Economic implications of such changes at the farm level are also discussed. Conservation strategies for such regions are best formulated at local scales. This paper presents a method for conservation prioritization, which integrates information on ecosystem function and services with landscape dynamics. The methodology is illustrated through a case study of a tropical, species-rich landscape in southern India, that is undergoing fairly rapid transformation. For a vegetation type, the weighted average of these ranks indicates its net conservation value.
Weights thus provide a means of ascribing differential importance to an ecosystem service.
Information on landscape change is also summarized by a matrix depicting the likelihood of transformations between vegetation types present in the landscape, projected five years into the future. For each transformation between two vegetation types, information on ecosystem service and dynamics is then integrated. Strongly positive transformations are likely to result in positive impacts on conservation value, and occur without any additional conservation effort. Strongly negative transformations are likely to occur and have a strong negative impact on conservation value. Maximum conservation effort may be directed at halting or reversing these.