SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL GAP ANALYSIS

The world we live in is home to a vast array of incredible creatures, each one uniquely adapted to its environment and playing an important role in the delicate balance of our planet's ecosystems. However, with habitat destruction, poaching, and climate change threatening the survival of countless species, it's more important than ever that we come together to protect and conserve these animals for future generations.

When it comes to conservation, planning, and implementation, we need to be careful in considering the needs and priorities of the environment and its inhabitants. Conservation planning and implementation require a needs assessment and prioritization scheme, which can be informed by geospatial analytical approaches.

To address this issue, a team of researchers developed a new approach to range mapping, which they called a socio-ecological gap analysis. This approach combines a variety of different factors, such as threats to wildlife, the availability of protected areas, and cultural diversity, to identify gaps in available conservation capacity for different species. 

This socio-ecological gap analysis integrates threat and resource layers to identify gaps in available conservation capacity for 91 African carnivores, indicating that all species have some portion of their range at risk of contraction. The persistence of wildlife in Africa faces multiple challenges due to ecological, environmental, and social factors. The study found that 81% of the ranges of the 91 African carnivores were stable, while 15% had deficiencies that would cause contractions in the IUCN danger categories.  The most common threats across species were drought and hunting pressures, while the biocultural diversity metric was a valuable resource for many species.

Interestingly, the study found that small carnivores provide vital ecosystem services but receive less funding and conservation attention than large carnivores. Furthermore, the study stresses the interconnectedness of human and natural systems, and the necessity of social-ecological approaches in conservation practice.

The ACC index calculates the difference between resources and threats for a species within its range. Positive values indicate surplus resources, while negative values indicate a deficit and raise concerns for species persistence. The index can forecast where ranges may contract to target interventions and identify partners necessary to promote extirpation avoidance [1].

 

 Source: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201942119

Source: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2201942119

 In conclusion, incorporating the “texture” in the form of ACC across a species’ range highlighted the spatial consequences of heterogeneity in the distribution and intensity of threats as well as the distribution and availability of resources. This study also highlights the complexity of ecological, environmental, and social factors that challenge the persistence of biodiversity in Africa. It provides important insights into anticipating where ranges may contract, prioritizing conservation efforts, and promoting the persistence of African carnivores. Overall, this approach presents a simple strategy to forecast future range dynamics.

References

 [1] N. C. Harris, A. Murphy, A. R. Green, S. Gámez, D. M. Mwamidi, and G. C. Nunez-Mir, “Socio-ecological gap analysis to forecast species range contractions for conservation,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Feb. 2022, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2201942119.