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(NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution (2002)

Chapter: Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future

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Suggested Citation:"Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future." National Academy of Sciences. 2002. (NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10499.
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Suggested Citation:"Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future." National Academy of Sciences. 2002. (NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10499.
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Page 65
Suggested Citation:"Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future." National Academy of Sciences. 2002. (NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10499.
×
Page 66
Suggested Citation:"Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future." National Academy of Sciences. 2002. (NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10499.
×
Page 67
Suggested Citation:"Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future." National Academy of Sciences. 2002. (NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10499.
×
Page 68
Suggested Citation:"Rapid Plant Diversification: Planning for an Evolutionary Future." National Academy of Sciences. 2002. (NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10499.
×
Page 69

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

Colloquium Rapicl plant cliversification: Planning for an evolutionary future R. M. Cowling*t and R. L. Pressey: *Terrestrial Ecology Research Unit, Botany Department, University of Port Elizabeth, P.O. Box 1600, Port Elizabeth 6000, South Africa; and $New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 402, Armidale, New South Wales 2350, Australia Systematic conservation planning is a branch of conservation biology that seeks to identify spatially explicit options for the preservation of biodiversity. Alternative systems of conservation areas are predic- tions about effective ways of promoting the persistence of biodiver- sity; therefore, they should consider not only biodiversity pattern but also the ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain and generate species. Most research and application, however, has fo- cused on pattern representation only. This paper outlines the devel- opment of a conservation system designed to preserve biodiversity pattern and process in the context of a rapidly changing environment. The study area is the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), a biodiversity hotspot of global significance, located in southwestern Africa. This region has experienced rapid (post-Pliocene) ecological diversification of many plant lineages; there are numerous genera with large clusters of closely related species (flocks) that have subdivided habitats at a very fine scale. The challenge is to design conservation systems that will preserve both the pattern of large numbers of species and various natural processes, including the potential for lineage turnover. We outline an approach for designing a system of conservation areas to incorporate the spatial components of the evolutionary processes that maintain and generate biodiversity in the CFR. We discuss the difficulty of assessing the requirements for pattern versus process representation in the face of ongoing threats to biodiversity, the difficulty of testing the predictions of alternative conservation sys- tems, and the widespread need in conservation planning to incorpo- rate and set targets for the spatial components (or surrogates) of processes. There are numerous pleas in the literature for integrated systems of conservation areas that will maintain disturbance regimes, migratory corridors, habitat diversity, landscape connectivity, evo- lutionary templates, and other spatial features necessary for the maintenance of evolutionary processes (1-4~. There has been some debate as to whether priority should be given to areas supporting ancestral taxa with evolutionary potential (5, 6) or those represent- ing evolutionary fronts of currently speciating taxa (7-10~. Re- cently, Moritz and coworkers (11) have used comparative phylo- geography to identify areas that encompass both the adaptive and historical components of genetic diversity of vertebrates in the rainforests of northeastern Australia. However, there have been no studies that attempt to identify the spatial components of a wide spectrum of evolutionary processes or to set explicit targets for their protection in particular regions. If we are to plan for an evolutionary future, then evolutionary processes those that maintain genetic diversity and promote diversification must be explicitly considered, and represented, in the conservation plan (1, 11, 12~. This is not a trivial issue. There are very few places in the world, in particular in its endemic-rich and threatened regions (13), where evolutionary processes and their spatial components are understood well enough to be included in conservation planning. Over the past few decades, considerable insights have been gained regarding evolutionary processes in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR) of 5452-5457 1 PNAS 1 Maya, 2001 1 vol. 98 1 no. 10 South Africa, especially for plants. Because the available data are representative of most plant lineages in the region, they provide a good basis for conservation planning. