Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Choosing efficient land allocations and forest management regimes for biodiversity

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/6d56zz549

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  • Increasing rates of species imperilment and the loss of biological diversity in naturally functioning ecosystems can be directly linked to accelerated urban development and the conversion of natural habitats to satisfy the needs of man. In combating this loss of biodiversity, scientists and policy makers alike recognize the relevance of habitat conservation. This research, funded by a cooperative grant with USDA Forest Service, relies on a framework for modeling wildlife diversity presented by Montgomery et al (1999), to reveal cost effective habitat conservation strategies. Building on this earlier model, alternative forest management strategies are introduced: information that is vital to timber-based economies. 196 mammalian, reptilian, amphibian, and avian species were used to construct a biodiversity index relevant to the Muddy Creek Watershed, Benton County, Oregon. This index, comprised of a taxonomic diversity measure (May 1990) and a classic logistic viability function, measured gains in biodiversity scaled against the opportunity costs of reallocating lands to meet conservation goals. These index values and associated opportunity costs were calculated and reserved across the full range of land allocation possibilities for the watershed, and formed a marginal cost curve for biodiversity. The wildlife diversity index ranges in value from 296.19, corresponding to a high development market value maximizing solution, to 310.18 at a cost of nearly 460 million dollars, the highest attainable biodiversity index for this watershed. Forest management played an integral role in the conservation of biodiversity, whereby biodiversity maximizing solutions allocated an overwhelming percentage of forested lands to non-harvested forested reserves. Two supplementary analyses were undertaken. The first tracked changes in the biodiversity index when management strategies targeting imperiled species were specifically optimized. Land allocations favoring these species had drastic implications on the predicted populations of the remaining non-imperiled species, indicative of the need to consider a broader set of species and their related needs in future land management planning efforts. The second, examined the efficiency of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment's (ISE) high conservation land allocation projections for the year 2025, and verified the necessity of biological indicators in land planning.
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