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At least 1,243 records · Page 69Linked to original sources
USGS2023

An introduction to lesions and histology of scleractinian corals

Stony corals (Scleractinia) are in the Phylum Cnidaria (cnidae referring to various types of stinging cells). They may be solitary or colonial, but all secrete an external, supporting aragonite skeleton. Large, colonial members of this phylum are responsible for the accretion of coral reefs in tropical and subtropical waters that form the foundations of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems. Coral reefs worldwide, but particularly in the Caribbean, are experiencing unprecedented levels of disease, resulting in reef degradation. Most coral diseases remain poorly described and lack clear case definitions, while the etiologies and pathogenesis are even more elusive. This introductory guide is focused on reef-building corals and describes basic gross and microscopic lesions in these corals in order to serve as an invitation to other veterinary pathologists to play a critical role in defining and advancing the field of coral pathology.

Veterinary Pathology↗
USGS2021

Editorial: Combining the science and practice of restoration ecology-Case studies of a grassroots binational restoration collaborative in the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion (2014- 2019)

The Sky Island Restoration Collaborative (SIRC) is a growing partnership between government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private landowners in southeast Arizona, the United States, and northern Sonora, Mexico. Starting in 2014 as an experiment to cultivate restoration efforts by connecting people across vocations and nations, SIRC has evolved over 5 years into a flourishing landscape-restoration initiative. The group is founded on the concept of developing a restoration economy, where ecological and socioeconomic benefits are interconnected and complimentary. The variety of ideas, people, field sites, administration, and organizations promote learning and increase project success through iterative adaptive management, transparency, and sharing. The collaborative seeks to make restoration self-sustaining and improve quality of life for citizens living along the US-Mexico border. Research and experiments are developed between scientists and practitioners to test hypotheses, qualify procedures, and quantify impacts on shared projects. Simultaneously, partners encourage and facilitate connecting more people to the landscape—via volunteerism, internships, training, and mentoring. Through this history, SIRC’s evolution is pioneering the integration of community and ecological restoration to protect biodiversity in the Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion. This editorial introduces SIRC as a unique opportunity for scientists and practitioners looking to engage in binational partnerships and segues into this special journal issue we have assembled that relates new findings in the field of restoration ecology.

Arizona, New Mexico↗
USGS2016

Genetic and phenotypic variation along an ecological gradient in lake trout Salvelinus namaycush

Background Adaptive radiation involving a colonizing phenotype that rapidly evolves into at least one other ecological variant, or ecotype, has been observed in a variety of freshwater fishes in post-glacial environments. However, few studies consider how phenotypic traits vary with regard to neutral genetic partitioning along ecological gradients. Here, we present the first detailed investigation of lake trout Salvelinus namaycush that considers variation as a cline rather than discriminatory among ecotypes. Genetic and phenotypic traits organized along common ecological gradients of water depth and geographic distance provide important insights into diversification processes in a lake with high levels of human disturbance from over-fishing. Results Four putative lake trout ecotypes could not be distinguished using population genetic methods, despite morphological differences. Neutral genetic partitioning in lake trout was stronger along a gradient of water depth, than by locality or ecotype. Contemporary genetic migration patterns were consistent with isolation-by-depth. Historical gene flow patterns indicated colonization from shallow to deep water. Comparison of phenotypic ( Pst ) and neutral genetic variation ( Fst ) revealed that morphological traits related to swimming performance (e.g., buoyancy, pelvic fin length) departed more strongly from neutral expectations along a depth gradient than craniofacial feeding traits. Elevated phenotypic variance with increasing water depth in pelvic fin length indicated possible ongoing character release and diversification. Finally, differences in early growth rate and asymptotic fish length across depth strata may be associated with limiting factors attributable to cold deep-water environments. Conclusion We provide evidence of reductions in gene flow and divergent natural selection associated with water depth in Lake Superior. Such information is relevant for documenting intraspecific biodiversity in the largest freshwater lake in the world for a species that recently lost considerable genetic diversity and is now in recovery. Unknown is whether observed patterns are a result of an early stage of incipient speciation, gene flow-selection equilibrium, or reverse speciation causing formerly divergent ecotypes to collapse into a single gene pool.

