Return-on-investment frameworks can increase the efficiency of restoration efforts to improve freshwater connectivity

Abstract

With global declines in biodiversity and limited budgets, many conservation organizations are trying to increase the efficiency of conservation efforts. One method is the use of a return-on-investment (ROI) framework, which allows conservation actors to compare conservation projects based on the amount of ecological benefit achieved for a certain budget. Here I apply ROI frameworks to the challenge of directing the removal of dams and road-culverts in order to restore connectivity in freshwater ecosystems. In a first application, I examined the necessity of coordination of barrier removals between conservation actors. I found that a coordinated mixture of small, medium, and large barrier removals was necessary to achieve the greatest ROI. This result emphasizes the need for increased communication among different conservation organizations and the coordination of conservation efforts. In the second application, I used the ROI framework to evaluate the efficiency of using indicator species to guide barrier removals in the Great Lakes. Overall, I found that indicator species were able to guide barrier removals for the majority of native anadromous fishes. Both of these projects demonstrate the value in considering the ROI of a project and how conservation organizations could use similar applications to increase the efficiency of their projects.