The use of cumulative area curves in biological conservation: A cautionary note

Small-to-large (STL) and large-to-small (LTS) cumulative curves are used in conservation biology to investigate how species accumulate with area. A common result from application of STL and LTS curves to conservation biology is that a collection of small islands/fragments host more species than a few large islands/fragments with the same total area. However, when there is little overlap between the STL and LTS curves, this graphical method may be of little practical use because a very large number of small islands would need to be protected if one is basing a decision on the shape of the curves. An exercise with the tenebrionid beetles (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae) of the Aegean Islands (Greece) shows there is no evidence of a clearly preferable design strategy with respect to single large or several small sites, indicating that no obvious recommendation about species conservation can be inferred from STL and LTS curves. (C) 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.