Gathering-level conservation: a new approach to stop the biodiversity crisis

What if saving one animal species at a time from extinction is not the most effective approach? Michael Belitz, a postdoctoral researcher at Zipkin Quantitative Ecology Lab at Michigan State University, asked questions about protecting single butterfly species during his graduate work.

When studying species-level conservation, he found himself thinking about how multiple species interact and how they responded to temperature, extreme weather, and urbanization. He wondered if there might be more success in protecting multiple species in their habitat, rather than focusing on just one.

Now, Veritz is coining the terminology for this work: set-level preservation. In a newly published perspective article in Nature Reviews Biodiversity, Belitz and his colleagues simultaneously advocate for the conscious protection of multiple species. They argue that conservation targeting groups of related species is an effective way to quantify, predict and manage multiple species. They argue that it is suitable for changing perspectives, not just by researchers, but also by land managers, policymakers and conservationists.

“We look forward to publishing this perspective work in one of the first issues in the journal reviewing biodiversity in Nature,” says Belitz. “My hope is that by defining and generating ‘group-level conservation’, funding and effort could be more targeted and streamlined. ”

The interdisciplinary collaboration between biology, modeling and natural resource management has opened the door to studying many of the complex challenges associated with biodiversity loss. Advances in computing power, statistical modeling, and improved data availability allow for collective-level storage.

Zipkin Lab is at the forefront of assembly-level data analysis, using statistical analysis to simultaneously model many species in animal communities and provide a comprehensive understanding of the causes of biodiversity and biodiversity decline. Provided. This approach allows Veritz and his colleagues to include more species on a larger scale, leading to better estimates of rare species that have not been studied. The lab also works with land managers and conservation experts to produce conservation-related outcomes from the model.

“Assembly level analysis provides an opportunity to assess how, where and why individual species and communities are all declining,” says a well-known professor at MSU’s Red Cedar and senior in paper. Author Elise Zipkin said. “It also offers new opportunities to implement strategic conservation actions in an age where biodiversity losses are accelerated.”

In a Perspective article, the authors explain some of the advantages of assembly-level conservation over two other common conservation methods: species-level conservation and ecosystem-level conservation.

The species-by-species approach is most common, but can be biased towards charismatic, large species conservation. Furthermore, this approach cannot address the complete problem of areas where many species are declining.

Let’s take an example of the flagship species of insect decline: the monarch butterfly. At the species level, the intervention of planting milkweed helped the monarch population. However, assemblage-level approaches such as planting diverse combinations of both host and nectar plants for native pollinators are associated with increased overall pollinator diversity and abundance. He brought more monarchs at the same time.

At the other end of the spectrum is ecosystem-level conservation aimed at protecting the physical environment and services provided within the target geographical area. Ecosystem-level conservation is complex and can be difficult to manage, especially on local scales and long term levels. Rare and endangered species can be overlooked, and do not necessarily prioritize declining biodiversity.

That’s where crowd-level conservation begins. Management measures that seek to preserve both the number of species in a region and their abundance can benefit both individual species and ecosystem services. One of the ongoing projects for Zipkin Lab is to study butterfly collections across the Midwest state.

Their goal is to understand how both individual species and the overall butterfly community are changing in order to prioritize conservation efforts. This collaboration between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey will determine, if any, what changes will protect the largest numbers of species.

“Given the total number of species that is declining, we sometimes feel that conservation challenges are insurmountable. Focusing on manageable segments will help us move forward,” Zipkin said. I say it. “Our hope is that a changing perspective focusing on population-level conservation opens new opportunities to protect biodiversity and reduce overall taxa decline, such as butterflies.”

Zipkin Lab’s research provides valuable information and recognition to protect biodiversity. By publishing the benefits of this method, Veritz hopes that their papers will generate more funding and action for collective level conservation.