6533b7d0fe1ef96bd125a187

RESEARCH PRODUCT

SELECTING HERB-RICH FOREST NETWORKS TO PROTECT DIFFERENT MEASURES OF BIODIVERSITY

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Data on vascular plants of herb-rich forests in Finland were used to compare the efficiency of reserve selection methods in representing three measures of biodiversity: species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and restricted-range diversity. Comparisons of reserve selection methods were carried out both with and without consideration of the existing reserve system. Our results showed that the success of a reserve network of forests in representing different measures of biodiversity depends on the selection procedure, selection criteria, and data set used. Ad hoc selection was the worst option. A scoring procedure was generally more efficient than maximum random selection. Heuristic methods also appeared to be efficient. Each biodiversity measure can be used as a criterion for a selection algorithm and as a measure of efficiency of protection at the network level. The results indicate that different measures of biodiversity should be taken into account. For instance, phylogenetic diversity of a network wa...