Mpumalanga Biodiversity Conservation Plan Handbook - bgis-sanbi

MPUMALANGA BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION PLAN HANDBOOK
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Dung Beetle
possibly Anachalcos convexus
Insects like dung beetles
have an important role to
play as decomposers and
waste removal specialists.
There are several families
and thousands of species
of dung beetle. By
burying and eating dung,
the beetles help nutrient
cycling and improve soil
structure. Dung beetles
reportedly save the
United States cattle
industry an estimated
$380 million annually by
burying above-ground
livestock faeces.
WHAT IS SYSTEMATIC BIODIVERSITY PLANNING?
The process of identifying spatial biodiversity priorities in the MBCP is based on the
Systematic Biodiversity Planning approach of Margules and Pressey (2000), also referred to as
Systematic Conservation Planning. The underlying principle is to identify representative
samples of biodiversity that are located where they can persist over the long term. The
amount of biodiversity requiring protection must then be quantified by setting a target for
each biodiversity feature. This numerical target tells us how much of the feature needs to be
maintained or conserved, in order for it to persist and contribute to ecosystem functioning.
BOX 4.1: STEPS IN SYSTEMATIC BIODIVERSITY PLANNING
(Margules & Pressey 2000)
Systematic Biodiversity Planning has a set (systematic) sequence of procedures
1. Select and collate the biodiversity features and surrogates to be used in the
planning area.
2. Formulate explicit conservation goals that can be expressed as quantifiable
biodiversity targets.
3. Review the extent to which goals have been met in existing reserves.
4. Use systematic methods to locate and design feasible new reserves that are
able to protect the remainder of the biodiversity targets (that are not currently
protected).
5. Prioritise and implement conservation actions on the ground.
6. Manage and monitor (adaptive management) within reserves to maintain
biodiversity features.
Systematic biodiversity planning is at a more advanced stage for terrestrial than for aquatic
ecosystems, usually resulting in such plans being done separately. The MBCP is the first
provincial biodiversity plan to successfully integrate the two. Systematic biodiversity planning
makes use of sophisticated planning software to calculate the most efficient pattern of
planning units required to meet biodiversity targets. The MBCP used a software package
called Marxan (Possingham et al. 2000) briefly explained in the box below.
BOX 4.2: BIODIVERSITY PLANNING SOFTWARE USED IN
MBCP –– MARXAN AND CLUZ
Cluz is a user-friendly ArcView GIS interface that allows users to design protected
area networks based on the Marxan algorithm. Its efficiency lies in linking the Marxan
conservation planning software with ArcView and in importing of data, analysis and
exporting of output data.
Marxan is designed to produce very efficient solutions to the problem of selecting planning
units that meet a suite of biodiversity targets. Although several other conservation planning
packages are available (such as C-plan), Marxan is unique in that it is able to address three
important functions. These are:
Incorporating boundary cost;
Incorporating planning unit cost;
Setting clump targets.
Marxan then aims to minimise the cost of the above three functions by adding a cost value
to them, and then trying to minimise planning unit portfolio costs.
continued overleaf