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of evolutionary processes in the CFR, a species-rich region that is recognized as a global priority for conservation action (13~. We focus in particular on rapid diversification of plant lineages. We then review briefly some recent developments in systematic conser- vation planning and the need to extend these ideas to apply not only to biodiversity pattern, but also to ecological and evolu- tionary processes. Because conservation planning is a spatially explicit exercise, even processes must be protected by their spatial components or surrogates. Accordingly, we describe a framework for planning for an evolutionary future in the CFR, identifying seven types of spatial components of evolutionary processes, setting explicit conservation targets for each, and outlining the development of a conservation plan to achieve these targets. We conclude by discussing the difficulty of testing predictions about biodiversity persistence deduced from alter- native conservation plans, the contributions of the approach presented here, and its potential for widespread application. Rapid Diversification in the CFR Rapid diversification, often associated with key innovations and leading to flocks of species that show fine-scale habitat discrimi- nation, has been reported for some plant lineages (26-28), espe- cially on islands (29, 30), for Andean birds (9), and for fish, most notably the cichlids of the African Rift Lakes (19~. Without a doubt, the distinctive evolutionary feature of the CFR is the recent and massive diversification of many plant lineages (20, 21~. The region includes some 9,000 plant species in 90,000 1~12, 69% of which are endemic (21) one of the highest concentrations of endemic plant species in the world (13~. This diversity is concentrated in relatively few lineages that have radiated spectacularly. Thus, 13 genera (of a total of 988) each comprise more than 100 species, and together these account for 25% of all species in the flora (21~. Similarly, of the region's 173 families, 12 each comprise more than 200 species and, in combination, indude 64% of the CFR's flora. Although the evidence is patchy, it seems certain that this massive diversification has occurred relatively recently, mostly after climatic deterioration in the late Pliocene when seasonal (Mediterranean-type) climates developed and recurrent fire became an important ecological factor (22, 23~. That many lineages are in the midst of massive diversification events is suggested by the restriction of localized endemics to very young sediments (20), the large clusters of closely related species resulting in poor phylogenetic resolution in Glades (24, 25), and This paper was presentecl at the National Acaclemy of Sciences colioqulum, "The Future of Evolution," helc! March ~ 6-20, 2000, atthe Arnoic' anc] Mabe! Beckman Center in irvine, CA. Abbreviation: CFR, Cape Fioristic Region. tTo whom reprint requests shouIc' be adciresseci. E-maii: rmc~kingsiey.co.za. www.pnas.org/cgi/cioi/ ~ 0. ~ 073/pnas. ~ 01093498

a very recent (post-Pleistocene) appearance in the pollen record of species-rich taxa, notably the Mesembryanthemaceae (26~. Diversification-prone lineages in the CFR are not a random assemblage either biologically or ecologically. Generally, com- ponent species among woody groups are low, fire-killed (i.e., nonsprouting) shrubs with poorly dispersed seeds, small and weakly persistent seed banks, and insect-pollinated flowers (21, 27, 284. These traits, especially fire sensitivity, which could be regarded as a key innovation (in the sense of ref. 29; see also refs. 22 and 27), have favored increased diversification rates. Thus, fire-induced plant mortality increases generation turnover, thereby providing potential for more rapid evolution than sprouters (compare refs. 27 and 30~. Small and weakly persistent seed banks, in combination with fire sensitivity, result in non- overlapping generations, thereby increasing the probability of the manifestation of genetic novelties associated with each generation, as well as increasing the probability of population fragmentation via fire-induced local extinction (22, 274. Finally, restricted gene flow, a consequence of short-distance seed dispersal and insect pollination, promotes isolation and hence diversification of populations in different habitats (31, 32~. A simple microgeographic speciation model applies (28~: sub- populations of common species, presumably with considerable genetic diversity, are isolated geographically by fire-induced local extinction or climate change, on the periphery of the parent population in a different habitat. This process can occur very rapidly (even after a single fire) and, owing to limited gene flow, over small spatial scales. In these isolated populations, a combination of chance fixation of new genes and strong selection in a different habitat results in rapid speciation. Predictably, the overwhelming majority of range-restricted, terminal taxa are habitat, principally edaphic, specialists (20, 27, 33, 35), implying a strong ecological component to the diversification processes (21, 31, 34~. Adaptation to pollinators has also played a major role in the diversification of the CFR's flora (35~. This is especially true of the region's large geophyte flora (ca. 1,500 species) where specialist pollinators have driven speciation in several groups (e.g., refs. 36-38~. Strong selection for specialist pollinators is presumably a consequence of the scarcity of pollinators and widespread pollen limitation