Minimizing opportunity costs to aquatic connectivity restoration while controlling an invasive species
2018
Controlling invasive species is critical for conservation but can have
unintended consequences for native species and divert resources away
from other efforts. This dilemma occurs on a grand scale in the North
American Great Lakes, where dams and culverts block tributary habitat
access for desirable fish species and are also a lynchpin of long-standing
efforts to limit ecological damage inflicted by invasive, parasitic sea
lamprey. Habitat restoration and sea lamprey control create conflicting
goals for managing aging infrastructure. Here, we use optimization to
minimize opportunity costs to habitat gains for 37 desirable migratory
fishes that arise from restricting sea lamprey access (0-25% increase)
when selecting barriers for removal under a limited budget ($1-105M).
Imposing limits on sea lamprey habitat reduces gains in tributary access
for desirable species by 15-50% relative to an unconstrained scenario.
Working around a sea lamprey access cap is costly for 30 of 37 species
(e.g., an additional $20-80M for lake sturgeon), and often requires ?5%
increase in sea lamprey access to be feasible. Narrowly distributed species
exhibit the highest opportunity costs, but also benefit more at lower cost
from allowing small increases in sea lamprey access. Our results illustrate
the value of optimization for limiting opportunity costs when balancing
invasion control against restoration benefits for diverse desirable species.
Such tradeoff analyses are essential for expanded efforts in the
conservation community to restore connectivity within fragmented rivers
without unleashing invaders.
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