Strategic Habitats for Biodiversity Conservation in Florida

Abstract: Privately owned lands support a large portion of the biodiversity in some areas, but procedures for identifying those private lands critical to the maintenance of biodiversity vary tremendously. We used habitat-based distribution maps in combination with population conservation goals to help identify strategic habitats on private lands in Florida. We used a vegetation map, occurrence data, and published life-history information to create habitat-based distribution maps for 179 rare taxa. We estimated the security of 130 of the taxa by overlaying public land boundaries on habitat maps and then estimating whether conservation lands satisfied a population goal of supporting at least 10 populations of approximately 200 breeding adults. The remaining taxa were evaluated in terms of number of occurrence records on conservation lands. Of the 179 taxa evaluated, existing conservation lands did not adequately protect 56. We then identified habitats on private lands that could best satisfy the minimum conservation goal or else significantly enhance the survival potential of inadequately protected taxa. Strategic habitats included a mix of large and small sites, incorporated some corridor or stepping-stone connections among habitat patches, and protected multiple species. Additional strategic habitats were identified for shorebirds, four natural plant communities, and 105 globally rare plants. The strategic habitats identified in Florida cover 1.65 million ha (12% of the land area) and would cost $8.2 billion (about 15% of Florida's annual state budget) to purchase and $122 million per year to manage. Existing conservation lands account for 3.07 million ha (22% of the land area).