Aplicación del conocimiento de la biodiversidad en la gestión de reservas de la biosfera
- Rafael Miranda Ferreiro Director
- Arturo Hugo Ariño Plana Co-director
Defence university: Universidad de Navarra
Fecha de defensa: 20 December 2013
- Carlos Fernández Delgado Chair
- Enrique Baquero Martín Secretary
- Alícia Duró Sans Committee member
- David Galicia Paredes Committee member
- Leandro Filipe Ribeiro Ferreira Committee member
Type: Thesis
Abstract
Biodiversity increasingly sustains negative impacts from the pressure exerted by man on the biosphere to satisfy its needs. Over the last few decades, several treaties and conventions describing conservation actions to reduce this pressure or, in some cases, to recover biological diversity, have been developed and implemented. One of the first strategies to protect biodiversity has been the designation of protected areas, which would strictly serve to protect biodiversity. But, as man undeniably depends on biodiversity, a new type of protected area was established: Biosphere Reserves. These were created to promote the sustainable use of natural resources, conservation, and the development of environmental and socioeconomic research. This doctoral dissertation analyses the knowledge of vertebrate species occurrence in the management plans of Biosphere Reserves and compares it with the information found in the scientific literature and in biodiversity databases facilitated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Specific objectives were: a) to assess the recording of vertebrate species in management plans; b) to address the implications of the lack of knowledge about species when developing conservation strategies; c) to analyse the existence of non-native freshwater fishes in Biosphere Reserves, and d) to compare the catalogue of threatened species at the international and national level, assesing the implications of threat categories from a conservation point of view. Results show that although the information described on the management plans is good, there were some data that was available in literature and databases which were not included when developing or reviewing management plans. Similarly, the information of threatened and non-native species in management plans was sometimes incomplete. The lack of comprehensive data related to vertebrate specie occurrence, whether native, threatened or non-native, hinders the development of proper conservation strategies, eradication or control actions, and the monitoring of the species status. Assessing what knowledge about biodiversity is available (or lacking) for an area is essential to understand what biodiversity is being protected, and to gauge the measures that need to be taken to ensure its preservation.