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The scientific value of Amazonian protected areas

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Abstract

Protected areas (PAs) are under increasing pressure to demonstrate their broader value and contribution to society. Scientific research and associated knowledge production comprise one such value, which has received relatively little attention in the academic literature. Here, we use the Amazon region as a case study to quantify scientific knowledge production (as measured by scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals) in PAs and identify the main biophysical, geographical and social characteristics that influence such production. We adopt a multi-model inference approach with an innovative hurdle regression model to independently assess the factors influencing the presence of research and the number of studies in PAs. Our results indicate a highly skewed pattern of scientific production, with many PAs with few or no associated scientific articles. Larger, older and more highly protected PAs in Ecuador and Peru were most likely to have scientific production, while time since first publication was most strongly associated with the number of publications from a PA. These findings provide important insights that could be used to support and strengthen policy aimed at increasing the value of Amazonian protected areas for scientific research.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development CNPq under Projects #448688/2014-0, #448966/2014-0, and #400325/2014-4. RJL and ACMM are supported by CNPq (#310953/2014-6 and #310349/2015-0, respectively). RAC and CB are funded by CNPq (#163055/2014-9 and #502453/2014-1, respectively). We would also like to thank Dr Douglas Daly for commenting on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biological Sciences and Health, Federal University of Alagoas, Campus A. C. Simões, Av. Lourival Melo Mota, s/n Tabuleiro dos Martins, Maceió, AL, Brazil

    Ricardo A. Correia, Ana C. M. Malhado, Lays Lins, Norah Costa Gamarra, Waltyane A. G. Bonfim, Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar, Chiara Bragagnolo & Richard J. Ladle

  2. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    Ricardo A. Correia, Paul Jepson & Richard J. Ladle

Authors
  1. Ricardo A. Correia
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  2. Ana C. M. Malhado
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  3. Lays Lins
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  4. Norah Costa Gamarra
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  5. Waltyane A. G. Bonfim
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  6. Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar
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  7. Chiara Bragagnolo
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  8. Paul Jepson
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  9. Richard J. Ladle
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricardo A. Correia.

Additional information

Communicated by Jefferson Prado.

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Correia, R.A., Malhado, A.C.M., Lins, L. et al. The scientific value of Amazonian protected areas. Biodivers Conserv 25, 1503–1513 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1122-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1122-x

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