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A decision support tool for the conservation of tropical forest and nearshore environments on Babeldaob Island, Palau
- Source :
- Forest Ecology and Management. 476:118480
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Nearshore ecosystems (e.g., mangrove forests, sea grass beds, coral reefs) are some of the most biologically diverse and ecologically productive on Earth, while providing essential goods and services to human communities. Because these ecosystems are subject to threats from both land and sea, their conservation and management requires a ridge to reef approach. Here, we developed a watershed decision support tool (DST) for Babeldaob Island, Republic of Palau, aimed at prioritizing catchments for reforestation of fire degraded savanna or protection of native forest against conversion to savanna. We use a distributed hydrology model to estimate catchment-level sedimentation and water yield for three vegetation scenarios: (1) current vegetation; (2) a hypothetical fully-forested Babeldaob Island; and (3) a hypothetical Babeldaob Island that has been fully converted to savanna. Using the DST, we integrated model results with geospatial information on treatment cost, efficacy, and conservation value to identify where reforestation and forest protection investments would provide the greatest benefits to coral reef health. Modeled sediment yields were lowest for catchments with > 80% tropical forest cover and highest for those with
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
Watershed
Agroforestry
Reforestation
Forestry
Vegetation
Coral reef
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Environmental science
Ecosystem
Forest protection
Mangrove
Reef
010606 plant biology & botany
Nature and Landscape Conservation
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 03781127
- Volume :
- 476
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Forest Ecology and Management
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........976ea011605c572e17e8abad4f1b145a
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118480