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The World Heritage Convention could make a bigger and more systematic contribution to global wilderness conservation by: (1) ensuring the World Heritage List includes full coverage of Earth's wilderness areas with outstanding universal value and (2) more effectively protecting the ecological integrity of existing World Heritage sites. Here, we assess current coverage of global-scale wilderness areas within natural World Heritage sites and identify broad gaps where new wilderness sites should be identified for inclusion in the World Heritage List. We also consider how existing mechanisms under the Convention can improve the ecological integrity of existing sites by expanding or buffering them, and by promoting connectivity between World Heritage sites, between World Heritage sites and other protected areas, or both. We suggest that the Convention should consider a new mechanism called a “World Heritage Wilderness Complex” to facilitate a wilderness approach. Finally, we map three landscapes and one seascape to illustrate how World Heritage Wilderness Complexes might be implemented.

Effective conservation of biological diversity on private lands will require changes in land-use policy and development practice. Conservation development (CD) is an alternative form of residential development in which homes are built on smaller lots and clustered together and the remainder of the property is permanently protected for conservation purposes. We assessed the degree to which CD is permitted and encouraged by local land-use regulations in 414 counties in the western United States. Thirty-two percent of local planning jurisdictions have adopted CD ordinances, mostly within the past 10 years. CD ordinances were adopted in counties with human population densities that were 3.0 times greater and in counties with 2.5 times more land use at urban, suburban, and exurban densities than counties without CD ordinances. Despite strong economic incentives for CD (e.g., density bonuses, which allow for a mean of 66% more homes to be built per subdivision area), several issues may limit the effectiveness of CD for biological diversity conservation. Although most CD ordinances required a greater proportion of the site area be protected than in a typical residential development, just 13% (n = 17) of the ordinances required an ecological site analysis to identify and map features that should be protected. Few CD ordinances provided guidelines regarding the design and configuration of the protected lands, including specifying a minimum size for protected land parcels or encouraging contiguity with other protected lands within or near to the site. Eight percent (n =11) of CD ordinances encouraged consultation with a biological expert or compliance with a conservation plan. We recommend that conservation scientists help to improve the effectiveness of CD by educating planning staff and government officials regarding biological diversity conservation, volunteering for their local planning boards, or consulting on development reviews. Guias e Incentivos para el Desarrollo de la Conservacion en Regulaciones de Uso Local de Suelos Resumen La conservacion efectiva de la diversidad biologica en tierras privadas requerira cambios en las politicas de uso de suelo y practicas de desarrollo. El desarrollo de conservacion (DC) es una forma alternativa de desarrollo residencial en el cual las casas son construidas sobre lotes mas pequenos y agrupadas mientras que la propiedad restante se protege permanentemente por razones de conservacion. Estudiamos el grado hasta el cual el DC es permitido y alentado por las regulaciones de uso local de suelos en 414 condados en el oeste de los Estados Unidos. El 32% de las jurisdicciones de planeacion local han adoptado ordenanzas, en su mayoria durante los ultimos 10 anos. Las ordenanzas de DC fueron adoptadas en condados con densidades de poblaciones humanas que eran 3.0 veces mayores y en condados con 2.5 veces mas uso de suelo en densidades urbanas, suburbanas y exurbanas que en condados sin ordenanzas de DC. A pesar de los fuertes incentivos economicos para el DC (p. ej.: bonos de densidad, que permiten una media de 66% mas casas por construir por area de subdivision), varios problemas pueden limitar la efectividad del DC para la conservacion de la biodiversidad. Aunque la mayoria de las ordenanzas de DC requirieron que se protegiera una mayor proporcion del area sitio que en un desarrollo residencial tipico, 13% (n =17) de las ordenanzas requirieron un analisis de sitio ecologico para identificar y mapear rasgos que deberian ser protegidos. Pocas ordenanzas de DC proporcionaron guias con respecto al diseno y la configuracion de las tierras protegidas, incluyendo la especificacion de un tamano minimo para parcelas de suelo protegido o alentando la contiguidad con otros suelos protegidos dentro o cerca del sitio. El 8% (n =11) de las ordenanzas de DC alentaron la consulta con un experto biologico o la conformidad con el plan de conservacion. Recomendamos que cientificos de la conservacion ayuden a mejorar la efectividad del DC al educar personal de planificacion y oficiales gubernamentales con respecto a la conservacion de la biodiversidad, siendo voluntarios para sus juntas locales de planeacion o consultando resenas de desarrollo.

