Applying the dark diversity concept to nature conservation

Journal article

Linking diversity to biological processes is central for developing informed and effective conservation decisions. Unfortunately, observable patterns provide only a proportion of the information necessary for fully understanding the mechanisms and processes acting upon a particular population or community. Here, we suggest conservation managers utilise the often overlooked information imbedded in species absences, paying particular attention to the dark diversity (i.e. a set of species that are absent from a site but can potentially disperse to and establish there, in other words, the absent portion of a habitat-specific species pool). Together with existing ecological metrics, concepts and conservation tools, dark diversity can be used to complement and further develop conservation prioritisation and management decisions through an understanding of biodiversity relativized by its potential (i.e. its species pool). Furthermore, through a detailed understanding of the population, community and functional dark diversity, the restoration potential of degraded habitats can be more rigorously assessed further, and so to, the likelihood of successful species invasions. We suggest the application of the dark diversity concept is currently an underappreciated source of information that is valuable for conservation applications ranging from macro-scale conservation prioritization to more locally-scaled restoration ecology and the management of invasive species. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Authors: Lewis, R; de Bello, F; Bennett, J; Fibich, P; Finerty, G

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Conservation biology: the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology
• Volume: 31
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 40–47
• Publication date: 2016-06-22
• Acceptance date: 2016-03-12
• DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12723
• EISSN: 1523-1739
• ISSN: 0888-8892
• Language: English
• Keywords: SBTMR; restoration ecology; metacommunity; conservation prioritisation; absent species; conservation ecology; completeness; invasion ecology; species co-occurrence