ESM 270: Conservation Planning theory and practice
Monday and Wednesday 2:30-3:45, Bren Hall room 1510
Instructors
Leah Gerber, Associate Professor, Arizona State University
lgerber@bren.ucsb.edu
Ben Best
PhD Student, Duke University
bdbest@gmail.com
Office Hours
Leah: Friday 12:00-2:00 or by appointment
Ben: Tuesday 2:00-4:00 in GIS Lab or by appointment
Text (optional)
Margules, C. and S. Sahotra. 2007. Systematic Conservation Planning. Cambridge University Press.
Course Goals
Analytical approaches can be used to direct energy and resources toward conservation that yields the greatest
return on investment. This class includes case studies of how government agencies, international multilateral
institution and non-governmental agencies identify where to invest their conservation efforts.
Classes will be comprised of lectures, discussions and computer laboratories. Using real-world examples,
students will learn about conservation planning tools that are used to support management and policy decisions.
We will explore the theory of conservation planning tools and evaluation, with a focus on how to apply and
interpret models. The class will provide students with technical, written and oral communication skills.
Overview of lecture-lab schedule
Lectures/discussions (Mondays) are intended to provide you with a background in the theory that is relevant to
conservation planning, whereas labs (Wednesdays) will introduce you to a few tools of the trade for
implementing commonly used tools in conservation planning.
Directed Research Project
The purpose of the group project is to apply the concepts and methods from seminar readings and discussions to
conduct a regional conservation analysis. You will work in teams of 3-4 students. Each team will prepare a
written report and an oral presentation, due in Week 10, summarizing the results of their analysis. We will
provide the data layers that were used in the Gulf of California Ecoregional Assessment (ERA), and will teach
you the tools of the trade in conducting such analyses. With these tools, topics for directed research projects are
flexible. For example, you may focus on including connectivity in the ERA, developing a monitoring and
implementation plan, or including climate change in the analysis. We anticipate that your results will be useful
to both conservation practitioners in the Gulf of California (e.g., TNC) and also have potential for publication.
In fact, you should format your paper to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Sections
should include an introduction, methods, results, and discussion. Check the “instructions to authors” for the
journal Conservation Biology at http://conbio.net/scb/Publications/ConsBio/, and note specific format for
citations! The maximum length for the paper is 15 pages, not including references and figures. You will have a
chance to get feedback when you submit your proposal. The proposal should make clear who will be doing
what for the final paper. We encourage you to take this assignment seriously and consider working on a paper
that you will actually submit to for publication.
Assessment and Grading
15%: Lab assignments
45%: Directed Research Project
10%: Directed Research Project Proposal
15%: Directed Research Project Final Oral Presentation
15%: Participation AND attendance
2011 Class Schedule (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
DAY
DATE TOPIC
Mon
1/3
Lecture: Conservation
Elements
Wed
1/5
Discussion: Multicriteria
scoring, hotspot analysis
Mon
1/10
Lab: Intro to GIS
Wed
1/12
Mon
Wed
1/17
1/19
Friday
1/21
Lab: Species Distribution
Modeling
*meet in SCF lab
No class – MLK holiday
Lecture: Conservation
planning in the Gulf of CA
(Anne Gondor, TNC)
Discussion: Systematic
conservation planning
Mon
1/24
Weds
1/26
Mon
1/31
Lab: Marxan with Zones
Weds
2/2
Lecture: Ecosystem
services (Laura Dee)
Lab: Systematic
conservation planning with
Marxan
Discussion: Viable
populations
PLAN
Measures of biodiversity for setting
conservation priorities: species (indicators,
umbrellas, flagships and keystones),
communities and landscapes
Global hotspots, local area ranking, multicriterion scoring methods, habitat suitability
modeling
ArcGIS intro: browsing catalog, making maps,
building models
From observational points to surfaces via
environment. Modeling techniques: GLM,
GAM, Maxent, BRT
Gulf of CA ecoregional assessment, science
and implementation
*Lab 1 due
Gap analysis, systematic conservation
planning, portfolio design, set selection
methods
*Discuss project ideas, form groups for case
study
*Lab 2 due
READINGS AND DISCUSSION
LEADER
Ahern 2005, Forman 1997, Noss
1990, Simberloff 1998
Kareiva 2007 (Shepard),
Myers 2000 (Dashiell),
Regan 2007 (Sanneman),
Theobald 2002 (Hoagland)
Elith 2009, Underwood 2010
Possingham 2000 (Battista)
Jennings 2000 (Betz)
Noss 1990 (Callahan)
Simberloff 1998 (Labrum)
Margules 2000 (Silvester)
Population viability analysis, habitat
conservation planning and recovery planning
under the Endangered Species Act, planning
for wide-ranging species
*Proposals due Friday 1/28
Evaluating level of protection and
consequences, ecosystem services
Groves 2002 (Campbell)
Kautz 2001 (Tresham)
Moilanen 2005 (Umezawa)
Sanderson 2002 (Schinn)
Sarkar et al. 2006 (Reynolds)
Conservation planning to provide food
production, carbon sequestration, water quality,
flood control, and other ecosystem services
Barbier 2007, Barbier et al. 2008,
Turner & Daily 2008, Daily 1997
Mon
(lec)
2/7
Threats assessment (Ben
Halpern)
Cumulative impacts assessment; developing
indicators of ocean health
Weds
(lec)
2/9
Lab and Discussion:
Conservation planning in a
Dynamic World/
Conservation planning in
marine ecosystems
Short lecture: Key
principles recap.
Urban growth, human footprint, climate
change/
Hydrological planning units, coastal influences,
dynamic oceanography, planning in the real
world
Mon
(lab)
2/14
Lab: Marxan lab review
and group project
assistance
*Lab 3 due
Weds
(lec)
2/16
Policy, process and management issues with
the Marine Life Protection Act
Mon
Wed
(lec)
2/21
2/23
Mon
(lab)
Wed
(lec)
2/28
Lecture: The real world of
conservation planning
(Satie Airame)
No class – Presidents day
Lecture: Climate change
and conservation planning
(Lee Hannah)
Lab: Connectivity
3/2
Climate change, biodiversity conservation
*draft papers due
Hannah 2007
Circuitscape / group project assistance
*peer review reports
McRae 2008
Short lecture: Key
principles recap
Class project presentations
Class project presentations
Mon
3/7
(lec)
Wed
3/9
Class project presentations
(lec)
*Readings are posted on GauchoSpace
Crain et al. 2008
Butchart et al. 2010
Halpern 2008
Ackerly 2010 (Riley)
Hoegh-Guldberg 2008 (Taylor)
Lee 2008 (VanAbel)
Williams 2005 (Clark)
Pressey 2007 (Blazek)
Armsworth 2006 (Price)
Game 2009 (Villareal)
Oliviera 2007 (Jacobson)
*final papers due