Lake Superior, Isle Royale↗
USGS2022

Genetic diversity and connectivity of chemosynthetic cold seep mussels from the U.S. Atlantic margin

Background Deep-sea mussels in the subfamily Bathymodiolinae have unique adaptations to colonize hydrothermal-vent and cold-seep environments throughout the world ocean. These invertebrates function as important ecosystem engineers, creating heterogeneous habitat and promoting biodiversity in the deep sea. Despite their ecological significance, efforts to assess the diversity and connectivity of this group are extremely limited. Here, we present the first genomic-scale diversity assessments of the recently discovered bathymodioline cold-seep communities along the U.S. Atlantic margin, dominated by Gigantidas childressi and Bathymodiolus heckerae . Results A Restriction-site Associated DNA Sequencing (RADSeq) approach was used on 177 bathymodiolines to examine genetic diversity and population structure within and between seep sites. Assessments of genetic differentiation using single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data revealed high gene flow among sites, with the shallower and more northern sites serving as source populations for deeper occurring G. childressi . No evidence was found for genetic diversification across depth in G. childressi , likely due to their high dispersal capabilities. Kinship analyses indicated a high degree of relatedness among individuals, and at least 10–20% of local recruits within a particular site. We also discovered candidate adaptive loci in G. childressi and B. heckerae that suggest differences in developmental processes and depth-related and metabolic adaptations to chemosynthetic environments. Conclusions These results highlight putative source communities for an important ecosystem engineer in the deep sea that may be considered in future conservation efforts. Our results also provide clues into species-specific adaptations that enable survival and potential speciation within chemosynthetic ecosystems.

Atlantic Ocean, Baltimore Canyon Seep, Blake Ridge↗
USGS2020

Do empirical observations support commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses? A systematic review protocol

Background Among the most widely anticipated climate-related impacts to biodiversity are geographic range shifts, whereby species shift their spatial distribution in response to changing climate conditions. In particular, a series of commonly articulated hypotheses have emerged: species are expected to shift their distributions to higher latitudes, greater elevations, and deeper depths in response to climate change, reflecting an underlying hypothesis that species will move to cooler locations to track spatial changes in the temperature of their current range. Yet, many species are not demonstrating range shifts consistent with these hypotheses. Resolving this discrepancy and providing effective explanations for the observed variability in species’ range shifts is urgently needed to help support a range of natural resource management decisions. Here, we propose a protocol to review the body of evidence for commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses at the species level focusing on observed latitudinal, longitudinal, elevational, and depth shifts in response to temperature and precipitation changes. We aim to answer the question: what is the impact of anthropogenic climate change (specifically changes in temperature and precipitation) on species ranges? Methods In this review protocol, we propose to conduct a systematic search of literature from internet databases and search engines in English. Articles will be screened in a two-stage process (title/abstract and full text) to evaluate whether they meet a list of eligibility criteria (e.g., presents species-level data, compares >1 time period). Initial data coding and extraction will be completed by four reviewers and checked by a secondary reviewer from among our co-authors. We will perform a formal meta-analysis to document estimated effect size using the subset of available range-shift data expressed in distance per time (e.g., km/decade). We will also use multinomial logistic regression models to assess the probability that species are shifting in a direction that supports our hypotheses (i.e. towards higher latitudes, greater elevations, and deeper depths). We will account for study methodology as a potential source of variation.

Environmental Evidence↗
USGS2022

The global environmental agenda urgently needs a semantic web of knowledge

Progress in key social-ecological challenges of the global environmental agenda (e.g., climate change, biodiversity conservation, Sustainable Development Goals) is hampered by a lack of integration and synthesis of existing scientific evidence. Facing a fast-increasing volume of data, information remains compartmentalized to pre-defined scales and fields, rarely building its way up to collective knowledge. Today's distributed corpus of human intelligence, including the scientific publication system, cannot be exploited with the efficiency needed to meet current evidence synthesis challenges; computer-based intelligence could assist this task. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based approaches underlain by semantics and machine reasoning offer a constructive way forward, but depend on greater understanding of these technologies by the science and policy communities and coordination of their use. By labelling web-based scientific information to become readable by both humans and computers, machines can search, organize, reuse, combine and synthesize information quickly and in novel ways. Modern open science infrastructure—i.e., public data and model repositories—is a useful starting point, but without shared semantics and common standards for machine actionable data and models, our collective ability to build, grow, and share a collective knowledge base will remain limited. The application of semantic and machine reasoning technologies by a broad community of scientists and decision makers will favour open synthesis to contribute and reuse knowledge and apply it toward decision making.