in the infertile and fire-prone CFR landscapes (39~. However, ecological factors, especially soil type, may nonetheless play an overriding role in speciation amongst geophytes, as in the irid genus Lapeirousia (33~. Diversification of the CFR biota has also occurred in relation to meso- and macroscale ecological gradients, also operating over larger temporal scales than those described above. These larger processes are the consequence of geographic isolation driven by oscillating climate change during the Pleistocene (21, 40~. There is some evidence for ecological diversification of both plant and invertebrate lineages in relation to the high environ- mental diversity associated with lowland-upland gradients (6, 34, 41~. Riverine systems that breach montane migration barri- ers, thereby linking dry interior basins with mesic coastal fore- lands, are important for migration and exchange between these biotas: subsequent isolation of populations may also play a role in speciation (42~. Plants and invertebrates have also diversified across the macroclimatic gradients evident in the CFR (41, 43~. There may also be as yet undisclosed levels of within-species genetic variation between geographically isolated parts of the CFR. Further rapid climate change is likely to cause the extinction of many of the range-restricted and habitat-specialist members of the actively speciating flocks in the CFR (44-47~. However, by changing habitat characteristics and promoting population isolation, climate change may also enhance turnover of actively diversifying lineages. Another widespread influence is ongoing transformation of habitats to intensive uses. The challenge for conservation planning is, therefore, to create conditions that Cowling and Pressey enable evolutionary processes to continue in a rapidly changing world (48~. Systematic Conservation Planning Conservation planning is a branch of conservation biology that seeks to identify spatially explicit options for the preservation of biodiversity (49, 50~. Alternative systems of conservation areas are, in essence, hypotheses about effective ways of promoting the persistence of biodiversity. It is vital, therefore, that planning considers not only the representation of populations, species, and other components of biodiversity pattern, but also—as we argue below the processes that underpin these patterns. In order for these processes to be represented in a conservation plan, they must be explicitly identified by their spatial components [e.g., a particular physiographical gradient across which lineages have diversified (9, 12~. Invariably, the conservation options arising from a plan are constrained by a number of factors, such as the existing reserve system (51), the extent and configuration of transformed habitat (52), and forms of land use that are financially more viable (at least in the short term) than conservation (53~. To be effective, conservation planning should be systematic. Systematic ap- proaches share the following features: they are data-driven; target-directed; efficient; explicit, transparent, and repeatable; and flexible (12, 54~. A map of irreplaceability, such as the one shown in Fig. 1, is an outcome of a systematic approach that presents options for planning new protected areas (55~. Essentially, irreplaceability is a measure assigned to an area that reflects its importance, in the context of the planning domain (e.g., the CFR), for achieving a set of regional conservation targets (e.g., a specified extent of each habitat type). Irreplaceability can be defined in two ways (574: the likelihood of an area being required to achieve the set of conservation targets for the region; and the extent to which the options for achieving a system of conservation areas that is representative (achieves all of the conservation targets) is re- duced if that area is lost or made unavailable. In areas of high irreplaceability, all or most extant habitat is required to achieve targets; in areas of low irreplaceability, there is greater flexibility in the array of available areas required to meet regional conservation targets (55~. In the case of the CFR (Fig. 1), the broad pattern of irreplaceability is largely driven by agricultural transformation. Areas comprising habitat types that have been almost entirely transformed mainly renosterveld and allied shru- blands of the coastal lowlands (58) have maximum irreplaceabil- ity. All extant occurrences of these habitats are required to fulfill the conservation target, and options for protected area establishment, or some form of conservation action, are severely constrained. In contrast, sites that include habitats associated with remote and infertile mountain landscapes, which are in a largely pristine state and where most protected areas are located (59), have low irre- placeability: here there are numerous options to meet the outstand- ing conservation targets. Although the analysis in Fig. 1 provides a solid base for systematic conservation planning, it has a major limitation. The outcome reflects the options for achieving targets for pattern only. The representation of biodiversity pattern (species, habi- tats, etc.) is only one component of an effective conservation plan; an explicit consideration of the evolutionary processes that will maintain biodiversity in the long term is also required (11, 12), especially in a world that is increasingly threatened by habitat loss and climate change (44, 454. Planning for Ecological and Evolutionary Processes The past 20 years have seen the development of systematic conservation protocols that identify whole sets of complemen- tary areas that collectively achieve some overall conservation goal the "minimum set" approach (49, 60~. In this strategy, the PNAS 1 May 8, 2001 1 vol 98 1 no 10 1 5453 .