Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31672. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031672. Epub 2012 Feb 20.
Habitat protection has been identified as an important strategy for the conservation of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus). However, because of the economic opportunity costs associated with protection it is unlikely that all caribou ranges can be protected in their entirety. We used an optimization approach to identify reserve designs for caribou in Alberta, Canada, across a range of potential protection targets. Our designs minimized costs as well as three demographic risk factors: current industrial footprint, presence of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), and climate change. We found that, using optimization, 60% of current caribou range can be protected (including 17% in existing parks) while maintaining access to over 98% of the value of resources on public lands. The trade-off between minimizing cost and minimizing demographic risk factors was minimal because the spatial distributions of cost and risk were similar. The prospects for protection are much reduced if protection is directed towards the herds that are most at risk of near-term extirpation.
栖息地保护已被确定为保护北美驯鹿（Rangifer tarandus）的重要策略。然而，由于保护措施带来的经济机会成本，不太可能将所有驯鹿的栖息地全部完整地保护起来。我们采用了一种优化方法，针对加拿大艾伯塔省的驯鹿，在一系列潜在的保护目标范围内，确定了保护区的设计方案。我们的设计方案将成本以及三个人口统计学风险因素（当前工业足迹、白尾鹿（Odocoileus virginianus）的存在和气候变化）降到最低。我们发现，通过优化，目前 60%的驯鹿栖息地（包括现有的公园中的 17%）可以得到保护，同时保持对公共土地上超过 98%的资源价值的利用。在最小化成本和最小化人口统计学风险因素之间的权衡很小，因为成本和风险的空间分布相似。如果保护目标是针对那些最有可能在近期灭绝的种群，那么保护的前景就会大大减少。
