Abstract Habitat loss and fragmentation impede the movement of animals across landscapes causing biodiversity change. One strategy to counter these effects is to protect and restore habitat quality and connectivity for a diversity of species. How should surrogate species be selected to represent a diversity of needs from a larger species pool? Using a recent method to prioritize multispecies habitat networks, we tested how the selection of surrogate species affects prioritization outcomes. We ran prioritization schemes using subsets of N (N = 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) species selected from a 14-species reference set. Selection was based on different concepts of surrogate species: umbrella, taxonomy, habitat diversity, movement diversity, movement and habitat diversity. Prioritization outputs were compared to the 14-species set for their effectiveness and comprehensiveness at retaining habitat quality and connectivity criteria, and for their spatial congruence. We show that species-based surrogates perform better than habitat-based surrogates and that a moderate number of species (5–7) might be sufficient to capture the needs of a broader species pool for one habitat type (forest). However, how species are selected matters as much as how many. The best performing approach is to select species representing a diversity of habitat and/or movement needs. Umbrella or taxonomy-based selections were less effective and comprehensive. Our results can guide the selection of surrogate species when designing a prioritization plan for regional connectivity conservation. We recommend favoring systematic trait-based species selection over single-species, umbrella or taxonomy-based selections. When a proper species-based surrogate approach cannot be done, a habitat-based surrogate approach might still be a useful alternative.

中文翻译：

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选择替代物种进行连通性保护

摘要 栖息地丧失和破碎化阻碍了动物跨越景观的移动，从而导致生物多样性变化。应对这些影响的一种策略是保护和恢复物种多样性的栖息地质量和连通性。应如何选择替代物种来代表更大物种库中的多样性需求？使用最近的方法对多物种栖息地网络进行优先排序，我们测试了替代物种的选择如何影响优先排序结果。我们使用从 14 个物种参考集中选择的 N (N = 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9) 个物种的子集运行优先排序方案。选择基于替代物种的不同概念：保护伞、分类学、栖息地多样性、运动多样性、运动和栖息地多样性。将优先排序输出与 14 个物种集进行比较，以了解它们在保持栖息地质量和连通性标准方面的有效性和全面性，以及它们的空间一致性。我们表明基于物种的替代品比基于栖息地的替代品表现更好，并且中等数量的物种（5-7）可能足以满足一种栖息地类型（森林）更广泛的物种库的需求。然而，如何选择物种与选择多少物种一样重要。表现最好的方法是选择代表栖息地和/或运动需求多样性的物种。基于伞式或分类法的选择不太有效和全面。在设计区域连通性保护的优先级计划时，我们的结果可以指导替代物种的选择。我们建议优先选择基于系统性状的物种选择，而不是基于单一物种、保护伞或分类法的选择。当无法采用适当的基于物种的替代方法时，基于栖息地的替代方法可能仍然是一个有用的替代方法。