Ecological Performance of Protected Areas

Protected areas are a cornerstone of local, regional, and global strategies for the conservation of biodiversity. However, the ecological performance of these areas, both in terms of the representation and the maintenance of key biodiversity features, remains poorly understood. A large and rapidly e...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of ecology, evolution, and systematics evolution, and systematics, 2008-01, Vol.39 (1), p.93-113
Main Authors: Gaston, Kevin J, Jackson, Sarah F, Cantu-Salazar, Lisette, Cruz-Pinon, Gabriela
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biodiversity
Biodiversity conservation
Biological and medical sciences
case studies
Conservation
conservation areas
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Ecology
Forest conservation
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Habitat conservation
Habitat loss
Habitats
literature reviews
Mammals
Protected areas
Species
Threatened species
Wildlife conservation
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Summary:Protected areas are a cornerstone of local, regional, and global strategies for the conservation of biodiversity. However, the ecological performance of these areas, both in terms of the representation and the maintenance of key biodiversity features, remains poorly understood. A large and rapidly expanding literature bears on these issues, but it is highly fragmented, principally comprises particular case studies, and employs a diverse array of approaches. Here we provide a synthetic review of this work, discriminating between issues of performance of inventory and condition at the scale of individual protected areas, portfolios, and networks of protected areas. We emphasize the insights that follow and the links between the different issues, as well as highlight the major problems that remain unresolved.
ISSN:1543-592X
1545-2069
DOI:10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.39.110707.173529