~. ,.,.,~ ~,~,~,~,~,.~,~.~ ,~..~. .~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~,~ ~,~,~ ~ ~ ~. . . ~ ~ ~ ~-~ ~.~ ~ ~ ~ ~. .~ ~ ~-~ ~ ~.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~.~ ~ ~.~ ~c~ ~ ~:~ ~ ~ =:~ ~ ~: : ~ ~ ~ ~—~ ~ ~:~: ~ ~ct~ ~ ~ :~: ~ ~ ~ ~:~ :~ ~: i~ ~:~ ~ ~ :~:~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~;~` ~ ~ ~ ~ ~:~ ~ ~::~ - ~:~ ::~: :~ ~v: :~.~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~:~ S~ ~ ~ :~ ~:~: :~ ~ :~:~:: :~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~:~: ::: :~:~:~:: :~:~: ~:~ ~ :~ ~:~::: :~

To Mandatory Reserve Site Irreplaceability >0.8 - 1 >0.4 -~0.8 >0 2 - 0 4 , .... ,,,,,,, : :~ it_ :~ Fig. 1. A map of site irreplaceability for the CFR. Areas (planning units comprising 1/16° cells) where existing reserves cover >50% of the area are regarded as mandatory reserves. Totally irreplaceable units include areas of habitat that are essential to meet reservation targets, whereas units where irreplaceability is zero comprise habitat for which reservation targets have been achieved. The analysis, driven by explicit reservation targets for 88 Broad Habitat Units (BHUs), and mapped at 1:250,000 (56), was undertaken by using C-PLAN, a decision support system linked to a geographic information system (53). conservation goal consists of quantitative targets for each spe- cies (e.g., at least one occurrence) or each habitat (e.g., at least 10% of its total area). The aim is to represent the required amount of each species or habitat in as small an area as possible. Usually, rapid implementation of the reserve system is assumed implicitly, so there is no basis for deciding how to schedule conservation action among the selected areas in relation to prevailing threats. A more realistic scenario, however, is for implementation of the reserve system to take years or decades, during which time the agents of biodiversity loss continue to operate. In such situations, strategies for maximizing representation on paper must be complemented or replaced by those that maximize "retention" in the face of ongoing loss or degradation of habitat. A crucial consideration in maximizing retention is the assign- ment of priorities based on the irreplaceability of a site and its vulnerability to biodiversity loss as a result of current or im- pending threatening processes (61~. In this scenario, areas with high irreplaceability and high vulnerability are the highest priorities for conservation action. The objective of the approach is to minimize the extent to which representation targets are compromised by ongoing loss of habitat and species. The same rationale underlies some approaches to identifying conservation areas globally (13 ). A further step is needed, however, for conservation planning to truly address the long-term persistence of biodiversity. The implementation of reserve systems that are designed to retain only biodiversity pattern will not ensure long-term conservation. This is because these systems do not explicitly consider the ecological and evolutionary processes that maintain and gener- ate biodiversity (1, 3, 11, 12, 62~. The ultimate goal of conser- vation planning should be the design of systems that enable biodiversity to persist in the face of natural and human-induced change. Design is defined here as the size, shape, connectivity, orientation, and juxtaposition of conservation areas intended to address issues such as viable populations, minimization of edge effects, maintenance of disturbance regimes and movement patterns, continuation of evolutionary processes, and resilience to climate change. Given that the implementation of reserve systems is almost always gradual, and accompanied by ongoing loss of habitat, the conservation of both pattern and process will require two things: consideration of representation and design in the identification 5454 1 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.101093498 of potential conservation areas; and sound decisions about the progressive implementation of conservation action so that land use and other threats have minimal impact on the desired outcome. In the implementation phase of a reserve system designed for retention and persistence, the importance of threatening pro- cesses in compromising the achievement of both pattern and process goals will need to be considered and balanced (12~. This strategy should achieve greater long-term benefits for biodiver- sity than strategies based only on the representation of pattern. Planning for an Evolutionary Future in the CFR Because conservation planning is a spatial exercise, an essential requirement of planning for the maintenance of natural pro- cesses is the identification of the spatial components of those processes examples are habitat gradients or geographical bar- riers that are associated with lineage turnover. To our knowl- edge, no studies have integrated these spatial requirements into a conservation plan. This we are attempting to do in a current exercise for the CFR. On the basis of our present understanding of diversification processes in the CFR, we identified seven spatial components to be protected to promote ongoing evolution and set targets for each (Table 1~. These targets can be used to produce a map of irreplaceability for