Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Dabney Hall, 1416 Circle Drive, Knoxville, TN, USA.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, MD, 21037, USA.
Ambio. 2021 Jun;50(6):1237-1247. doi: 10.1007/s13280-020-01469-8. Epub 2021 Feb 14.
Open space areas protected by local communities may augment larger scale preservation efforts and may offer overlooked benefits to biodiversity conservation provided they are in suitable ecological condition. We examine protected areas established by local communities through ballot initiatives, a form of direct democracy, in California, USA. We compare ecological conditions of wooded habitats on local ballot protected sites and on sites protected by a state-level conservation agency. Collectively, we found few differences in ecological conditions on each protected area type. Ballot sites had greater invasive understory cover and larger trees. Community dissimilarity patterns suggested ballot sites protect a complementary set of tree species to those on state lands. Overall, geographic characteristics influenced onsite conditions more than details of how sites were protected. Thus, community-driven conservation efforts contribute to protected area networks by augmenting protection of some species while providing at least some protection to others that might otherwise be missed.
由当地社区保护的开放空间区域可以补充更大规模的保护工作，如果这些区域处于适宜的生态条件下，还可以为生物多样性保护带来被忽视的好处。我们在美国加利福尼亚州通过公民投票倡议（一种直接民主形式）来考察当地社区建立的保护区。我们比较了在当地投票保护的地点和由州级保护机构保护的地点的树木生境的生态条件。总的来说，我们发现两种保护区类型的生态条件差异很小。投票保护的地点有更多的入侵林下植被和更大的树木。社区相似性模式表明，投票保护的地点保护了一组与州立土地上不同的树种。总体而言，地理特征比保护区的保护细节对现场条件的影响更大。因此，社区驱动的保护努力通过补充对某些物种的保护，同时为其他可能被忽视的物种提供至少一些保护，从而为保护区网络做出贡献。
