Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Biodiversity; Ecosystem management; Ecology

Introduction

There are many different definitions and perspectives of ecosystem management. With a focus on how ecosystems absorb and process solar energy, move or “cycle” materials like carbon and nitrogen, and provide a life-support system for organisms that in turn affect ecosystem processes, most traditional ecosystem scientists probably consider ecosystem management to be biogeochemical management. One might envisage large ecosystems managed for energy acquisition that are relatively deficient in native species, even if this sort of ecosystem management may be compatible with the preservation of species. In other words, efforts to preserve high-quality biotic support systems are likely to increase biodiversity, but the opposite may not be true. Reservoirs, tree plantations, and “improved” rangelands may offer a diverse range of ecosystems [1, 2].

Methods

A national strategy for preserving natural variety

It entails achieving the following objectives: (1) Maintain healthy populations of all native species in their natural patterns of abundance and distribution; (2) represent all native ecosystem types and seral stages in a system of protected areas; (3) maintain ecological and evolutionary processes, such as disturbance regimes, hydrologic processes [3].

Institutional concerns for regulating environments

The current US Congress is unlikely to have many members who support the Forest Service and other federal land management organisations implementing ecosystem management (e.g., see Hansen, 1994; Murkowski, 1995). They advocate for lessening the federal government’s role in managing public lands, which is the exact reverse of what would be required if the Forest Service and other federal agencies took part in creating the kinds of regional reserve networks that would be crucial for preserving [4,5].

Conservation biology insights

In addition to prior attempts to use island biogeography models to build particular nature reserve systems, the use of population viability models to aid in the recovery of endangered and threatened species has prompted some scientistsA potential solution: integration of ecosystem management into human communities [6, 7].

Ecosystem management in the United States will necessitate a desire to live more sustainably and, for conservation biologists, a keener awareness of how conservation efforts may affect human populations (e.g., see Yaffee, 1994; Roush, 1995). Because the motivation for ecosystem management depends on scientific information from fields like ecology and conservation biology, Keiter (1994a) has observed that [8, 9].

Conclusion

From the standpoint of conservation biology, ecosystem management is biocentric since it frequently places a focus on maintaining the integrity of natural ecosystems. The US Forest Service’s perspective on ecosystem management also emphasises the importance of maintaining ecosystem integrity, but it takes a more anthropocentric approach, favouring natural (biodiversity) benefits over utilitarian (commodities, recreation, etc.) values to varying degrees [10].

Acknowledgements

This essay is a condensed version of Paper PL03 from the Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Public Land Policy Discussion Paper Series (1996).

Conflict of Interest

None.

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