Environmental Evidence↗
USGS2022

Individual heterogeneity influences the effects of translocation on urban dispersal of an invasive reptile

Background Invasive reptiles pose a serious threat to global biodiversity, but early detection of individuals in an incipient population is often hindered by their cryptic nature, sporadic movements, and variation among individuals. Little is known about the mechanisms that affect the movement of these species, which limits our understanding of their dispersal. Our aim was to determine whether translocation or small-scale landscape features affect movement patterns of brown treesnakes ( Boiga irregularis ), a destructive invasive predator on the island of Guam. Methods We conducted a field experiment to compare the movements of resident (control) snakes to those of snakes translocated from forests and urban areas into new urban habitats. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to analyze snake movement mechanisms and account for attributes unique to invasive reptiles by incorporating multiple behavioral states and individual heterogeneity in movement parameters. Results We did not observe strong differences in mechanistic movement parameters (turning angle or step length) among experimental treatment groups. We found some evidence that translocated snakes from both forests and urban areas made longer movements than resident snakes, but variation among individuals within treatment groups weakened this effect. Snakes translocated from forests moved more frequently from pavement than those translocated from urban areas. Snakes translocated from urban areas moved less frequently from buildings than resident snakes. Resident snakes had high individual heterogeneity in movement probability. Conclusions Our approach to modeling movement improved our understanding of invasive reptile dispersal by allowing us to examine the mechanisms that influence their movement. We also demonstrated the importance of accounting for individual heterogeneity in population-level analyses, especially when management goals involve eradication of an invasive species.

Movement Ecology↗
USGS2015

Metagenomic analysis of planktonic microbial consortia from a non-tidal urban-impacted segment of James River

Knowledge of the diversity and ecological function of the microbial consortia of James River in Virginia, USA, is essential to developing a more complete understanding of the ecology of this model river system. Metagenomic analysis of James River's planktonic microbial community was performed for the first time using an unamplified genomic library and a 16S rDNA amplicon library prepared and sequenced by Ion PGM and MiSeq, respectively. From the 0.46-Gb WGS library (GenBank:SRR1146621; MG-RAST:4532156.3), 4 × 10 6 reads revealed >3 × 10 6 genes, 240 families of prokaryotes, and 155 families of eukaryotes. From the 0.68-Gb 16S library (GenBank:SRR2124995; MG-RAST:4631271.3; EMB:2184), 4 × 10 6 reads revealed 259 families of eubacteria. Results of the WGS and 16S analyses were highly consistent and indicated that more than half of the bacterial sequences were Proteobacteria , predominantly Comamonadaceae . The most numerous genera in this group were Acidovorax (including iron oxidizers, nitrotolulene degraders, and plant pathogens), which accounted for 10 % of assigned bacterial reads. Polaromonas were another 6 % of all bacterial reads, with many assignments to groups capable of degrading polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Albidiferax (iron reducers) and Variovorax (biodegraders of a variety of natural biogenic compounds as well as anthropogenic contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and endocrine disruptors) each accounted for an additional 3 % of bacterial reads. Comparison of these data to other publically-available aquatic metagenomes revealed that this stretch of James River is highly similar to the upper Mississippi River, and that these river systems are more similar to aquaculture and sludge ecosystems than they are to lakes or to a pristine section of the upper Amazon River. Taken together, these analyses exposed previously unknown aspects of microbial biodiversity, documented the ecological responses of microbes to urban effects, and revealed the noteworthy presence of 22 human-pathogenic bacterial genera (e.g., Enterobacteriaceae , pathogenic Pseudomonadaceae , and ‘ Vibrionales' ) and 6 pathogenic eukaryotic genera (e.g., Trypanosomatidae and Vahlkampfiidae). This information about pathogen diversity may be used to promote human epidemiological studies, enhance existing water quality monitoring efforts, and increase awareness of the possible health risks associated with recreational use of James River.

