Regular articles
Special Issues
Caribbean Naturalist
CANA Home
Range and Scope
Board of Editors
Staff
Editorial Workflow
Publication Charges
Subscriptions
Other EH Journals
Northeastern Naturalist
Southeastern Naturalist
Neotropical Naturalist
Urban Naturalist
Prairie Naturalist
Journal of North American Bat
Research
Eastern Paleontologist
Journal of the North Atlantic
eBio
Characterization of the Network of Protected Areas in Puerto Rico
Jessica Castro-Prieto1,*, Maya Quiñones2, and William A. Gould2
1Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus, PO Box 23301, San Juan, PR, USA 00931-3301. 2International Institute of Tropical Forestry, US Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Río Piedras, 1201 Ceiba Street, San Juan, PR, USA 00926-1119. *Corresponding author.
Caribbean Naturalist, No. 29 (2016)
Abstract
Our goal was to describe the biodiversity and associated landscape diversity and forest cover characteristics within the network of terrestrial protected areas in Puerto Rico. We conducted spatial analysis to quantify different indicators of diversity at these sites. We found that protected areas in Puerto Rico overlap the most species-rich regions on the island, encompass a diverse landscape, are dominated by core forest, and include predicted habitats for 31 threatened vertebrate species analyzed here. However, when we calculated the proportion of the biodiversity features that are actually protected, we concluded that most of them need better representation within protected areas. Other available conservation mechanisms that enhance biodiversity conservation could be employed in addition to expanding the current network of protected areas.
Download Full-text pdf (Accessible only to subscribers. To subscribe click here.)