Skip to main page content
Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jan;6(1):83-91.
doi: 10.1111/2041-210X.12299. Epub 2014 Dec 6.

Split diversity in constrained conservation prioritization using integer linear programming

Olga Chernomor  1 , Bui Quang Minh  2 , Félix Forest  3 , Steffen Klaere  4 , Travis Ingram  5 , Monika Henzinger  6 , Arndt von Haeseler  1
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Split diversity in constrained conservation prioritization using integer linear programming

Olga Chernomor et al. Methods Ecol Evol. .
Free PMC article
Favorites

Abstract

Phylogenetic diversity (PD) is a measure of biodiversity based on the evolutionary history of species. Here, we discuss several optimization problems related to the use of PD, and the more general measure split diversity (SD), in conservation prioritization.Depending on the conservation goal and the information available about species, one can construct optimization routines that incorporate various conservation constraints. We demonstrate how this information can be used to select sets of species for conservation action. Specifically, we discuss the use of species' geographic distributions, the choice of candidates under economic pressure, and the use of predator-prey interactions between the species in a community to define viability constraints.Despite such optimization problems falling into the area of NP hard problems, it is possible to solve them in a reasonable amount of time using integer programming. We apply integer linear programming to a variety of models for conservation prioritization that incorporate the SD measure.We exemplarily show the results for two data sets: the Cape region of South Africa and a Caribbean coral reef community. Finally, we provide user-friendly software at http://www.cibiv.at/software/pda.

Keywords: conservation biology; phylogenetic diversity; split diversity.

Figures

Fig 1
QDS selected to conserve 95% of split diversity under uniform conservation cost (W1) and under prioritization of rural areas (W5).
Fig 2
(a) Minimal costs to conserve p = 95%, 99% and 100% of split diversity with varying urban/rural cost ratios. The points on the curves indicate the change in the optimal sets of QDS found by ILP. For p = 95%, we identified five optimal sets denoted by W1 to W5. Also note that preserving the last 1% of diversity more than doubles the conservation cost. (b) Accumulated costs for optimal sets of QDS W1 and W5 as the cost ratios gradually increase over time.
Fig 3
Food web restricted to only those taxa present in S1 or S2 (see main text). Red, green and blue nodes depict the taxa present exclusively in S1, exclusively in S2, and in both sets, respectively. Light blue nodes correspond to aggregated groups. Arrows connect from predators to their preys with thickness reflecting the prey proportion in the predator diet. Arrows pointing to or from green and red nodes are coloured green and red respectively. Arrows between blue nodes are coloured blue. Note that the arrows between green and red nodes are ignored.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by 9 articles

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ball IR, Possingham HP. Marxan and relatives: Software for spatial conservation prioritisation. In: Possingham HP, Watts M, Moilanen A, Wilson KA, editors. Spatial Conservation Prioritisation: Quantitative Methods and Computational Tools. New York: Oxford University Press; 2009. pp. 185–195.
    1. Bottrill MC, Joseph LN, Carwardine J, Bode M, Cook C, Game ET, et al. Is conservation triage just smart decision making? Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 2008;23:649–654. - PubMed
    1. Bryant D, Klaere S. The link between segregation and phylogenetic diversity. Journal of Mathematical Biology. 2012;63:149–162. - PubMed
    1. Cadotte MW, Dinnage R, Tilman D. Phylogenetic diversity promotes ecosystem stability. Ecology. 2012;93:S223–S233.
    1. Chernomor O, Klaere S, von Haeseler A. Split diversity: measuring and optimizing biodiversity using phylogenetic split networks. In: Grandcolas P, Minh BQ, Pellens R, editors. Biodiversity Conservation and Phylogenetic Systematics. Springer; 2014. (in press)

LinkOut - more resources

Feedback