest area of
forest lost compared to high-PES areas. Compared to the protected areas system in Mexico, high-PES
areas performed similarly in preventing fragmentation, but not as well as biosphere reserve core zones.
We conclude that the PES was successful in slowing forest fragmentation at the regional and country
level. However, the program could be improved by targeting areas where forest changes are more frequent,
especially in southern Mexico. Fragmentation analyses should be implemented in other areas
to monitor the outcomes of protection programs such as REDD+ and PES.
Forest fragmentation can lead to habitat reduction, edge increase, and exposure to disturbances.
A key emerging policy to protect forests is payments for ecosystem services (PES), which
offers compensation to landowners for environmental stewardship. Mexico was one of the first countries
to implement a broad-scale PES program, enrolling over 2.3 Mha by 2010. However, Mexico’s
PES did not completely eliminate deforestation in enrolled parcels and could have increased incentives
to hide deforestation in ways that increased fragmentation. We studied whether Mexican forests
enrolled in the PES program had less forest fragmentation than those not enrolled, and whether the
PES effects varied among forest types, among socioeconomic zones, or compared to the protected
areas system. We analyzed forest cover maps from 2000 to 2012 to calculate forest fragmentation. We
summarized fragmentation for different forest types and in four socioeconomic zones. We then used
matching analysis to investigate the possible causal impacts of the PES on forests across Mexico and
compared the effects of the PES program with that of protected areas. We found that the area covered
by forest in Mexico decreased by 3.4% from 2000 to 2012, but there was 9.3% less forest core area.
Change in forest cover was highest in the southern part of Mexico, and high-stature evergreen tropical
forest lost the most core areas (17%), while oak forest lost the least (2%). Our matching analysis
found that the PES program reduced both forest cover loss and forest fragmentation. Low-PES areas
increased twice as much of the number of forest patches, forest edge, forest islets, and largest area of
forest lost compared to high-PES areas. Compared to the protected areas system in Mexico, high-PES
areas performed similarly in preventing fragmentation, but not as well as biosphere reserve core zones.
We conclude that the PES was successful in slowing forest fragmentation at the regional and country
level. However, the program could be improved by targeting areas where forest changes are more frequent,
especially in southern Mexico. Fragmentation analyses should be implemented in other areas
to monitor the outcomes of protection programs such as REDD+ and PES.
Steller’s Jay that has been fitted with a radio-transmitter to track its movements and has been banded with a unique color combination, so it can be identified in the future without having to be re-captured.
Ph.D. student Kristin Brunk works in the old-growth redwoods of central California to understand the efficacy of current management for Steller’s Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) and the implications of this management for the federally threatened Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus). Both are native bird species in the redwoods, but Steller’s Jays are a synanthropic species, meaning they benefit from associating with humans, while Marbled Murrelet populations have severely declined. As populations of Steller’s Jays have increased, they have threatened the viability of Marbled Murrelet populations mainly through nest predation. Nowhere has this threat been more dire than in protected campground areas in remnant patches of old-growth forest. These areas have Steller’s Jay populations that are twice as high as in non-human dominated forests, and these campground areas also represent 60% of all remaining Marbled Murrelet nesting habitat in central California.
PhD student Kristin Brunk holds a banded Steller’s Jay before releasing.
Murrelet reproduction is naturally slow, as adults only produce one chick per year, but in central California where Steller’s Jay populations are subsidized by human foods, about 80% of Marbled Murrelet nests fail, due mostly to predation. Reducing corvid predation would help boost murrelet reproduction, which is believed to offer the highest probability of Marbled Murrelet population recovery in central California. In 2013, in an attempt to combat corvid predation, California State Parks implemented multiple non-lethal strategies to manage Steller’s Jays. These included improving trash management, deploying noxious murrelet mimic eggs to create taste aversion to murrelet eggs in corvids, and the “Crumb Clean” campaign, an effort to educate campers about the harm of feeding corvids and eliminate corvid access to camper food. The crumb clean campaign requires campers to properly store or dispose of all foodstuffs in their camp. Through the elimination of this food source in the campgrounds, the hope is that jay populations will decrease, allowing more murrelet nests to succeed. Brunk’s research focuses on comparing jay density, home range size, body condition, and diet between pre- and post-management jay populations to determine if these management strategies have been successful.
The aftermath of Steller’s Jays and other wildlife accessing food that has not been properly stowed by campers at a campsite in Big Basin State Park, where Kristin conducts her field work.
