A test of the umbrella species approach in restored floodplain ponds.

1.The umbrella species approach, where conservation actions targeted for one or a group of species should benefit the broader community, may provide an effective framework to guide habitat restoration. This requires congruence in the response of umbrella and co-occurring species to environmental stress and recovery, and the identification of potential mechanisms by which co-occurring species benefit from conservation of an umbrella species. 2.Past evaluations of this approach have considered only the presence/absence of umbrella species. In addition to presence/absence, we quantified abundance and biomass of both umbrella and co-occurring species to support a more quantitative evaluation of species co-occurrence. Floodplain ponds are restored in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest to benefit coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch, a presumptive umbrella species. To test its effectiveness as an umbrella species, we assessed the relationships between species richness, abundance and bioma...