CHAPTER 3
Baselines, patterns and process
Lindsey Gillson
1
, Richard J. Ladle
2,3 and Miguel B. Ara ú jo
3,4
1 Plant Conservation Unit, Botany Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa
2 School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
3 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Vi ç osa, Brazil
4 National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, Madrid, Spain and University of É vora, CIBIO, É vora, Portugal
3.1 INTRODUCTION
If modern conservation practice is characterized by
anything in particular, it is the diversity of goals that
conservationists have for protected areas (see Chapter
2 ). Typically, site management may be directed towards
one or more of the following:
• maximizing biological diversity (biodiversity) or biological integrity;
• protecting a particular species or subset of species;
• restoring a past ecological community;
• maintaining or enhancing ecological (ecosystem)
services;
• providing a platform for sustainable development
(e.g. enhanced tourism resources, sustainable extraction, etc.);
• increasing ecosystem health.
On - the - ground conservation decisions depend, to a
large extent, on the underlying objectives and values
of the organizations or individuals involved. These
values and objectives are, in their turn, shaped by
perceptions of ecosystems on the one hand, as stable
balanced entities or, alternatively, as dynamic systems
in fl ux. The former perception is linked to the so - called
balance of nature paradigm in ecology, and within conservation it is aligned with a compositionalist perspective, while the latter, fl ux of nature , paradigm is strongly
associated with a greater emphasis on functionalism.
In this chapter we examine the debate between these
two contrasting viewpoints, with particular focus on
the baselines or benchmarks against which conservation goals are measured.
3.2 ECOSYSTEM COMPOSITION
AND FUNCTION
In groundbreaking papers, Noss (1990) and Callicott
et al . (1999) argue that normative concepts within
conservation can be grouped into two philosophies/
approaches that they term ‘ functionalism ’ and ‘ compositionalism ’ . According to this classifi cation, functionalists can be distinguished by the tendency to focus
on ecological processes such as nutrient cycling
and thermodynamics. Compositionalists, by contrast,
derive their world view from ecological biogeography
and community ecology, and they view ecosystems as
interacting hierarchies of individuals, populations and
communities.
The importance of the functionalist/compositionalist
dichotomy to conservation practice is that these differing perspectives strongly infl uence the desired end
point of a conservation intervention. Seen through the
eyes of a functionalist, the goal of conservation is to
restore and maintain ecosystem processes. Conversely,
a compositionalist approach emphasizes re - creating or
maintaining species assemblages that closely resemble
past communities, usually those that existed in pre -
industrial or prehistoric times. A good example is the
conservation of heathlands in southern England,
Conservation Biogeography
Edited by Richard J. Ladle and Robert J. Whittaker
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-444-33503-3
Baselines, patterns and process
Lindsey Gillson
1
, Richard J. Ladle
2,3 and Miguel B. Ara ú jo
3,4
1 Plant Conservation Unit, Botany Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa
2 School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
3 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Vi ç osa, Brazil
4 National Museum of Natural Sciences, CSIC, Madrid, Spain and University of É vora, CIBIO, É vora, Portugal
3.1 INTRODUCTION
If modern conservation practice is characterized by
anything in particular, it is the diversity of goals that
conservationists have for protected areas (see Chapter
2 ). Typically, site management may be directed towards
one or more of the following:
• maximizing biological diversity (biodiversity) or biological integrity;
• protecting a particular species or subset of species;
• restoring a past ecological community;
• maintaining or enhancing ecological (ecosystem)
services;
• providing a platform for sustainable development
(e.g. enhanced tourism resources, sustainable extraction, etc.);
• increasing ecosystem health.
On - the - ground conservation decisions depend, to a
large extent, on the underlying objectives and values
of the organizations or individuals involved. These
values and objectives are, in their turn, shaped by
perceptions of ecosystems on the one hand, as stable
balanced entities or, alternatively, as dynamic systems
in fl ux. The former perception is linked to the so - called
balance of nature paradigm in ecology, and within conservation it is aligned with a compositionalist perspective, while the latter, fl ux of nature , paradigm is strongly
associated with a greater emphasis on functionalism.
In this chapter we examine the debate between these
two contrasting viewpoints, with particular focus on
the baselines or benchmarks against which conservation goals are measured.
3.2 ECOSYSTEM COMPOSITION
AND FUNCTION
In groundbreaking papers, Noss (1990) and Callicott
et al . (1999) argue that normative concepts within
conservation can be grouped into two philosophies/
approaches that they term ‘ functionalism ’ and ‘ compositionalism ’ . According to this classifi cation, functionalists can be distinguished by the tendency to focus
on ecological processes such as nutrient cycling
and thermodynamics. Compositionalists, by contrast,
derive their world view from ecological biogeography
and community ecology, and they view ecosystems as
interacting hierarchies of individuals, populations and
communities.
The importance of the functionalist/compositionalist
dichotomy to conservation practice is that these differing perspectives strongly infl uence the desired end
point of a conservation intervention. Seen through the
eyes of a functionalist, the goal of conservation is to
restore and maintain ecosystem processes. Conversely,
a compositionalist approach emphasizes re - creating or
maintaining species assemblages that closely resemble
past communities, usually those that existed in pre -
industrial or prehistoric times. A good example is the
conservation of heathlands in southern England,
Conservation Biogeography
Edited by Richard J. Ladle and Robert J. Whittaker
© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. ISBN: 978-1-444-33503-3