Files
Abstract
There is rich literature in reserve site selection for wildlife conservation, but
little has investigated the spatial correlation of risks presented by hazards. This paper
contributes to the literature by applying the modeling framework developed in Busby et
al. (2011), which incorporates spatially correlated risk into the reserve site selection
problem, to a Virginia landscape where fine-scale species data is available. In this
context, we consider both homogeneous and heterogeneous on-site land development
risks. Finally, we apply a budget constraint to our maximal covering species problem to
investigate how land cost impacts optimal reserve design and the level of species
protection. Using fine-scale species data in the analysis, we identify the types of
settings where incorporating spatially correlated risk into conservation reserve design
can lead to significant improvements in species protection.