DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8507n
title: Data from: Assessing the umbrella value of a range-wide conservation network for jaguars (Panthera onca)

description: Umbrella species are employed as conservation short-cuts for the design of
 reserves or reserve networks. However, empirical data on the effectiveness
 of umbrellas is equivocal, which has prevented more widespread application
 of this conservation strategy. We perform a novel large-scale evaluation
 of umbrella species by assessing the potential umbrella value of a jaguar
 (Panthera onca) conservation network (consisting of viable populations and
 corridors) that extends from Mexico to Argentina. Using species richness,
 habitat quality, and fragmentation indices of ~ 1500 co-occurring mammal
 species, we show that jaguar populations and corridors overlap a
 substantial amount and percentage of high-quality habitat for co-occurring
 mammals, and that the jaguar network performs better than random networks
 in protecting high-quality, interior habitat. Significantly, the
 effectiveness of the jaguar network as an umbrella would not have been
 noticeable had we focused on species richness as our sole metric of
 umbrella utility. Substantial inter-order variability existed, indicating
 the need for complementary conservation strategies for certain groups of
 mammals. We offer several reasons for the positive result we document,
 including the large spatial scale of our analysis and our focus on
 multiple metrics of umbrella effectiveness. Taken together, our results
 demonstrate that a regional, single-species conservation strategy can
 serve as an effective umbrella for the larger community, and should help
 conserve viable populations and connectivity for a suite of co-occurring
 mammals. Current and future range-wide planning exercises for other large
 predators may therefore have important umbrella benefits.
description: Habitat suitability for
 Mammals in JCUs and CorridorsThis file is an Excel
 database with four worksheets which details the results of an overlap
 analysis performed in ArcGIS between mammal habitat suitability models and
 Jaguar Conservation Units and corridors. Worksheets are labeled as
 "CA_JCU_Analysis", "SA_JCU_Analysis",
 "CA_Corridor_Analysis" and "SA_Corridor_Analysis". A
 description of each of these worksheets follows:
 "CA_JCU_Analysis" details the proportion of high, medium, and
 low quality habitat of co-occurring mammals that is contained within
 Jaguar Conservation Units (assuming the total available to be conserved is
 defined as either the total amount of habitat for each species within
 Central America, or within the range of the jaguar in Central America).
 Each row represents the values for a different species, and the columns
 the different categories of habitat quality. "SA_JCU_Analysis"
 details the proportion of high, medium, and low quality habitat of
 co-occurring mammals that is contained within Jaguar Conservation Units
 (assuming the total available to be conserved is defined as either the
 total amount of habitat for each species within South America, or within
 the range of the jaguar in South America). Each row represents the values
 for a different species, and the columns the different categories of
 habitat quality. "CA_Corridor_Analysis" shows the proportion of
 high quality habitat for co-occuring mammals in Central America that is
 contained within corridors - this value was calculated by summing the
 amount of high, medium, and low quality habitat contained within corridors
 and dividing by the total area of the corridor. This analysis was done for
 the actual modeled jaguar corridors, as well as 10 randomly generated
 corridors. Each row represents the value for each species, and each column
 represents the actual corridor or a randomly generated corridor, for each
 category of habitat quality. SA_Corridor_Analysis shows the proportion of
 high quality habitat for co-occuring mammals in South America that is
 contained within corridors - this value was calculated by summing the
 amount of high, medium, and low quality habitat contained within corridors
 and dividing by the total area of the corridor. This analysis was done for
 the actual modeled jaguar corridors, as well as 10 randomly generated
 corridors.Assessing_umbrella_value_data_for_dryad.xlsx