SecSel, a new software tool for conservation prioritization that is applicable to ordinal-scale data for multiple...

Area of Science:

• Conservation science
• Spatial planning
• Ecosystem services management

Background:

• Designing protected areas requires balancing multiple, often conflicting, objectives.
• Efficient prioritization tools are needed to integrate biodiversity conservation with ecosystem service utilization.
• Existing methods may not adequately address feature conflicts or spatial considerations like cost and compactness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce SecSel, a novel protected-area prioritization tool.
• To demonstrate SecSel's capability in designing areas that protect multiple features, including biodiversity and ecosystem services.
• To showcase SecSel's ability to handle feature conflicts, costs, and spatial compactness.

Main Methods:

• SecSel evaluates local units of features using quantitative or ordinal metrics.
• It prioritizes sites based on conservation targets, considering feature dispensability for conflict resolution.
• The tool incorporates site costs and area compactness (boundary length or nearest site distance).

Main Results:

• SecSel successfully designed land use in a Japanese alpine region, integrating vegetation conservation and recreational use.
• The tool effectively managed conflicts between conservation and utilization objectives.
• Demonstrated consideration of cost and compactness in protected area design.

Conclusions:

• SecSel provides an effective framework for protected-area prioritization, balancing diverse conservation and utilization goals.
• The tool's flexibility in handling data types and feature conflicts enhances its applicability.
• SecSel is a valuable tool for optimizing land-use planning in ecologically sensitive regions.