Opportunities drive the global distribution of protected areas.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Protected areas, regarded today as a cornerstone of nature conservation, result from an array of multiple motivations and opportunities. We explored at global and regional levels the current distribution of protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological gradients, and assessed to what extent protection has pursued (i) a balanced representation of biophysical environments, (ii) a set of preferred conditions (biological, spiritual, economic, or geopolitical), or (iii) existing opportunities for conservation regardless of any representation or preference criteria.

Methods

We used histograms to describe the distribution of terrestrial protected areas along biophysical, human, and biological independent gradients and linear and non-linear regression and corre

SUBMITTER: Baldi G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5314958 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature