Conserving Ecosystem Function

Summary

Successful conservation efforts require a consideration of ecosystem function. In this chapter, I present seven principles from ecosystem science to serve as a foundation for ecosystem conservation:

• 1. Ecosystems are open, which should lead to an emphasis on conserving the fluxes across ecosystem boundaries and linkages with surrounding ecosystems.

• 2. Ecosystems are temporally variable and continuously changing; the present bears the legacies of past disturbances.

• 3. Ecosystems are spatially heterogeneous on a range of scales, and essential processes depend on that heterogeneity.

• 4. Indirect effects are the rule rather than the exception in most ecosystems.

• 5. Ecosystem function depends on its biological structure.

• 6. Although several species perform the same function in ecosystems, they respond differently to variations in their biotic and abiotic environment, thereby reducing variation in ecosystem function in a changing environment.

• 7. Humans are a part of all ecosystems.

A river restoration project provides an example of the use of ecosystem principles to design effective conservation strategies; yet we have little experience with the use of measures of ecosystem structure or function to measure the efficacy of conservation efforts. Research is needed to find appropriate metrics and to determine their range in regional reference systems. A critical first step in using such an approach is to identify and preserve a wide range of ecosystems that could be used for regional references. Unanswered questions remain that limit our ability to use measures of ecosystem structure and function to guide conservation practices. Finding answers to these questions is critical because the public values the goods and services that are a consequence of ecosystem function.