Large tracts of natural habitat are being replaced by agriculture and urban sprawl in Mediterranean regions worldwide. We have limited knowledge about the effects of human activities on native species in these landscapes and which, if any, management practices might enhance the conservation of native biodiversity within them. Through a citizen volunteer bird-monitoring project, we compared bird abundance and species richness in northern Californian riparian zones surrounded by vineyards, urban areas, and natural areas. We assessed both local and landscape-level variables that may enhance native bird diversity in each land use type. We also demonstrate a new statistical approach, generalized estimating equations, to analyze highly variable data, such as that collected by volunteers. Avian abundance was highly correlated with both landscape context and local habitat variables, while avian richness was correlated with local habitat variables, specifically shrub richness, and percent of tree cover. In particular, shrub species richness has a strong positive correlation with riparian-preferring bird species. This suggests that active local management of riparian zones in human-dominated landscapes can increase our ability to retain native bird species in these areas.

To address increasing fragmentation, conservation biologists have focused on protecting core habitat areas and maintaining connectivity among protected areas. Wildlife corridors, strips of relatively intact habitat designed to connect habitat fragments, may enhance connectivity, but little empirical evidence supports the idea that large mammals prefer to use corridors rather than the surrounding developed landscape. In Sonoma County, a premium wine-grape-growing region in California, we examined mammalian predator use of 21 riparian corridors classified as denuded, narrow, or wide according to the width of the remaining natural vegetation adjacent to the creek. We used unbaited, remotely triggered cameras to determine occurrence of predator species. We also monitored predator use of six vineyards, three close to core habitat and three far from core habitat, with unbaited cameras. Mammalian predator detection rates were 11-fold higher in riparian study areas than in vineyards. More native mammalian predator species were found in wide corridors than in narrow or denuded creek corridors. The number and activity level of native predators was higher in vineyards adjacent to core habitat than in vineyards farther away, where the number and activity level of non-native predators was higher. Maintaining wide and well-vegetated riparian corridors may be important in maintaining the connectivity of native predator populations to ensure their long-term survival.

More than half of the land in the United States is privately owned. Private lands harbor a great amount of biodiversity, including at least some habitat for 95% of the federally listed species in the United States. It is important to conduct conservation biology research on private lands, but our review of the litera- ture indicates that few conservation-oriented field studies are conducted on private property. Based on our success in obtaining permission to conduct research on 43 land parcels in Sonoma County, California, we de- veloped methods to enhance a conservation biologist's chance of obtaining permission to work on private lands. We provide guidelines for researchers to conduct studies successfully on private land with the goal of improving access, data collection, and relationships with private landowners. We also discuss constraints re- searchers face, such as designing studies appropriate for working on privately owned parcels. In light of the importance of these lands to biodiversity conservation, greater effort should be made to conduct research on private lands.

Maintaining healthy ecosystems is a prerequisite for conserving biodiversity. The complex nature of ecosystems often necessitates the use of indicator taxa to monitor ecosystem health. However, ambiguous selection criteria and the use of inappropriate taxa have brought the utility of indicator taxa under question. This review compiles existing selection criteria from the literature, evaluates inconsistencies among these criteria, and proposes a step-wise selection process. In addition, 100 vertebrate and 32 invertebrate taxa documented in the conservation science literature as indicators of ecosystem health are examined to assess how well they adhere to the referenced criteria. Few vertebrate taxa fulfill multiple criteria, as most are highly mobile generalists that lack established tolerance levels and correlations with ecosystem changes. Most suggested invertebrate taxa also lack correlations to ecosystem changes, but satisfy other selection criteria. However, invertebrate taxa are often suggested at high taxonomic levels, encompassing many species, making it diAcult to measure specific attributes, and potentially including many unnecessary and even inappropriate species. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Intensive land use can fragment continuous natural areas into smaller patches, which may be too small to support viable populations of native fauna and more susceptible to invasion by alien species. We demonstrate the utility of combining species occurrence models with land-use change models to identify areas where future development may differentially affect wildlife. Occurrence data for native (e.g., gray fox, coyote, bobcat, mountain lion, striped skunk, raccoon) and non-native (e.g., domestic dogs, domestic cats, opossums) mammalian predators were collected from 188 remotely triggered camera locations across an oak woodland and vineyard landscape in northern California. The occurrence data were used in combination with landscape variables extracted using a geographic information system to build explanatory models of predator occurrence. These statistical models were used to derive two surfaces showing relative probability of occurrence for non-native and native predators. Then, a spatially explicit land-use change model was used to examine potential future predator distributions given potential future vineyard expansion. The probability distribution models generated hypothesized low probabilities of occurrence for native predators within large vineyard blocks, but higher probabilities within isolated vineyards and also in oak woodlands. The models suggest the highest probabilities of non-native predator occurrence fell within large blocks of vineyard. Using one possible future vineyard development scenario, the distribution models illustrate areas where probability of native predator occurrence may be reduced and where non-native predators may expand due to vineyard development. This technique could be applied to prioritize acquisition of critical wildlife habitat and maintain habitat connectivity for wildlife populations.