Virginia↗
USGS2025

Evaluating slash piles as habitat for a threatened salamander

Background Amplified wildfire activity in forests of the western United States threatens biodiversity. Fuel treatments can reduce fire severity, modify fire behavior, and restore forest structure and composition, yet impacts of some treatments, including slash piling and burning, on wildlife have received little attention. Piling of residual woody material may create habitable microenvironments for species that require cool, moist microclimates for all biological and ecological functions. One such species, the Sacramento Mountain salamander ( Aneides hardii Taylor), a relictual, endemic salamander narrowly distributed in the mountains of south-central New Mexico, USA, has been found below constructed slash piles within its range, but the characteristics of occupied slash piles and the extent of their occupancy has not yet been quantified. We surveyed for Sacramento Mountain salamanders in slash piles and under logs (cover objects) adjacent to piles and within a surrounding survey plot, and related salamander occupancy to slash pile and cover object characteristics, soil moisture and temperature, and environmental setting. Results We found Sacramento Mountain salamanders in 50% of surveyed slash piles. About 90% of salamanders were found in piles that contained black plastic sheeting, which held accumulations of moist leaf litter and other forest debris. We found no differences in pile characteristics, soil variables, or environmental setting between piles occupied by salamanders and piles in which no salamanders were detected. Salamander density was highest in slash piles, ~ 10% lower under cover objects in the survey area, and ~ 23% lower under cover objects adjacent to slash piles. Conclusions Slash piles serve as habitat for Sacramento Mountain salamanders. Our results suggest that within our study area or similar environments within the species range, any comparable slash pile has the potential to be occupied by salamanders. Species and habitat conservation measures indicated by this study and the timing of historical detections into mid-October include constructing smaller, pyramidal piles that minimize log-on-log or log-ground contact, avoiding the inclusion of black plastic in piles, limiting residence time of piles on the landscape, and initiating pile burning in late October or early November, when most salamanders are likely to have retreated below the ground surface.

New Mexico↗
USGS2009

Managing Pacific salmon escapements: The gaps between theory and reality

There are myriad challenges to estimating intrinsic production capacity for Pacific salmon populations that are heavily exploited and/or suffering from habitat alteration. Likewise, it is difficult to determine whether perceived decreases in production are due to harvest, habitat, or hatchery influences, natural variation, or some combination of all four. There are dramatic gaps between the true nature of the salmon spawner/recruit relationship and the theoretical basis for describing and understanding the relationship. Importantly, there are also extensive practical difficulties associated with gathering and interpreting accurate escapement and run-size information and applying it to population management. Paradoxically, certain aspects of salmon management may well be contributing to losses in abundance and biodiversity, including harvesting salmon in mixed population fisheries, grouping populations into management units subject to a common harvest rate, and fully exploiting all available hatchery fish at the expense of wild fish escapements. Information on U.S. Pacific salmon escapement goal-setting methods, escapement data collection methods and estimation types, and the degree to which stocks are subjected to mixed stock fisheries was summarized and categorized for 1,025 known management units consisting of 9,430 known populations. Using criteria developed in this study, only 1% of U.S. escapement goals are by methods rated as excellent. Escapement goals for 16% of management units were rated as good. Over 60% of escapement goals have been set by methods rated as either fair or poor and 22% of management units have no escapement goals at all. Of the 9,430 populations for which any information was available, 6,614 (70%) had sufficient information to categorize the method by which escapement data are collected. Of those, data collection methods were rated as excellent for 1%, good for 1%, fair for 2%, and poor for 52%. Escapement estimates are not made for 44% of populations. Escapement estimation type (quality of the data resulting from survey methods) was rated as excellent for <1%, good for 30%, fair for 3%, poor for 22%, and nonexistent for 45%. Numerous recommendations for improvements in escapement mangement are made in this chapter. In general, improvements are needed on theoretical escapement management techniques, escapement goal setting methods, and escapement and run size data quality. There is also a need to change managers' and harvesters' expectations to coincide with the natural variation and uncertainty in the abundance of salmon populations. All the recommendations are aimed at optimizing the number of spawners-healthy escapements ensure salmon sustainability by providing eggs for future production, nutrients to the system, and genetic diversity.