Brunk focuses her work within the campgrounds of Big Basin Redwoods State Park by capturing Steller’s Jays in mist nets. Once she has captured a jay, Brunk takes a tail feather sample to determine the bird’s body condition and a flight feather sample to determine what the bird has been eating. Body condition is determined by measuring feather growth bars, and Brunk deciphers how much human food the jays eat by performing stable isotope analyses on flight feather samples. Each jay is also banded with a unique color combination, so individuals can be identified without re-capturing them, and males are fitted with a backpack-mounted radio-transmitter. By tracking birds with radio-transmitters, Brunk is able to understand how jay home range sizes have changed since management started. Despite a perpetual battle of wits with the extremely intelligent Steller’s Jays, Brunk has successfully banded about 85% of the jays in her study area.
In addition to her research, Brunk is also incredibly active in education and outreach throughout her study area. She gives talks at Big Basin Campfire Programs to educate the public about Marbled Murrelets and Steller’s Jays. Brunk conducts banding demonstrations so campers can see exactly how she captures the jays, and they can often participate in the release of banded jays. And as she walks through the campgrounds tracking birds with radio-transmitters, she frequently answers campers’ questions about the giant metal antenna she is carrying. Brunk works hard to foster good relationships with the other users of her study area and is passionate about sharing her work to promote better public understanding of management initiatives such as the crumb clean campaign.
The Crumb Clean Campaign is an effort in Big Basin and all the other California State Parks to remind campers to pick up all their trash and every crumb of food, so jays and other potentially problematic critters won’t have access to human foods.
Brunk plans to complete one more field season in 2019, but her research is far from over. Brunk is also working to evaluate a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and its effectiveness at conserving Marbled Murrelet habitat on private land. Habitat Conservation Plans are a commonly used management strategy, with over 1000 HCPs currently active, but the efficacy of these plans has not been well-tested. Brunk hopes to determine if HCPs are an effective management technique, using the Marbled Murrelet as a case study. Overall, Brunk’s research aims to understand the effectiveness of management strategies and conservation of federally threatened species. Ultimately, what she discovers will be used directly in adaptive management strategies that will be paramount in preventing the extinction of the Marbled Murrelet. Along the way, Brunk hopes to uncover strategies and techniques that will apply to the conservation of other species in the future.
A Cooper’s hawk (Accipiter cooperi) in an urban nature conservancy. Prey abundance seems to be the driving factor in their colonization and persistence in urban areas. Photo: Ashley Olah 2014.
The effect of urbanization on wildlife is varied; some species adapt to urbanization, and others do not. For accipiter hawks, urbanization might not be all that bad. By combining remote sensing with citizen science, UW-Madison researchers recently found that in Chicago, increases in imperviousness and tree cover reduced the probability of colonization of urban areas by accipiter hawks, while increases in prey abundance (i.e. songbirds) increased the probability of colonization. In addition, the stabilization of urbanization coincided with a leveling off of hawk occupancy. These recent findings can help scientists understand how wildlife may respond and adapt to urbanization in other areas. To see if these trends reoccur in urban environments in very different biomes, Sofia Kozidis will conduct research that expands upon the Chicago findings to improve understanding of how avian predators respond to urbanization over a larger range of conditions. She will expand the area of study from one urban area, Chicago, to other major urban areas that have high accipiter hawk occupancy and a wealth of Project FeederWatch data.
A pine warbler (Setophaga pinus) visits a suet feeder in a residential backyard. Abundance of songbird species visiting bird feeders affects where accipiter hawks colonize and persist in urban areas. Photo: Ashley Olah 2014.
Project FeederWatch is a citizen science project in which participants count the birds visiting their backyard bird feeders periodically between November and April. This data is used by scientists to track long-term trends in winter bird distribution and abundance. Using FeederWatch data from 1996 to 2018, Sofia will identify occupancy patterns in urban areas that have a high abundance of accipiter hawks while also seeking to assess impacts of hawk’s presence on songbird populations. The expectation is that, as was found in Chicago, accipiter hawk occupancy will increase over time. However, it is possible that colonization and occupancy patterns could differ between cities depending on factors such as climate, city layout, and the surrounding environment. If patterns in certain urban areas differ from the expectation, Sofia will analyze those areas using remote sensing tools to see if she can determine factors associated with unexpected patterns, ultimately helping to elucidate the range of responses of accipiter hawks to urbanization. Sofia’s research highlights the usefulness of citizen science projects, which generates larger amounts of data than could be collected by one researcher alone and connects citizens to scientific research.
