Effectiveness of protected areas for representing species and populations of terrestrial mammals in Costa Rica.

ABSTRACT: Costa Rica has one of the greatest percentages (26%) of protected land in the world. The National Protected Areas System (NPAS) of Costa Rica was established in 1976 and currently includes >190 protected areas within seven different protection categories. The effectiveness of the NPAS to represent species, populations, and areas with high species richness has not been properly evaluated. Such evaluations are fundamental to understand what is necessary to strengthen the NPAS and better protect biodiversity. We present a novel assessment of NPAS effectiveness in protecting mammal species. We compiled the geographical ranges of all terrestrial Costa Rican mammals then determined species lists for all protected areas and the estimated proportion of each species' geographic range protected. We

SUBMITTER: Gonzalez-Maya JF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4430271 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature