Manual De Tecnicas Para El Estudio De La Fauna

Preserving Biodiversity: Species, Ecosystems, or Landscapes? Jerry F. Franklin Ecological Applications, Vol. 3, No. 2. (May, 1993), pp. 202-205.
Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1051-0761%28199305%293%3A2%3C202%3APBSEOL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 Ecological Applications is currently published by Ecological Society of America.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR'sTerms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding anyfurther use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/esa.html. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission.

The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academic journals andscholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers, and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

http://www.jstor.org Fri Nov 16 14:15:05 2007Ecological Applicalions, 3(2), 1 9 9 3 , pp. 202-205 O 1993 by the Ecological Society of America

PRESERVING BIODIVERSITY: SPECIES, ECOSYSTEMS,
OR LANDSCAPES?'

JERRY FRANKLIN F.
College of Forest Resources AR-10, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USA

Abstract. Efforts to preserve biological diversity must focus increasingly at the ecosystem level because of theimmense number of species, the majority of which are currently unknown. An ecosystem approach is also the only way to conserve processes and habitats (such as forest canopies, belowground habitats, and hyporheic zones) that, with their constituent species, are poorly known. Continued concern with species is essential, however. Landscape-level issues also need much greater attention. Designing anappropriate system of habitat reserves is one landscapelevel concern. Understanding and appropriately manipulating the landscape matrix is at least equal in importance to reserves issues, however, since the matrix itselfis important in maintaining diversity, influences the effectiveness of reserves, and controls landscape connectivity.
Key words: belowground habitats; design of conservationreserves; forest canopies; heroic megafauna; hyporheic zones; landscape connectivity; landscape matrix; National Parks and Wilderness Areas; vertebrates and vascular plants vs. invertebrates and small organisms.

The vast majority of past and current efforts to preserve biological diversity have focused upon species, subspecies, and populations. This is certainly true of actions that have been takenunder the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Yet, for several decades we have discussed the need for alternative approaches to the maintenance of biological diversity, most commonly an approach oriented toward ecosystems rather than species. With the pending debate over reauthorization of ESA, proposals to shift emphasis from species to ecosystems have taken on new intensity. In this forum I outline someof the reasons why ecosystems, and even landscapes, need to receive more attention in efforts to preserve biological diversity. Included is the fundamental impossibility of dealing with more than a small fraction of existing diversity on a species basis, as well as the need to move beyond conservation strategies based upon reserve and corridor concepts. It is not my contention that we should...