Principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology.pdf

promote long-term sustainability of ecosystems
and the delivery of essential ecosystem goods
and services to society. The concept was
adopted by the U.S. Forest Service in 1992 and
has since been developing in theory and application.
Although there are virtually hundreds
Integrative Approaches to Ecosystem Management 363
Table 16.1. Differences between traditional forest management and an ecosystem approach to forest
management.
Characteristic Traditional forest management Forest ecosystem management
Objectives • maximizes commodity production • maintains ecosystem integrity, while
allowing for sustainable commodity
production
• maximizes net present value • maintains future options
• maintains forest harvest at levels less than or • aims to sustain ecosystem productivity over
equal to their growth or renewal time, with short-term considerations of
factors such as aesthetics and social
acceptability of harvest practices
Scale • stand scale within political or ownership • ecosystem and landscape scale
boundaries
Role of science • views forest management as an applied • views forest management as combining
science science and social factors
Role of • focuses on outputs demanded by people (e.g., • focuses on inputs and processes (e.g.,
management timber, recreation, wildlife) diversity and ecological processes) that give
rise to outputs
• strives for management that fits industrial • strives for management that mimics natural
production processes and productivity
• considers timber the primary output • considers all species important and considers
that services (protecting watersheds,
recreation, etc.) are of equal importance
with goods timber
• strives to avoid impending timber shortages • strives to avoid biodiversity loss and soil
degradation
• views forests as a crop production system • views forests as a natural ecosystem
• values economic efficiency • values cost effectiveness and social
acceptability
Adapted from WRI (2000), after Bengston (1994).
Table 16.2. Selected definitions of ecosystem management.
of definitions of ecosystem management (Table
16.2), the concept includes a set of common
principles: (1) long-term sustainability as a
fundamental value; (2) clear, operational goals;
(3) sound ecological understanding; (4) understanding
of connectedness and complexity; (5)
• Regulating internal ecosystem structure and function, plus inputs and outputs to achieve socially desirable conditions
(Agee and Johnson 1987).
• The careful and skillful use of ecological, economic, social, and managerial principles in managing ecosystems to
produce, restore, or sustain ecosystem integrity and desired conditions, uses, product, values, and services over the
long term (Overbay 1992).
• The strategy by which, in aggregate, the full array of forest values and functions is maintained at the landscape level.
Coordinated management at the landscape level, including across ownerships, is an essential component (Society of
American Foresters 1993).
• Integration of ecological, economic, and social principles to manage biological and physical systems in a manner that
safeguards the ecological sustainability, natural diversity, and productivity of the landscape (Wood 1994).
Modified from Christensen et al. (1996).