Assessment of threat and conservation priorities under realistic levels of uncertainty and reliability

Article Abstract:

Methods for assessing the conservation status of a species for the most part do not allow for underlying uncertainty inherent to the data. For species for which little good data are available, an unreliable estimate of the status of the species results. Threat assessment when there is a range of values can be done within the fuzzy sets framework to broaden evaluation. With two biological variables, use of fuzzy sets together with a point scoring convention brings a range of possible outcomes, not a single one, which would come from the point estimate approach. Different kinds of uncertainty can be used to give a measure of reliability of results. Allowing for uncertainty can change an assessment for a species and can change conservation priorities.

Research, Methods, Models, Planning, Measurement, Environmental impact analysis, Endangered species, Biology, Environmental policy, Conservation of natural resources, Natural resource conservation, Set theory, Fuzzy sets, Uncertainty (Information theory), Point mappings (Mathematics)

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Evaluation of museum collection data for use in biodiversity assessment

Article Abstract:

A methodology developed to determine museum collection data, with a particular focus on the reliability of distributional data for narrow-range taxa by comparing the available data with the 'background data, using geographic information system (GIS) technology, is reported. Results reveal that these methods can be utilized to determine any point data to be collated in species maps, biodiversity assessment, or similar applications requiring distributional information.

Prepackaged software, Museums and art galleries, Museums & Art Galleries, Museums, Study and teaching, Biological diversity, Biodiversity, Geographic information systems, Geographic information system

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Perspectives on the definition of fuzzy sets: a reply to Regan and Colyvan

Article Abstract:

It is argued that most data sets have an element of subjectivity in many areas of data collecting for conservation biology. The substantial point of contention is whether probabilities can be used as fuzzy membership functions.

Analysis, Data entry, Data collection, Conservation biology

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