Identifying Priority Areas for Biodiversity and Soil Accumulation Ecosystem Service Management in Tropical Forests with High Global Conservation Priority

Abstract The Mira River watershed in northern Ecuador is located within the Tropical Andes and Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena hotspots. This landscape provides many ecosystem services necessary for human well-being. Despite the high worldwide value of biodiversity conservation of this watershed, the degradation of natural forests threatens biodiversity and ecosystem services. In Ecuador, biodiversity is managed separately from ecosystem services. Therefore, an integrated management is necessary, which provides a win-win situation and decreases the cost of management. However, it is unclear how ecosystem services and biodiversity are related and to what extent the management of biodiversity will ensure the supply of services. This study aimed to identify priority areas for biodiversity and soil accumulation ecosystem service simultaneous management in the Rio Mira watershed by 1) assessing the spatial distribution of biodiversity and soil accumulation service, 2) assessing the spatial relationship between both resources, and 3) analyzing the spatial congruence between biodiversity and soil accumulation. This analysis was carried out using spatially explicit models, geographically weighted regression, and overlap analyses. Biodiversity reported a positive spatial relationship with soil accumulation service in 98 % of the subwatersheds studied. Biodiversity can explain up to 92 % of the variance in the supply of soil accumulation. Biodiversity and soil accumulation registered an overlap of 52.5 %. I identified that in 15 % of the subwatersheds studied, the simultaneous management of biodiversity and soil accumulation service can be carried out. Therefore, in these subwatersheds, management strategies and capital investment can be optimized. Also, this study provides key information for land-use planning.