Zonation is described as "a framework and software for spatial conservation prioritization," essentially, a conservation planning decision support tool (SOURCE). The tool can assist decision-makers or advisers regarding conservation by identifying areas that are vital to preserve and maintain habitat quality and connectivity for [if necessary, multiple] species, with a goal of long-term species persistence. The tool allows for identifying both high and low priority areas for conservation, a balancing of alternative land uses, prioritizing of certain species or communities, as well as allowing for different approaches to conservation and perceptions of values.
Zonation can create scenarios analyzing the optimal spaces to be set aside as reserves, based on the various preferences indicated above, and iteratively chooses the optimal location for a reserve, simultaneously discarding least optimal regions, in order to produce a proposed geographic area which is both high in quality as well as contiguous, with the aim of species survival.
This toolbox entry has been labelled with the following tags:
| Sector: | land use change; biodiversity and ecosystems; forests; fisheries; urban areas; | |
| Spatial scale: | independent | |
| Temporal focus: | independent | |
| Onset: | slow | |
| Role in decision process: | prescriptive | |
| Level of skills required: | high | |
| Data requirements: | modest | |
| Adaptation tasks: |
Zonation software was applied by New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research to evaluate potential areas to be designated as Marine Protected Areas, and documentation can be viewed at the zonation website (link can be found in the References section below).
The software has also been utilized in habitat restoration planning, planned expansion of conservation areas, and urban enviornments; details can be found on the Zonation website.
Typically, Zonation is used for large-scale and high resolution studies, current examples of research have typically been high-resolution national and sub-national scale assessments.
As mentioned in the applciations section, Zonation software typically uses high resolution input data. Data needs change depending on analysis being performed, but typically, data on species being studied, their current presence or absence, probability of suitability of an area for a species, and ecological and climate qualities of the region, all spatially explicit, are required.
Zonation software is free to use and available via its creators. The researchers have also created a 300-page user's manual describing all steps needed to use the software, linked below. The user's guide describes, in great detail, the methodological steps of the tool, and explicitly describes its usage and limitations.
Both the software and user's manual can be found at:
http://www.helsinki.fi/bioscience/consplan/software/Zonation/downloads.html
As yet, no adaptation task / method type has been related to this toolbox entry.
