Optimizing allocation of management resources for wildlife

Area of Science:

• Conservation Biology
• Wildlife Management
• Ecology

Background:

• Current species conservation funding often relies on threatened species listings, which may not be the most cost-effective approach.
• Effective resource allocation for native wildlife management requires a more comprehensive strategy than solely relying on threat categories.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test a decision-support process for prioritizing species conservation funding.
• To integrate ecological and social factors alongside threat categories for more strategic resource allocation.
• To separate societal values from technical scientific input in conservation decision-making.

Main Methods:

• A scoring system was designed using three criteria: threat category, extinction consequences, and recovery potential.
• Policy makers and stakeholders weighted criteria importance, while scientists scored species.
• The process was applied to Australian frog and mammal populations at different spatial scales.

Main Results:

• The process identified 7 frog and 10 mammal species as conservation priorities across two case studies.
• Priority species included those across various threat classifications, from endangered to least concern.
• The methodology proved robust when comparing different taxonomic groups.

Conclusions:

• The developed process enables transparent, cost-effective, and strategic management decisions across diverse taxonomic groups.
• This approach is recommended for short-listing species for conservation discussions, rather than direct resource allocation.