Humans are rapidly transforming the Earth’s ecosystems, with profound consequences for biodiversity. To predict how species will respond to rapidly changing environments, biodiversity science needs better datasets of biodiversity patterns and species distribution. Dr. Laura Farwell is part of a team on a mission to advance and broaden the use of Landsat satellite data for biodiversity science by characterizing habitat heterogeneity at a medium resolution (30 m), across the conterminous U.S.
Map of habitat heterogeneity across the conterminous U.S., based on 30-m resolution standard deviation texture (21×21 moving window) of NDVI (index of vegetation greenness) from Landsat 8 imagery. Darker green areas indicate regions with higher habitat heterogeneity.
Ecological processes influence patterns of species diversity at multiple scales, and landscape grain strongly affects habitat niches and thus biodiversity potential. Vertebrate species in particular tend to select habitat based on parameters acting at multiple scales. For example, several bird species might strongly prefer large patches of primary forests at broader scales, but at a finer scale habitat selection might be strongly influenced by the amount of heterogeneity within habitat patches. Habitat heterogeneity can also influence species diversity patterns as a result of specialization by certain species on different habitat types. And in general, high heterogeneity increases opportunities for species coexistence. It has been hypothesized that avian diversity is strongly influenced by local scale ecosystem patterns. Vegetation structure is one example of a local scale characteristic that many birds seem to key in on, particularly for nest site selection. But collecting these types of data on the ground is logistically difficult and time consuming. If we can characterize habitat heterogeneity using remotely sensed images, this can potentially be a powerful tool for biodiversity science, allowing rapid classification of vegetation, as well as inference about habitat quality and ecological niches.
A set of indices collectively called image texture holds promise for meeting this need. These indices characterize the amount and pattern of contrast in the tonal values of adjacent pixels, a product of the unique spectral signature of different plant species and combinations within the area covered by the pixels. First-order image texture measures differences in spectral values within a defined neighborhood (e.g., a 3×3 window) surrounding each pixel. More advanced image texture analysis involves 2nd-order texture measures based on a spectral value co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) or local indicators of spatial autocorrelation. It has previously been shown that image texture measures are powerful predictors of avian species richness, in an upper Midwestern U.S. grassland-savanna-woodland system, and in a desert- ecosystem. Building on what has been learned in previous studies, Laura will calculate two 1st-order textures (range and standard deviation), two 2nd-order textures (contrast and angular second moment), plus one local indicator of spatial autocorrelation (the G* statistic).
Map of North American Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) route locations in the conterminous United States. Each breeding season, approximately 4,000 BBS routes are surveyed across the study area. Laura will compare texture measures of habitat heterogeneity with BBS data, with the goal of mapping patterns of avian biodiversity across the conterminous U.S.
A strength of Laura’s project is the use of Landsat data at 30 m resolution as the basis of texture measures, as this resolution is relevant to many animal species. Laura will characterize image texture across the entire conterminous U.S. She will calculate texture of two different Landsat products- NDVI (which indicates vegetation greenness) and the SWIR band (which highlights leaf and soil moisture content). She will also calculate texture of the cumulative Dynamic Habitat Index currently being derived by PhD student Elena Razenkova, which characterizes plant productivity.
After coming close to extinction by the early 1970s, nearly twenty years ago Kirtland’s Warblers (Setophaga kirtlandii) achieved the population recovery goal set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and since then have exceeded that goal; stabilizing at nearly twice the population size set as the goal when they were first listed as endangered. The current population estimate is approximately 2300 pairs. Therefore the US Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of removing Kirtland’s warblers from the Endangered Species List. While reaching this goal is a huge step forward, there may be negative implications of delisting this extremely specialized species, as it will always rely on habitat management for its persistence.
Kirtland’s Warblers are habitat specialists, meaning that they have evolved to use only very specific habitats. Traditionally, Kirtland’s warblers bred in patches of wildfire-regenerated jack pine forest, on sandy soils, and they only used these areas while the trees were young and approximately five to 20 feet tall. Their stronghold has been lower Michigan, where approximately 99% of the population exists. Fire suppression and deforestation associated with European settlement in the Great Lakes region led to major decreases of young jack pine forests, the essential habitat necessary for foraging and nesting by Kirtland’s warblers. While Kirtland’s warblers don’t nest in the jack pine trees themselves, they do make use of the lower branches of the adolescent trees to camouflage and protect the nests, which are located on the ground, often close to the base of a tree. As the jack pines age they shed these low hanging branches and nests not hidden from view are exposed and vulnerable to predation. These low live branches available only in young stands of jack pine seem to be an in important element females use to select the placement of nests.
