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At least 469 records · Page 26Linked to original sources
USGS2022

Native fish need a natural flow regime

Water development has threatened the ecological integrity of riverine ecosystems. Increasing water demand, persistent drought, and climate change exacerbate the effects of habitat degradation and loss in altered systems such as the Colorado River basin. Today, biologists are challenged to identify management actions that benefit native fishes while not hindering water development or management. Herein, we discuss the importance of the natural flow regime for functioning riverine ecosystems and provide examples from four tributaries to the Green River, a major headwater branch of the Colorado River. These tributaries represent a gradient of impacts ranging from water abstraction to the point of complete seasonal desiccation to a relatively natural flow regime, and consequently have maintained different levels of instream habitat complexity and native fish persistence. Despite decades of management, endangered species lack self-sustaining populations and other native species have been extirpated from over half their ranges, which begs the question: can water development and fish conservation be balanced under current water laws and climate change-driven declines in runoff? Given the continued decline in freshwater biodiversity and abundance occurring across the globe, we contend that immediate designation of rivers with natural flow regimes as freshwater conservation areas will enhance native species recovery.

Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming↗
USGS2023

Genetic diversity and IUCN Red List status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List is an important and widely used tool for conservation assessment. The IUCN uses information about a species’ range, population size, habitat quality and fragmentation levels, and trends in abundance to assess extinction risk. Genetic diversity is not considered, although it affects extinction risk. Declining populations are more strongly affected by genetic drift and higher rates of inbreeding, which can reduce the efficiency of selection, lead to fitness declines, and hinder species’ capacities to adapt to environmental change. Given the importance of conserving genetic diversity, attempts have been made to find relationships between red-list status and genetic diversity. Yet, there is still no consensus on whether genetic diversity is captured by the current IUCN Red List categories in a way that is informative for conservation. To assess the predictive power of correlations between genetic diversity and IUCN Red List status in vertebrates, we synthesized previous work and reanalyzed data sets based on 3 types of genetic data: mitochondrial DNA, microsatellites, and whole genomes. Consistent with previous work, species with higher extinction risk status tended to have lower genetic diversity for all marker types, but these relationships were weak and varied across taxa. Regardless of marker type, genetic diversity did not accurately identify threatened species for any taxonomic group. Our results indicate that red-list status is not a useful metric for informing species-specific decisions about the protection of genetic diversity and that genetic data cannot be used to identify threat status in the absence of demographic data. Thus, there is a need to develop and assess metrics specifically designed to assess genetic diversity and inform conservation policy, including policies recently adopted by the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Conservation Biology↗
USGS2023

Landscape-scale drivers of tayra abundance in the Ecuadorian Andes

Habitat conversion to agriculture and overexploitation of wildlife are the two largest drivers of biodiversity loss globally. Biodiversity loss is especially prevalent in areas undergoing rapid economic development at the expense of natural land cover as is the case across much of South America. Despite expected declines in wildlife populations associated with ongoing large-scale land conversions, for many species we lack sufficient data on key threats and drivers of abundance in order to inform appropriate management and conservation. Collecting data to estimate critical state variables such as abundance can be expensive, logistically challenging, and even implausible on spatial scales relevant to species management, especially for carnivores which are elusive and difficult to monitor. Here, we use detection-non-detection data collected using a structured camera trap survey repeated over two years in the Ecuadorian Andes to produce insights into the habitat associations and potential threats faced by the tayra, a medium-sized carnivore that despite being perceived to be relatively common in South America, remains largely understudied. We use hierarchical modelling to estimate an index of abundance for the tayra while accounting for imperfect detection. We demonstrate the tayra to be a lowland habitat generalist, with conversion of land to agriculture potentially benefitting this species in the short term, with increasing proportion of core agricultural land being associated with higher indices of abundance. However, we highlight that this state could potentially serve as an ecological trap in the long term. We provide evidence for negative impacts of human population density on tayra abundance. We hypothesize this relationship could be underpinned by conflict and subsequent persecution by humans, which is likely to be exacerbated in agricultural landscapes. These findings suggest that like many carnivores, the tayra may be able to adapt and even thrive in human modified landscapes given societal acceptance, thus, conservation strategies for the tayra that focus on fostering co-existence between humans and this medium-sized carnivore may contribute to its future.