evolutionary processes but, in the overall conservation plan, are combined with requirements for repre- senting biodiversity pattern and the continuation of various ecological processes. The next step was to design a system of conservation areas by selecting from areas that contain one or more of the spatial components in Table 1. The options associ- ated with the selection of areas were constrained by several factors, including a pragmatic requirement to incorporate the existing reserve system; the avoidance of excessively transformed areas; and the need to select, where possible, areas also with high irreplaceability for targets for biodiversity pattern. In many instances, especially in lowland regions, habitats are so exten- sively transformed that it is no longer possible to achieve process targets the evolutionary future of the CFR has already been severely compromised. Fig. 2 shows the sequential assembly of the conservation system designed to achieve evolutionary process targets in the CFR. The rule applied for the design sequence was to initially attempt to achieve targets for which there were limited options Cowling and Pressey

Table 1. Spatial components of evolutionary processes in the CFR Spatial component Method of identification Target Key evolutionary process conserved Juxtaposed edaphically different Identify planning units with At least one example of each Ecological diversification of plant habitats particular combinations of Broad specified combination of lineages in relation to fine-scale Habitat Units (56) that reflect Broad Habitat Units in edaphic gradients (20). strong edaphic contrasts each major climatic zone. (limestone and adjacent acidic substrata) known to be associated with plant diversification processes. Exclude"unsuitable" planning units based on fragmentation of native vegetation and lack of contiguity with other units. Entire sand movement corridors Identify planning units containing At least one entire corridor Ecological diversification of plant the three specific dune pioneer of each type. lineages in relation to fine-scale habitats. Exclude any corridors edaphic gradients (20). (sediment-sources) with limited conservation potential of surrounding land (particularly in the sediment-sink or downwind zones). Assume stands of dense alien plants make corridors irrecoverable. Whole riverine corridors Identify major rivers that link inland All of any intact, or the Migration and exchange between basins with coastal plains. Identify untransformed parts of inland and coastal biotas (42). untransformed corridors or parts each of the major of corridors. corridors (five river systems; ten river corridors). Gradients from uplands to Identify planning units on the At least one example of each Ecological diversification of plant coastal lowlands and interior following interfaces of upland and gradient within each of and animal lineages in relation basins lowland: the major climate zones to steep environmental gradients Coastal range/coastal plain (9). Gradients width must (6, 34, 41). Coastal range/interior basin encompass at least one Inland range/interior basin untransformed planning Inland range/Karoo basin unit and maximize climatic which would allow the heterogeneity. construction of corridors between these landscapes. Macro-scale climatic gradients Complement gradients between Unbroken transects along all Geographical diversification of lowlands and uplands (mesa scale) of the geographical plant and animal lineages in with macro-scale connectivity in gradients. relation to macroclimatic two main directions: gradients(56, 58). - -- North-south in the western CFR ~~ - along both the coastal - =-~ forelands and inland ~ ~ ° coil ~~''~-.'.,~.~.'~'-~'. mountains; East-west in the southern and ; ;- eastern CFR along coastal - ~-~ forelands, coastal mountains, interior basins, and interior mountains. Mega wilderness areas Identify contiguous planning units One in the northwestern, Maintenance of all evolutionary that encompass ca 500,000 ha of one in the southern, and processes, including untransformed habitat, transcend one in the southeastern predator-prey processes biome boundaries (63), and CFR. involving top predators (59). include all or part of a riverine corridor. Transitions between major Where possible, expand conservation As many transitions as Exchange between Broad Habitat Unit categories areas to encompass these possible. phylogenetically distinct biotas. (56) and blame boundaries. transitions. The components need to be identified geographically and given quantitative targets for conservation planning. The term `'planning units" refers to areas used in our current planning exercise as the preliminary building blocks of an expanded system of conservation areas. They are 1/16° grid cells each covering about 4,000 ha. About 2,510 planning units cover the whole CFR. Cowling and Pressey PNAS 1 May 8, 2001 1 vol. 98 1 no. 10 1 5455

