Multiobjective programming methods in the reserve selection problem

Many ecological criteria have been proposed to assign conservation values to nature reserves in the reserve selection problem. Multiobjective programming is used to identify the best compromise solution among a set of alternative solutions that have been obtained from single objective linear programming methods based upon different criteria. Endemic plant species from the island of Crete in Greece are used as a model and a number of cells, as they have been implemented by ARC/INFO, are selected based on four criteria: (1) species richness, (2) species rarity, (3) cell richness, (4) cell rarity. Best compromise solution is identified by (i) a simple multiattribute rating technique, (ii) geometrical methods based on four distance metrics. The two methods are compared and the degree to which they fulfil the four criteria is examined.