Biodiversity and Conservation↗
USGS2022

Coupling process-based and empirical models to assess management options to meet conservation goals

Conservation lands face a mounting threat of ecosystem transformation and the loss of biodiversity from the invasion of fire-prone perennial and annual grasses. Managers must make difficult decisions to find efficient ways to expend limited resources to manage large and complex landscapes amidst substantial uncertainty regarding effective treatment strategies, climates, and invader-induced novel processes. We developed a state-and-transition simulation model coupled with a fire behavior model to study impacts to native biodiversity and fire regimes in a national park invaded by a perennial grass. We evaluated resources required to meet management objectives, and how to spatially allocate available resources efficiently and effectively. Management strategies and ecological scenarios strongly influenced the ability to minimize potential impacts; the inclusion of a new management strategy, aerial precision spot spraying targeting low cover levels in remote regions, was needed to supplement current treatments that can only target large, dense patches. Adding this new treatment method may be enough to conserve the desert ecosystem from small scale transformation through invasive competition and from broad functional transformations through invasive-induced fire regime changes. Spot spraying may also be highly beneficial if wetter monsoonal conditions create faster growth rates, decreasing the ability to contain the invasion even with unlimited management resources. Given current annual budgets for control, and the new treatment option, invasion control and preservation of native biodiversity may be possible regardless of spatial prioritization. Coupled empirical and process-based models efficiently simulated the effects of management activities, quantifying potential management costs and ecological impacts, while considering a wide range of possible future uncertainties associated with climate, spread rates, and wildfires lacking historical precedent. These techniques could be applied to other situations to evaluate the feasibility of conservation goals and to determine actions that would be most efficient and effective in meeting those goals.

Arizona↗
USGS2024

Abundance of Long-billed Curlews on military lands in the Columbia Basin

Long-billed Curlews ( Numenius americanus ) are declining throughout North America, and the loss of grassland breeding habitat is one of the primary threats to the species. Intermountain West, in particular, has been identified as the most important region in North America for breeding curlews. Nevertheless, the density and abundance of Long-billed Curlews in this region is not well understood. Lands managed for military training can provide habitat for wildlife species of conservation concern, and increasingly these lands are becoming relevant to sustaining biodiversity. We conducted point count surveys of Long-billed Curlews on Department of Defense lands in the Columbia Basin near Boardman, Oregon, USA during two consecutive breeding seasons. We used multinomial-Poisson mixture models to estimate detection probability and density of curlews and to investigate environmental correlates of those metrics. Mean detection probability at a distance of 400 m was 0.45 and 0.61 in 2015 and 2016, respectively. In 2015, the clarity of skies increased detection probability, but in 2016, none of the variables we measured influenced detection probability. Mean predicted density was 3.3 (95% confidence interval: 2.4–4.7) and 1.8 (1.2–2.7) curlews/km² in 2015 and 2016, respectively. In both years, curlew density was higher in lower-elevation or topographically smoother areas. Estimated abundance of curlews in the study area was 639 (456–912) and 350 (237–520) birds in 2015 and 2016, respectively. The number of curlews appeared to fluctuate across the two years of our study, a demographic trend that may have been influenced by a wildfire in our study area in June 2015. The results of our study indicate that federal grasslands, including areas where military operations are conducted, can provide conservation benefit to breeding Long-billed Curlews.

Oregon↗
USGS2023

Genetic diversity goals and targets have improved, but remain insufficient for clear implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework

Genetic diversity among and within populations of all species is necessary for people and nature to survive and thrive in a changing world. Over the past three years, commitments for conserving genetic diversity have become more ambitious and specific under the Convention on Biological Diversity’s (CBD) draft post-2020 global biodiversity framework (GBF). This Perspective article comments on how goals and targets of the GBF have evolved, the improvements that are still needed, lessons learned from this process, and connections between goals and targets and the actions and reporting that will be needed to maintain, protect, manage and monitor genetic diversity. It is possible and necessary that the GBF strives to maintain genetic diversity within and among populations of all species, to restore genetic connectivity, and to develop national genetic conservation strategies, and to report on these using proposed, feasible indicators.

Conservation Genetics↗
USGS2014

Assessing landscape constraints on species abundance: Does the neighborhood limit species response to local habitat conservation programs?

