Species at Risk, Conservation Strategies, and Ecological Integrity

Species at risk are relatively easy to identify. Saving them is another matter. There are few success stories. With increased human populations, and consequent demands for more space and more resources, there will be an ever increasing number of species at risk. Our current conservation strategies are largely ad hoc, unintegrated, and ineffective. They must be replaced with new strategies focused on saving species at risk in the context of functioning ecosystems, if there is to be any measure of success. We need to assess the effectiveness of current protected areas, and land use planning. Our conservation planning needs to be revised and revitalized. This could be done with some clearly stated objectives, using GIS-based heuristic algorithms. It could establish a minimum set of essential conservation areas, based upon the principles of irreplaceability and complementarity. It could document what we have so far achieved, and what needs to be done in the future. It is obvious that species at risk belong and function in ecosystems, and depend upon the continued existence of their essential habitats in these ecosystems. Just setting aside protected areas is not enough. They and the adjacent areas have to be managed, and managed in an ecosystem context, with the appropriate mix of coarseand fine-filter habitat management initiatives. Ecosystems are not static. They continually undergo dynamic change, moving through states of exploitation, conservation, release, and reorganization. To save species at risk in these ecosystems, we must guarantee that these ecosystems retain integrity, that is, the ability to maintain function in both the short and long term, in the face of constantly changing conditions. We need to understand the natural disturbance regimes, and recognize the scope, scale, and temporal patterns of change. To save species at risk we must manage our protected and other areas within the framework of ecological integrity, and understand that this can only be accomplished in community and regionally acceptable models. 1 Numbers updated since paper delivered.