Book chapter↗
USGS2009

The needs of salmon and steelhead in balancing their conservation and use

Over the past 100 years, Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. and steelhead trout O. mykiss populations in the Pacific Northwest have experienced dramatic declines as a result of human population growth and associated development of the region's natural resources. Any strategy to reverse those declines will depend on achieving consensus among a diverse group of stakeholders willing to (1) restore damaged habitats and watersheds; (2) consider the biological needs of salmonid fishes; and (3) understand, conserve, and manage existing levels of biodiversity within an ecosystem context. The objective of this chapter is to review and summarize the needs of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout from perspectives that promote their sustainability and perpetuity, and, within that context, provide a framework, for the development of a sustainable fisheries strategy. Although volumes of information are available on the life histories and habitat requirements of Pacific salmonids, new concepts have begun to address the importance of habitat complexity, genetic diversity among locally adapted populations, and the need for appropriate units of conservation. Habitat variability and complexity are the templates that produce diverse, locally adapted populations of Pacific salmon and steelhead trout. Molded by conditions in the environments they colonized, salmon and steelhead have unique adaptations they may have taken hundred i?? perhaps thousands i?? of years to evolve. Any strategy to reverse the declines of salmon and steelhead must focus on conserving both current levels of genetic diversity as well as restoration and maintenance of habitats compatible with the specific needs of individual populations. An argument can be made that we know enough already about the needs of our salmon and steelhead to allow us to make appropriate decisions. There is strong need to integrate what we know about local salmonid adaptations and habitat needs with conservation and management strategies that address the problems we have created. It may be possible to have healthy, sustainable salmonid populations coastwide if we do not wait too long to make up our minds.

Book chapter↗
USGS2010

Fish guidance and passage at barriers

Habitat fragmentation resulting from human activities is a major factor contributing to reductions in biodiversity and species abundance worldwide. When movements are restricted, subpopulations become isolated, leading to reduced breeding opportunities, inbreeding depression, and interruption of key life stages. This problem is particularly ubiquitous in riverine ecosystems, where dams, water diversions, culverts, and other structures create barriers to movements of aquatic organisms. Fragmentation and obstacles to movement can be a natural and important part of riverine ecosystems. The challenge of fish passage is to mitigate for the effects of the barriers by providing passage routes that are both safe and effective. Fish passage technology would greatly benefit from more research on the associations between hydraulics and other environmental stimuli and rheotaxis in migratory fish. Migratory delay, poor attraction, fallback and stalling within fishways, and both immediate and delayed passage-induced mortality are common problems identified for a range of fishway types and taxa.

Book chapter↗
USGS2012

Role of remote sensing for land-use and land-cover change modeling

As the impacts of land-use and land-cover (LULC) change on carbon dynamics, climate change, hydrology, and biodiversity have been recognized, modeling of this transformational force has become increasingly important. Given the wide variety of applications that rely on the availability of LULC projections, modeling approaches have originated from a variety of disciplines, including geography, landscape ecology, economics, biology, and others. Initial modeling was often isolated within each discipline, but multidisciplinary modeling frameworks were developed as LULC modelers began to integrate the socioeconomic and biophysical components of LULC change. The empirical and theoretical basis for this work falls within land-use science, and this ‡eld documents both land-use and land-cover change, explains the coupled human-environment dynamics that produce the changes, and provides tools for producing spatially explicit LULC models (Mertens and Lambin, 1999; Rindfuss et al., 2004).

Book chapter↗
USGS2023

Using decision analysis to determine the feasibility of a conservation translocation

Conservation translocations, intentional movements of species to protect against extinction, have become widespread in recent decades and are projected to increase further as biodiversity loss continues worldwide. The literature abounds with analyses to inform translocations and assess whether they are successful, but the fundamental question of whether they should be initiated at all is rarely addressed formally. We used decision analysis to assess northern leopard frog reintroduction in northern Idaho, with success defined as a population that persists for at least 50 years. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was the decision maker (i.e., the agency that will use this assessment to inform their decisions). Stakeholders from government, indigenous groups, academia, land management agencies, and conservation organizations also participated. We built an age-structured population model to predict how management alternatives would affect probability of success. In the model, we explicitly represented epistemic uncertainty around a success criterion (probability of persistence) characterized by aleatory uncertainty. For the leading alternative, the mean probability of persistence was 40%. The distribution of the modelling results was bimodal, with most parameter combinations resulting in either very low (<5%) or relatively high (>95%) probabilities of success. Along with other considerations, including cost, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will use this assessment to inform a decision regarding reintroduction of northern leopard frogs. Conservation translocations may benefit greatly from more widespread use of decision analysis to counter the complexity and uncertainty inherent in these decisions.