The decline in young jack pine forests together with nest parasitism by Brown-headed cowbirds led to the decline in Kirtland’s warblers, and their listing on the Endangered Species List. In subsequent management aimed at recovering the species, habitat had to be created by harvesting and planting jack pine in patterns that mimicked the way jack pine grew after wildfires – patches of dense pines with interspersed openings. Management, also including cowbird control, was successful, warbler population size increased, and eventually all suitable habitat in lower Michigan was saturated by breeding Kirtland’s warblers, and some birds began to prospect for new breeding areas outside of their core range.
Around 2007, Kirtland’s warblers started to colonize a non-traditionally used habitat, commercially owned red pine plantations in central Wisconsin. Kirtland’s warbler have been breeding in those plantations of young red pine ever since.
Figure 1 Ecological Regions where Kirtland’s warblers breed in Wisconsin. In the Northwest Sands (Bayfield County; red) and the Northeast Sands (Marinette County; green), Kirtland’s warblers breed in jack pine forests. In the Central Sands (Adams County; blue), Kirtland’s warblers breed in in red pine dominated plantations.
The population recovery in Michigan, subsequent prospecting for new breeding areas, and colonization of habitat in Wisconsin is exciting, and is promising news for the long term persistence of the Kirtland’s warbler. When members of a species are spread across different geographic areas, if a disaster strikes one area, the individuals in other areas can still carry on and perhaps serve as a source to repopulate the area where the disaster occurred. While the Wisconsin population is not large enough to buffer the species from a large catastrophic event in the core range in Michigan, this range expansion is a step in the right direction, and researchers and managers in Wisconsin are working to increase the small number here by ensuring that suitable habitat is available.
What is it about red pine plantations that attract Kirtland’s warblers though? Ashley, in collaboration with scientists from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, set out to observe the warblers and collect data about the Wisconsin red pine dominated plantations they breed in to try to find the answer.
Ashley has found that a major factor in Kirtland’s warbler habitat selection is the age of the red pines, which parallels their use of jack pines in Michigan. Red pine saplings are planted at relatively high density, similar to the density of naturally regenerated jack pines that Kirtland’s warblers rely on. Red pines also tend to retain their lowest branches longer than jack pines. This trait of red pines may mean that they can hide nests on the ground in a way that Kirtland’s warblers find suitable, for more years than jack pine do. Additionally red pines thrive on the sandy soils that support jack pine, and that quickly drains after rain events, keeping Kirtland’s warblers’ ground nests dry. A final factor that Kirtland’s warblers seem sensitive to when deciding where to place their nest is litter depth.
Figure 3 Red pine dominated plantations used by breeding Kirtland’s warblers in Adams County, Wisconsin. (c) Ashley Olah 2014
Ashley has also found that nest success of Kirtland’s warblers in red pine plantations is comparable to nest success in jack pine.
Ashley continues to study Kirtland’s warblers’ use of red pine dominated forests in Wisconsin. Using data collected from nest cameras and radio transmitters she plans to identify nest predators, learn more about Kirtland’s warblers’ nesting behavior, and to document survival rates of juveniles after they leave the nest at her Adams County, Wisconsin study site.
Dynamic Habitat Indices (DHI) have been used to understand and predict patterns of species richness across the globe, but Elena Razenkova has found a new application for these new remotely sensed measures of productivity. Elena found that DHI was correlated with Moose abundance over the last three decades in the former USSR and current Russia.
Moose abundance in the former Soviet Union can be predicted from the DHI (source: pexels.com)
Moose are important for subsistence, culture, and ecosystem function across much of the boreal region of the northern hemisphere. Like many species that occur at high latitudes, they experience population fluctuations from year to year, which can be difficult to predict. Elena used a long-term data set of Moose winter track counts in the former USSR and Russia from 1981 to 2010 to determine how Moose abundance has fluctuated over time.
Elena hypothesized that changes in ecosystem productivity from year to year may contribute to changes in Moose populations; however, because Moose occupy such a broad geographic area, measuring productivity on the ground would be a difficult task. NASA’s earth observing satellite-mounted MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), collects data on Earth’s environmental conditions over time, which can be used to develop Dynamic Habitat Indices going back decades.