Landscapes in agricultural systems continue to undergo significant change, and the loss of biodiversity is an ever-increasing threat. Although habitat restoration is beneficial, management actions do not always result in the desired outcome. Managers must understand why management actions fail; yet, past studies have focused on assessing habitat attributes at a single spatial scale, and often fail to consider the importance of ecological mechanisms that act across spatial scales. We located survey sites across southern Nebraska, USA and conducted point counts to estimate Ring-necked Pheasant abundance, an economically important species to the region, while simultaneously quantifying landscape effects using a geographic information system. To identify suitable areas for allocating limited management resources, we assessed land cover relationships to our counts using a Bayesian binomial-Poisson hierarchical model to construct predictive Species Distribution Models of relative abundance. Our results indicated that landscape scale land cover variables severely constrained or, alternatively, facilitated the positive effects of local land management for Ring-necked Pheasants.

Nebraska↗
USGS2020

Assessing the efficacy of protected and multiple-use lands for bird conservation in the U.S.

Setting land aside has long been a primary approach for protecting biodiversity; however, the efficacy of this approach has been questioned. We examined whether protecting lands positively influences bird species in the U.S., and thus overall biodiversity. We used the North American Breeding Bird Survey and Protected Areas Database of the U.S. to assess effects of protected and multiple-use lands on the prevalence and long-term population trends of imperiled and non-imperiled bird species. We evaluated whether both presence and proportional area of protected and multiple-use lands surrounding survey routes affected prevalence and population trends for imperiled and non-imperiled species. Regarding presence of these lands surrounding these survey routes, our results suggest that imperiled and non-imperiled species are using the combination of protected and multiple-use lands more than undesignated lands. We found no difference between protected and multiple-use lands. Mean population trends were negative for imperiled species in all land categories and did not differ between the land categories. Regarding proportion of protected lands surrounding the survey routes, we found that neither the prevalence nor population trends of imperiled or non-imperiled species was positively associated with any land category. We conclude that, although many species (in both groups) tend to be using these protected and multiple-use lands more frequently than undesignated lands, this protection does not appear to improve population trends. Our results may be influenced by external pressures (e.g., habitat fragmentation), the size of protected lands, the high mobility of birds that allows them to use a combination of all land categories, and management strategies that result in similar habitat between protected and multiple-use lands, or our approach to detect limited relationships. Overall, our results suggest that the combination of protected and multiple-use lands is insufficient, alone, to prevent declines in avian biodiversity at a national scale.

PLoS ONE↗
USGS2025

Turning trash into treasure: Leveraging discarded filters for national-scale aquatic eDNA biomonitoring

Monitoring biodiversity changes over large spatiotemporal scales is critical for effective ecosystem conservation and management. This study investigates the potential of environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to enhance national-scale biomonitoring of freshwater diversity by leveraging discarded filters associated with routine water quality sampling from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Water Quality Network (NWQN). We tested 375 samples from 103 NWQN sites for eDNA of native and non-native fish and found that 52% of the filters yielded fish eDNA for a total of 70 fish species detections. Of the filters that had fish eDNA present, an average of 3.7 species were detected. Benchmarking these results to USGS's Aquatic Gap Analysis Project (AGAP)—which includes both field-verified observations along with predictive models derived from fish capture and landscape predictor datasets—we found that eDNA from these filters detected only a fraction of the observed and expected fish diversity for these sites. Our results indicate that these discarded filters may not be sufficient for eDNA sampling of fish communities and posit that alternative filter types more appropriate for eDNA sampling may yield more valuable biomonitoring data. Nevertheless, we tested the efficacy of two novel approaches to facilitate large-scale biomonitoring. Though these filters did not yield adequate fish eDNA, the AGAP database provides a useful method for ground truthing fish species presence. The potential of integrating eDNA sampling into existing monitoring frameworks, which, when paired with more optimal eDNA methods, could be a cost-effective strategy to enhance biodiversity monitoring at large scales.

