Regional analysis of mammal distributions among Canadian parks: implications for park planning

Abstract

An unresolved question in conservation biology is whether a single large reserve will support more or fewer species than several smaller reserves adding up to the same total area, and how this affects species composition. Within 'mammal provinces' of Canada, several parks supported the same number of mammalian species, or more, than a single large park with the same area. The proportion of species that require undisturbed habitats increased with total area conserved. Human disturbances should be reduced in parks because these undisturbed-site species are unable to survive in disturbed environments not protected by a park system. An analysis of species distributions across parks indicated that not all small parks had the same composition. I therefore recommend establishing many parks in a biologically defined region and incorporating as much total area as possible. To aid in developing a strategy for placing parks across Canada, areas with high total mammalian richness and high richness of mammal species intolerant of disturbances are highlighted. Maps showing these areas are particularly useful because it is unlikely that several large parks will be established in every region and it is therefore important to identify the most diverse sites.