RESERVE SELECTION AS A MAXIMAL COVERING LOCATION PROBLEM

Many alternative approaches have been proposed for setting conservatio n priorities from a database of species (or communities) by site. We p resent a model based on the premise that reserve selection or site pri oritization can be structured as a classic covering problem commonly u sed in many location problems. Specifically, we utilize a form of the maximal covering location model to identify sets of sites which repres ent the maximum possible representation of specific species. An exampl e application is given for vertebrate data of Southwestern California, which is then compared to an iterative solution process used in previ ous studies. It is shown that the maximal covering model can quickly m eet or exceed iterative models in terms of the coverage objective and automatically satisfies a complementarity objective. Refinements to th e basic model are also proposed to address additional objectives such irreplaceability and flexibility. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Limited.