title: Protecting biodiversity when money matters: maximizing return on investment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Conventional wisdom identifies biodiversity hotspots as priorities for conservation investment because they capture dense concentrations of species. However, density of species does not necessarily imply conservation 'efficiency'. Here we explicitly consider conservation efficiency in terms of species protected per dollar invested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We apply a dynamic return on investment approach to a global biome and compare it with three alternate priority setting approaches and a random allocation of funding. After twenty years of acquiring habitat, the return on investment approach protects between 32% and 69% more species compared to the other priority setting approaches. To correct for potential inefficiencies of protecting the same species multiple times we account for the complementarity of species, protecting up to three times more distinct vertebrate species than alternate approaches.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Incorporating costs in a return on investment framework expands priorities to include areas not traditionally highlighted as priorities based on conventional irreplaceability and vulnerability approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California Davis, Davis, California, USA. eunderwoodrussell@ucdavis.edu
authors.forename: Emma C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Underwood
authors.forename: M Rebecca
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: Kerrie A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kareiva
authors.forename: Kirk R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Klausmeyer
authors.forename: Marissa F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bode
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hoekstra
authors.forename: Hugh P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Possingham
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002017:Budgets; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D013045:Species Specificity