RESULTS:

An equal-area grid of 1,455 hexagons (10,000km2 each) was constructed for Canada; 1,275 hexagons either completely or partially covered terrestrial Canada. There were significant positive correlations between the irreplaceability of sites (hexagons) for most of the focal groups. Four general areas of special importantance were identified for biodiversity conservation in Canada; Okanagan Valley (British Columbia), mid-Prairies (Manitoba and Saskachewan), Niagara Peninsula (Ontario). Other important areas were also located near to the southern United States border. Minimum set analyses indicated that all mammals could be represented in 16 hexagons all birds in 14 hexagons all amphibians and all reptiles in 9 hexagons each all COSEWIC species in 55 hexagons. 12 % of all 217 ecoregions could be represented within 188 hexagons all terrestrial vertebrates could be represented in 31 hexagons

The most important sites for biodiversity conservation in Canada are located near the southern US border because many of both COSEWIC and non-COSEWIC species that are common in continental North America occur in southern Canada. With increasing latitude there are fewer species, and these have larger distributions. There was high overlap in the distributions of important conservation sites between groups of taxa (birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians), thus deciding the location of protected areas on the basis of just one of these groups alone could also benefit other taxa. The 12 % area-target for ecoregions alone did not protect all species, indicating that area-based targets may not represent all biodiversity.

This project was developed with the support of :

University of British Columbia United States Environmental Protection Agency New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Services

Canadian Wildlife Service

National Wildlife Research Centre

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