Ecosystem management and conservation biology

Ecosystem management argues for the maintenance of native biological diversity, in addition to commodity and amenity uses, on our public lands. Heretofore, natural resource management agencies have focused on managing for single species, usually those that are commercially valuable, threatened or endangered, or over-abundant. For a variety of reasons, the future of public-land management will place increasing importance on managing for species communities. Three approaches which can be used to manage for communities include: (1) a species approach, (2) an ecological processes approach, and (3) a landscape approach. Each method is briefly discussed.