Abstract
Previous studies which dealt with the conservation reserve site selection problem used either optimization methods, specifically linear integer programming (IP), or heuristic algorithms. The trade-off between computational efficiency versus optimality has been discussed in some articles and conflicting messages were signaled. Although the problem of suboptimality was acknowledged, some authors argued that heuristics may be preferable to exact optimization because IP models are computationally complex and may not be solvable when too many reserve sites are involved. On the other hand, some studies reported that fairly large problems could be solved easily. This paper shows that although the computational complexity argument can be valid for large reserve selection problems, by properly guiding the solver and exploiting the problem structure, formal optimization can deliver second-best (near-optimal) solutions that dominate the greedy heuristic solutions.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 55-62 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Biological Conservation |
Volume | 115 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2004 |
Keywords
- Exact optimum
- Heuristic
- Integer programming
- Reserve selection
- Second-best
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Nature and Landscape Conservation