Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biological Conservation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biocon Conservation planning for river-wetland mosaics: A fexible spatial approach to integrate foodplain and upstream catchment connectivity Vanessa Reis a, ⁎ , Virgilio Hermoso a,b , Stephen K. Hamilton c,d , Stuart E. Bunn a , Simon Linke a a Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia b Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya, Crta., Sant Llorenc de Morunys, Km 2 25280, Solsona, Lleida, Spain c W.K. Kellogg Biological Station and Dept. Integrative Biology, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI 49060, USA d Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, NY 12545, USA ARTICLEINFO Keywords: Marxan Floodplains Catchment management Spatial planning Connectivity Hydrology ABSTRACT Systematic conservation planning has contributed to the spatial design of reserve networks in river ecosystems by recognizing the importance of maintaining longitudinal connectivity. In the complex and dynamic landscapes of river-foodplain systems, however, it is still challenging to account for the longitudinal and, especially, lateral connections that are relevant to their management. Adequate protection of foodplain ecosystems requires ac- counting for spatio-temporal connectivity among all waterbodies that compose the riverine landscape. In this study we present a new framework to account for both within-foodplain (lateral) and longitudinal river con- nectivity in freshwater systematic conservation planning. We run four prioritization scenarios comparing dif- ferent rules of connectivity for the rivers and foodplains of the entire Amazon River basin. The scenarios in- volved the comparison of local protection only versus integrated upstream protection for foodplains. The spatial framework combined two types of planning units, with connectivity between them assessed using two distance- based measures for within-foodplain and upstream-downstream connectivity. We found diferent levels of protection aforded to foodplain wetlands across scenarios. The scenario including only within-foodplain connectivity failed to detect the propagation of impacts from the surroundings and upstream catchment. In contrast, the scenario that integrated within-foodplain and longitudinal river connectivity agglomerated sub- catchments around the priority wetlands, generating catchment-integrated units that efciently reduced im- pacts. We also demonstrate that the integrated connectivity can be manipulated to meet diferent conservation objectives. The new approach presented here ofers more ecologically meaningful protection to foodplains because it considers local wetland boundaries and connectivity within wetland complexes together with con- nectivity with the upstream landscape. This framework can be applied to integrated wetland conservation and management throughout the world and provide a valuable tool to safeguard the ecosystem functioning of complex river-foodplain mosaics. 1. Introduction Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened and poorly protected globally (Dudgeon et al., 2006; Nel et al., 2007; Vörösmarty et al., 2010), yet the feld of conservation planning for freshwaters is relatively new. A recent study has shown that 70% of the world's rivers have no protected areas in their upstream catchments and only 11% achieve full integrated protection (Abell et al., 2017). The situation of inland wetlands - many of which are seasonally inundated foodplains - is also concerning, with only 11% globally in protected areas (Reis et al., 2017), most of which were not designed to protect wetlands against the infuences of external stressors (Pittock et al., 2015; Thieme et al., 2016). This lack of adequate consideration of freshwater con- nectivity in conservation planning and protected area design needs to beaddressedinordertobetterpreserveglobalfreshwaterresourcesand meet the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals – SDG6 (UN General Assembly, 2015). Wetlands, especially river foodplains, are highly productive and biodiverse ecosystems and provide essential ecosystem services to hu- mans, yet they have been largely degraded or lost globally (Davidson, 2014; Dixon et al., 2016; Junk et al., 2013; Reis et al., 2017). Wetlands withinfoodplainsposeaparticularchallenge for conservation planning because they can be afected not only by local stressors such as land use within the foodplain and in adjacent upland catchments (Allan, 2004; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.05.042 Received 25 October 2018; Received in revised form 18 February 2019; Accepted 22 May 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Australian Rivers Institute, Grifth University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia. E-mail address: vanessa.esouzareis@grifthuni.edu.au (V. Reis). Biological Conservation 236 (2019) 356–365 0006-3207/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T