Status and progress in large-scale assessment of biological diversity in the United States

Conservation of biological diversity is one of seven criteria used to evaluate forest sustainability in the United States. The status of biological diversity is characterized by nine indicators that report area, protected status, and fragmentation of forest habitats; number and conservation status of forest-associated species; range and abundance of forest species to...

Integrating biological diversity and resource management: an essential approach to productive, sustainable ecosystems

Natural forest management as a conservation tool in the tropics: divergent views on possibilities and alternatives

A round table discussion was convened to explore divergent views on the potential for natural forest management (NFM) for timber to contribute to wide-scale maintenance of forest cover and biological diversity in tropical forests. The general argument for NFM for timber is that, by conferring relatively more economic value on forests that alternative forest uses, NFM...

Wildlife habitats and biological diversity in the Rocky Mountains and Northern Great Plains

We identify wetlands, riparian woodlands and shrublands, green ash woodlands, aspen forests, pinyon-juniper woodlands, and pure and mixed forests of ponderosa pine as important wildlife habitats in the US. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region. The relationships of vertebrate species to each of these types are discussed relative to habitat requirements and...

Biological diversity, ecological integrity, and neotropical migrants: New perspectives for wildlife management

New initiatives in wildlife management have come from the realization that birds can be used as indicators of ecosystem health. Conceptually, biological diversity includes processes working at all scales in biological hierarchies that compose the natural world. Recent advances in the understanding of ecological systems suggest they are nonequilibrium systems, and must...

Developing tools to sustain biological diversity.

The Biodiversity Initiative strives to provide innovative solutions to the complex problem of managing forests for biodiversity. Although this initiative is in its beginning stages, an initial scoping meeting has already taken place and planning for the next steps is underway. The initiative is developing plans to conduct extensive scoping efforts in the management,...

Harmonizing national forest inventories

International agreements increasingly require that countries report estimates of national forest resources. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires that countries submit annual reports of greenhouse gas emissions and removals by sources and sinks. The Convention on Biological Diversity requires that countries identify and monitor components...

Forest health in the Blue Mountains: an plant ecologist's perspective on ecosystem processes and biological diversity.

Natural disturbances are important to ecosystem processes. Disturbances historically have occurred in the vegetation of the Blue Mountain area of northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington. The primary modifying events that historically have cycled through most of its plant communities are fire, grazing and browsing, insect and disease epidemics, windthrow,...

Biological diversity in the Sikhote-Alin forests and measures of its conservation

Forests occupy 80-90 percent of the Sikhote-Alin mountain forest region. Cenotic and species diversity of its forest vegetation is the highest in Russia. In the Sikhote-Alin forests, about 200 species of trees and shrubs and 6 species of lianas grow; about 1,000-1,100 species of grassy plants and more than 450 species of mosses and lichens are registered.