Decision Analysis↗
USGS2018

Geomorphometry in landscape ecology: Issues of scale, physiography, and application

Topographic measures are frequently used in a variety of landscape ecology applications, in their simplest form as elevation, slope, and aspect, but increasingly more complex measures are being employed. We explore terrain metric similarity with changes in scale, both grain and extent, and examine how selecting the best measures is sensitive to changes in application. There are three types of topographic measures: 1) those that relate to orientation for approximating solar input, 2) those that capture variability in terrain configuration, and 3) those that provide metrics about landform features. Many biodiversity hotspots and predators have been found to coincide with areas of complexity, yet most complexity measures cannot differentiate between terrain steepness and uneven and broken terrain. Currently characterizing terrain in landscape-level analyses can be challenging, especially at coarser spatial resolutions but developing methods that improve landscape-level assessments include multivariate approaches and the use of neighborhood statistics. Some measures are sensitive to the spatial grain of calculation, the physiography of the landscape, and the scale of application. We show which measures have the potential to be multi-collinear, and illustrate with a case study how the selection of the best measures can change depending on the question at hand using mountain lion (Puma concolor) occurrence data. The case study showed a combination of infrequently employed metrics, such as view-shed analysis and focal statistics, outperform more commonly employed singular metrics. The use of focal statistics as a measure of topographic complexity shows promise for improving how mountain lions use terrain features.

Environment and Ecology Research↗
USGS2024

Polar paleoenvironmental perspectives on modern climate change

In today’s rapidly changing climate, society needs a better understanding of climate impacts on sea level, ice sheets and glaciers, sea ice, ocean circulation, ecosystems, biodiversity, and other aspects of planet Earth. Paleoenvironmental records provide a unique and invaluable source of insight into these complex issues, and place recent observations into a broader historical context. This essay discusses why paleoclimate reconstructions from polar regions provide critical information to help anticipate possible future climate impacts. By highlighting some key research examples, this essay explains the value of expanding proxy-based research in Arctic/Antarctic regions, and makes a case for paying greater attention to the lessons already distilled from it.

PLOS Climate↗
USGS2025

Watershed forest cover and habitat restoration can offset some negative impacts of climate change on freshwater fishes and mussels

Many species of freshwater fishes and freshwater mussels have experienced population declines over the past century due to threats including habitat degradation, overexploitation, species invasion, and climate change. Management actions may offset climate-related changes to biodiversity, although identifying appropriate strategies is challenging. Our goal was to identify the impacts of climate change on freshwater biota (i.e., fish and mussel) distribution and management actions that may offset the climate change impacts across the northeastern United States. We used land use, geography, stream temperature, and streamflow variables to predict species distribution in a baseline scenario, climate change scenario, and several climate change plus land use management scenarios. We found climate change negatively impacted (i.e., reduced the probability of occurrence of) coldwater fishes and reduced the relative occurrence probability of fluvial specialist and coolwater fishes compared to other species. Increasing watershed forest cover best offset these negative impacts and minimized the predicted transition from coldwater fish dominance to warmwater fish dominance in coldwater habitats; however, no intervention fully offset the negative impacts of climate change on vulnerable fish groups (i.e., coldwater and fluvial specialist fishes). Climate change negatively impacted all vulnerable groups of mussels (e.g., lotic species, drying intolerant) and mussel species richness. Combining multiple management interventions (e.g., increase forest cover, dam removal, etc.) had the greatest potential to offset the negative impacts of climate change for freshwater mussels and fishes. This study provides managers a comparison of management interventions across a landscape to combat the impacts of climate change on biota in streams and rivers.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, ↗
USGS2013

Representation of ecological systems within the protected areas network of the continental United States

If conservation of biodiversity is the goal, then the protected areas network of the continental US may be one of our best conservation tools for safeguarding ecological systems (i.e., vegetation communities). We evaluated representation of ecological systems in the current protected areas network and found insufficient representation at three vegetation community levels within lower elevations and moderate to high productivity soils. We used national-level data for ecological systems and a protected areas database to explore alternative ways we might be able to increase representation of ecological systems within the continental US. By following one or more of these alternatives it may be possible to increase the representation of ecological systems in the protected areas network both quantitatively (from 10% up to 39%) and geographically and come closer to meeting the suggested Convention on Biological Diversity target of 17% for terrestrial areas. We used the Landscape Conservation Cooperative framework for regional analysis and found that increased conservation on some private and public lands may be important to the conservation of ecological systems in Western US, while increased public-private partnerships may be important in the conservation of ecological systems in Eastern US. We have not assessed the pros and cons of following the national or regional alternatives, but rather present them as possibilities that may be considered and evaluated as decisions are made to increase the representation of ecological systems in the protected areas network across their range of ecological, geographical, and geophysical occurrence in the continental US into the future.

PLoS ONE↗