Dynamic Habitat Indices provide summaries of vegetation productivity over time, which is correlated with the richness of animal species in a given area. Vegetation productivity is also thought to affect the reproduction and survival of many animal species, leading to changes in their abundance over time. Dynamic habitat indices include cumulative productivity, minimum productivity, and variation in productivity, making them a comprehensive data source to test whether Moose abundance is correlated with productivity over the last 30 years in the USSR and Russia.
Elena found that DHI along with other environmental data such as climate, explained 79% of the variation in moose abundance in the different administrative regions of the USSR and Russia. The predictive power of the DHI model decreased somewhat from the 1980s to the 2000s, suggesting a possible role for increases in human-induced changes in Moose abundance, corresponding to the breakup of the USSR.
Elena’s research demonstrates an exciting new use for DHI: understanding and predicting the abundance of individual animal species. This may have important applications in determining animal abundance over time and across broad spatial extents. Elena hopes to look at patterns of abundance of several other animal species to determine if DHI is an equally important predictor of abundance among different taxonomic and functional groups. DHI could also serve as a helpful resource to predict how the abundance of some animal species will change in response to global changes that affect vegetation productivity and seasonality.
Climate change is accompanied by shifts in species distributions, as portions of current ranges become less
suitable. Maintaining or improving landscape connectivity to facilitate species movements is a primary approach
to mitigate the effects of climate change on biodiversity. However, it is not clear how ongoing changes in land
use and climate may affect the existing connectivity of landscapes. We evaluated shifts in habitat suitability and
connectivity for the imperiled Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) in Wisconsin using species distribution
modeling in combination with different future scenarios of both land use change and climate change for the
2050s. We found that climate change had significant effects on both habitat suitability and connectivity,
however, there was little difference in the magnitude of effects among different economic scenarios. Under both
our low- and high-CO2 emissions scenarios, suitable habitat for the Blanding's turtle shifted northward. In the
high-emissions scenario, almost no suitable habitat remained for Blanding's turtle in Wisconsin by the 2050s and
there was up to a 100,000-fold increase in landscape resistance to turtle movement, suggesting the landscape
essentially becomes impassable. Habitat loss and landscape resistance were exponentially greater in southern
versus northern Wisconsin, indicating a strong trailing edge effect. Thus, populations at the southern edge of the
range are likely to “fall behind” shifts in suitable habitat faster than northern populations. Given its limited
dispersal capability, loss of suitable habitat may occur at a rate far faster than the Blanding's turtle can adjust to
changing conditions via shifts in range.
The ecological literature offers many conflicting recommendations for how managers should respond to ecosystem change and
novelty. We propose a framework in which forest managers may achieve desired forest characteristics by combining strategies for
(1) restoring historical conditions, (2) maintaining current conditions, and (3) transitioning toward novel conditions. Drawing on
policy studies and the ecological and social sciences, we synthesize research on factors that shape forest management responses to
ecosystem novelty and change. Although the ecological literature often suggests the likelihood of transitions to novelty, we found
that a management focus on restoration and persistence strategies was supported by landowners, private and public lands policy,
and forest manager capacity and culture. In this era of unprecedented change, managers and policy makers must address
ecosystem novelty to achieve desired forest futures without eroding support for forest conservation and management.
Targeting conservation actions efficiently requires information on vulnerability of and threats to conservation
targets, but such information is rarely included in conservation plans. In the U.S., recently updated State Wildlife
Action Plans identify Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs) selected by each state as priority areas for future
action to conserve wildlife and habitats. The question is how threatened these COAs are by habitat loss and
degradation, major threats to wildlife in the U.S. that are often caused by housing development. We compiled
spatial data on COAs across the conterminous U.S. We estimated COA vulnerability using current land protection
status and COA threat using projected housing growth derived from U.S. census data. COAs comprise 1–46% of
each region. Across regions, 28–82% of the area within COAs is vulnerable to future housing development, and
5–55% and 7–23% of that vulnerable COA area is threatened by projected dense housing and rapid housing
growth, respectively. COA vulnerability is greatest in the East. Threat from dense housing and rapid housing
growth is highest in the Northeast and Pacific Southwest, respectively. Results highlight that many areas
identified as important for reducing wildlife listings under the U.S. Endangered Species Act may need further
protection to fulfill their conservation goals because they are both vulnerable to and threatened by future
housing development. Our analyses can help practitioners target local government outreach, land protection
efforts, and landscape-scale mitigation programs to decrease future COA loss from housing development, and
could be expanded to address additional COA threats (e.g., wildfire, invasive species).
