Global initiatives to designate protected areas – such as 30×30 initiatives – aim to conserve biodiversity and ecologically important habitats. While a network of protected areas can promote dispersal and support high biodiversity, protected areas are often isolated and disturbed by human activity.
One approach to increase connectivity between protected areas is to establish stepping stone reserves, which are habitat areas between protected areas. Establishing these intermediate reserves reduces the distance between protected habitat, allowing species to move between habitat patches. However, identifying and prioritizing stepping stone habitat can be challenging, especially when resources are limited.
Lapin, K., Hoffmann, J.A., Braun, M., Oettel, J. 2024. Identification and prioritization of stepping stones for biodiversity conservation in forest ecosystems. Conservation Science and Practice 6: e13161.
Recent research developed a framework for identifying stepping stone habitat to increase connectivity conservation. Researchers combined four indicator values that provide information on biodiversity and connectivity data: (1) the Protect Value, which measures the distance of potential stepping stones to protected areas, (2) the Connect Value, which uses connectivity modeling to identify stepping stones that would substantially increase connectivity, (3) the Species Value, which identifies areas with high biodiversity or rare species, and (4) the Habitat Value, which maps high-quality or endangered habitat.
Researchers applied this framework to forest ecosystems in Austria to demonstrate how these four indicator values can be used to prioritize stepping stones. Forested areas were assigned a score for each indicator value, then values were combined to obtain a final prioritization score. These resulting scores can be used to guide conservation decisions when designating stepping stones.
Because the framework incorporates data on landscape structure, habitat quality, and biodiversity, it can be adapted to fit the needs of specific regions or species of concerns. For example, this framework can be used to identify stepping stones for entire communities of species, or for specific species of concern. However, the study emphasizes that when a region lacks current data on habitat quality or biodiversity, on-the-ground assessments are still needed to accurately identify priority areas.
When designed well, stepping stones increase the effectiveness of protected areas by connecting habitat. Tools like this that identify high priority conservation areas better support managers in making quick decisions to improve connectivity and biodiversity conservation.
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