DOI: 10.5061/dryad.qt3c9
title: Data from: Systematic site selection for multispecies monitoring networks

description: The importance of monitoring biodiversity to detect and understand changes
 throughout time and to inform management is increasingly recognized.
 Monitoring schemes should be globally unified, spatially integrated across
 scales, long term, and cost-efficient. We propose a framework to design
 optimized multispecies-targeted monitoring networks over large areas. The
 method builds upon previous developments on systematic conservation
 planning in terms of optimizing resource allocation in space, and
 comprises seven steps: (a) determine which questions will be addressed,
 (b) define species to be monitored, (c) compile occurrence data for all
 defined species, (d) predict the overall distribution of each species, (e)
 collect relevant environmental data and identify homogeneous strata, (f)
 set targets for the minimum number of monitoring sites per species and/or
 stratum and (g) identify optimal monitoring sites. We tested whether the
 monitoring networks designed with our framework have increased performance
 when compared to networks obtained with simple-random or stratified-random
 sampling by using a set of different indicators. To that end, we designed
 monitoring networks using optimized and non-optimized sampling schemes,
 applied to a case study in Portugal, where the goal was to design a
 monitoring network for amphibians and reptiles, to complement the one
 currently established in Spain. Results allowed us to conclude that
 monitoring networks designed with our method tend to outperform the
 non-optimized ones, in terms of higher species diversity (i.e. higher
 number of species and equity across monitoring sites), higher
 representation of environmental strata, and particularly higher coverage
 of rare species, with less survey effort. Synthesis and applications. We
 developed a framework to allocate monitoring sites for multiple species at
 broad scales using predictive models and optimization algorithms currently
 applied in systematic conservation planning. This framework presents field
 survey cost-efficiency advantages when compared to other standard sampling
 designs and can significantly contribute to improving the design of
 monitoring schemes. Thus, we recommend its application to design new
 multispecies monitoring networks or to extend existing ones.
description: Marxan
 FilesInput files used in the
 Marxan software to derive optimized monitoring networks for the four
 stratification methods - No stratification (NS), Protection stratification
 (PA), Environmental Stratification (ENV), and Environmental and Protection
 stratification (ENVPA); and the three target scenarios: T10, T30 and
 T50Marxan_Files.zipCarvalho_S_et_al_2015-JAE_DATA_&_RCODEInput files and r scripts used to derive non-optimized monitoring schemes for the four stratification strategies (No stratification (NS), Protection stratification (PA), Environmental Stratification (ENV), and Environmental and Protection stratification (ENVPA)) and the three target scenarios (T10, T30 and T50); and to evaluate the performance of both optimized and non-optimized networks using the different indicators.