title: Defining and evaluating the umbrella species concept for conserving and restoring landscape connectivity.
abstract: Conserving or restoring landscape connectivity between patches of breeding habitat is a common strategy to protect threatened species from habitat fragmentation. By managing connectivity for some species, usually charismatic vertebrates, it is often assumed that these species will serve as conservation umbrellas for other species. We tested this assumption by developing a quantitative method to measure overlap in dispersal habitat of 3 threatened species-a bird (the umbrella), a butterfly, and a frog-inhabiting the same fragmented landscape. Dispersal habitat was determined with Circuitscape, which was parameterized with movement data collected for each species. Despite differences in natural history and breeding habitat, we found substantial overlap in the spatial distributions of areas important for dispersal of this suite of taxa. However, the intuitive umbrella species (the bird) did not have the highest overlap with other species in terms of the areas that supported connectivity. Nevertheless, we contend that when there are no irreconcilable differences between the dispersal habitats of species that cohabitate on the landscape, managing for umbrella species can help conserve or restore connectivity simultaneously for multiple threatened species with different habitat requirements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195, U.S.A.. ibreckhe@u.washington.edu.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Breckheimer
authors.forename: Nick M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Haddad
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Anne M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Trainor
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Fields
authors.forename: R Todd
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Jobe
authors.forename: Brian R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Hudgens
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moody
authors.forename: Jeffrey R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Walters
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D002080:Butterflies / Q000502:physiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D056727:Endangered Species; D065928:Forests; D008954:Models, Biological; D009657:North Carolina; D011898:Ranidae / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: circuit theory; conectividad de paisajes; corredor; corridor; dispersal; dispersión; especies sustitutas; landscape connectivity; modelado; modeling; surrogate species; teoría de circuitos