_ Negotiated Reserve 4~ ~ Mandatory Reserve 4 0} F it. ~ I4 1 ~ ~ , ~ C ~ <~0 ~ AL ~ _ _ HE GIL _ 01 he ~ m D E , 4'1 F ClEl ~ , ; 'I ,) ~ m 181~ ~ ~ ~ ~ AWL \-~ I ~ H 1. 1 .. ~ ___ L I? . me__ Din _r - Fig. 2. Stages in the design of a system of conservation areas for the CFR that will achieve targets for biodiversity pattern and ecological and evolutionary processes. (A) juxtaposed edaphically different habitats; (B) entire sand movement corridors; (C) whole riverine corridors; (D) upland-lowland gradients; (E) macroclimatic gradients; (F) mega wilderness areas; (G) major biological transitions not identified in stages A-F; and (H) an additional minimum set of areas required to achieve all pattern targets. The minimum set was identified by using a reserve selection algorithm driven by irreplaceability (53). (e.g., unique combinations of edaphic substrata), proceeding to targets offering greater flexibility in terms of spatial location. Particular attention was given to achieving more than one target within any one notional reserve. Nonetheless, the overall system depicted in Fig. 2 is one of several options for conserving processes and is accordingly presented as an example of the approach that we have used. Areas contributing to process targets were selected in the C-PLAN software system (53) as negotiated reserves, whereas the existing reserve system is depicted as mandatory reserves. The mandatory reserves, how- ever, do not contribute substantially to achieving process targets. Of the total area selected to achieve the targets, only 41% was contributed by the existing reserve system, and the area contri- bution of this system to each of the seven spatial components ranged from 0-48%. Thus, in addition to being another example of an ad hoc reserve system that is inadequate in terms of pattern representation (ref. 59; see also ref. 51), extant CFR reserves are not located in a manner that will sustain evolutionary processes. 5456 1 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1 073/pnas.101 093498 The components identified in Table 1 comprise the spatial requirements of evolutionary processes at many spatial scales. The planning units themselves, each comprising about 4,000 ha, are sufficiently large to sustain regular, whole-patch fires (64), a disturbance essential for the maintenance of key evolutionary processes (22), to maintain plant and insect biodiversity (65-67), and to maintain plant-insect pollinator relations (67, 68~. How- ever, larger areas of juxtaposed habitat encompassing the spatial components of evolutionary processes that operate over meso- and macroscale ecological gradients, are required to ensure the long-term persistence of biodiversity in the CFR. Accordingly, we hypothesize that the system identified in Fig. 2 will ensure ongoing diversification in the CFR by conserving the spatial components of key evolutionary processes. The maintenance of juxtaposed habitats over different spatial scales should impart a measure of resilience to impending climate change (44), which is predicted to have a substantial effect on the flora and vegetation of the CFR (69~. Cowling and Pressey

A key issue in conservation planning is the scheduling of conservation action on the ground, requiring choices in both space and time (61~. In principle, irreplaceability and vulnera- bility to threatening processes should guide priorities for imple- mentation: action should minimize the extent to which conser- vation targets are compromised before conservation management is applied (614. However, when conservation tar- gets deal with the representation of both pattern and process, as is the case for this study, there are no established ways of comparing the relative risks of alternative approaches to imple- mentation. For example, how should the outright loss of an extensively transformed and fragmented habitat be compared with the loss of a section of climatic gradient, comprising adequately conserved habitat but essential for sustaining evo- lutionary processes? Resolving these conflicts is a major chal- lenge for conservation planning (12), and is the subject of ongoing research. A key contribution is the establishment of irreplaceability maps for the achievement of process targets. Discussion and Conclusions The system of conservation areas identified in Fig. 2 represents a set of hypotheses about the maintenance biodiversity and ongoing diversification in the CFR. The major prediction is that this system will maintain more biodiversity in the long term than alternative systems based on pattern representation only (12~. It is not feasible, ethically or practically, to test this prediction: the scale and nature of the problem rule out experiments. We can, 9. 10. 11 1. Frankel, O. H. (1974) Genetics 78, 53-65. 2. Pickett, S. T. A. & Thompson, J. N. (1978) Biol. Conserv. 13, 27-37. 3. Hunter, M. L., Jacobsen, G. L. & Webb, T. (1988) Conserv. Biol. 2, 375-385. 4. Harris, L. D. & Cropper, W. P., Jr. (1992) in Global Warming and Biological Diversity, eds. Peters, R. L. & Lovejoy, T. E. (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT), pp. 309-324. 5. Williams, P. 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B. & Hauser, D. L. (1995) Hist. Biol. 10, 151-173. 30. Marzluff, J. M. & Dial, K. P. (1991) Ecology 72, 428-439. 31. Linder, H. P. (1985) in Species and Speciation, ed. Vrba, E. S. (Transvaal Museum, Pretoria, South Africa), pp. 53-57. 32. Slingsby, P. & Bond, W. J. (1985) S. Afr. J. Bot. 51, 30-35. 33. Goldblatt, P. & Manning, J. C. (1996) Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 83, 346-361. 34. Linder, H. P. & Vlok, J. (1991) Pl. Syst. Evol. 175, 139-160. Cowling and Pressey however, monitor and, where possible, adjust the design as results and more data become available; although, given the rapid escalation of all components of global change, time is not on our side (9, 11~. The contributions of the conservation planning approach that we have used for the CFR are the spatial identification of evolutionary drivers and the setting of explicit targets for these spatial components. 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