Diane Le Bouille

Currently, I am a PhD student working with Dr. Paul Armsworth, in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee.

My research focuses on conservation planning and optimization. I use mathematical modeling to better understand and predict costs associated with protected areas, then spatial optimization approaches to inform reserve design and selection. I work directly with conservation organizations and practitioners to help guide conservation practices.

PhD Thesis

The Costs of Protected Areas in the U.S.

Research Interests

Conservation Ecology
Modeling, Mathematical Optimization
Quantitative Ecology

Conservation Planning
Spatial Analysis
Applied Conservation

Current Research Projects

Faced with rapid loss of species and habitats on which they depend, governments and NGOs worldwide invest billions of dollars every year to set aside lands for conservation. Optimal decision making and resource allocation tools have been developed to help organizations develop efficient conservation strategies. Provided with spatially explicit estimates of both conservation costs and ecological benefits, those tools can help decision makers identify areas offering the best return on investment (ROI). However, limited data regarding actual conservation costs has meant that most of those studies have relied on readily available proxies instead of actual cost data, and there is a risk that such estimates do not preserve the spatial pattern of variation in actual protected area acquisition costs.

Management Costs

The time path of investments for the management of protected areas.

Price of buying land for conservation in the U.S

What parameters can explain the spatial variability of acquisition costs of land set aside for conservation in the U.S.?

Reserve Selection and Cost Proxies

What is the effect of using potentially flawed cost proxies when identifying spatial priorities, and how much better could we do with actual cost data?