Aquaculture, Fish and Fisheries↗
USGS2013

Confronting dynamics and uncertainty in optimal decision making for conservation

The effectiveness of conservation efforts ultimately depends on the recognition that decision making, and the systems that it is designed to affect, are inherently dynamic and characterized by multiple sources of uncertainty. To cope with these challenges, conservation planners are increasingly turning to the tools of decision analysis, especially dynamic optimization methods. Here we provide a general framework for optimal, dynamic conservation and then explore its capacity for coping with various sources and degrees of uncertainty. In broadest terms, the dynamic optimization problem in conservation is choosing among a set of decision options at periodic intervals so as to maximize some conservation objective over the planning horizon. Planners must account for immediate objective returns, as well as the effect of current decisions on future resource conditions and, thus, on future decisions. Undermining the effectiveness of such a planning process are uncertainties concerning extant resource conditions (partial observability), the immediate consequences of decision choices (partial controllability), the outcomes of uncontrolled, environmental drivers (environmental variation), and the processes structuring resource dynamics (structural uncertainty). Where outcomes from these sources of uncertainty can be described in terms of probability distributions, a focus on maximizing the expected objective return, while taking state-specific actions, is an effective mechanism for coping with uncertainty. When such probability distributions are unavailable or deemed unreliable, a focus on maximizing robustness is likely to be the preferred approach. Here the idea is to choose an action (or state-dependent policy) that achieves at least some minimum level of performance regardless of the (uncertain) outcomes. We provide some examples of how the dynamic optimization problem can be framed for problems involving management of habitat for an imperiled species, conservation of a critically endangered population through captive breeding, control of invasive species, construction of biodiversity reserves, design of landscapes to increase habitat connectivity, and resource exploitation. Although these decision making problems and their solutions present significant challenges, we suggest that a systematic and effective approach to dynamic decision making in conservation need not be an onerous undertaking. The requirements are shared with any systematic approach to decision making--a careful consideration of values, actions, and outcomes.

Environmental Research Letters↗
USGS2025

AviList: A unified global bird checklist

Universally recognized scientific names for organisms are necessary for accurate and efficient communication. Incongruence in taxonomic treatments results in situations where one name is used for different entities or one entity is known by different names, with negative consequences for conservation, science, trade, legislation, law enforcement, and education, leading to discord among stakeholders and confusion among users. Within the ornithological community taxonomic incongruence among four widely adopted global bird checklists has led to calls for the development of a single unified global avian taxonomy or checklist. Here we introduce AviList, a comprehensive, collaborative and evolving effort towards developing a unified global avian taxonomy, spearheaded by representatives of most current global checklists and many major regional authorities, and supported by the International Ornithologists’ Union (IOU), BirdLife International and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. AviList version 2025, the first version, was officially launched on 11 June 2025 and is available online as a comprehensive, searchable public-access database. It recognizes 11,131 bird species in 2376 genera, 252 families and 46 orders. This global effort has resolved over 1000 species-level taxonomic incongruences among existing checklists. With AviList’s launch, the IOC World Bird List and the Clements Checklist of Birds of the World have ceased any independent taxonomic updates, while BirdLife International is in the process of total alignment, leading to a harmonization in the classification underpinning a number of major bird projects, including eBird, Macaulay Library, Merlin Bird ID and the IUCN Red List. Adoption of AviList will improve inter-operability across global biodiversity, molecular, ecological and spatial databases (e.g. GBIF). Strong governance of AviList will ensure it is a “living” document that is regularly updated by a global community of bird taxonomists as new scientific advances are made, with positive impacts for conservation, academia and human society. It is hoped that AviList will support and encourage taxonomic science by identifying areas where further research is most needed, and that it will provide a blueprint for taxonomic authorities in other organismic groups endeavoring to achieve taxonomic harmonization.

Biodiversity and Conservation↗
USGS2024

Climate change vulnerability of Arctic char across Scandinavia

Climate change is anticipated to cause species to shift their ranges upward and poleward, yet space for tracking suitable habitat conditions may be limited for range-restricted species at the highest elevations and latitudes of the globe. Consequently, range-restricted species inhabiting Arctic freshwater ecosystems, where global warming is most pronounced, face the challenge of coping with changing abiotic and biotic conditions or risk extinction. Here, we use an extensive fish community and environmental dataset for 1762 lakes sampled across Scandinavia (mid-1990s) to evaluate the climate vulnerability of Arctic char ( Salvelinus alpinus ), the world's most cold-adapted and northernly distributed freshwater fish. Machine learning models show that abiotic and biotic factors strongly predict the occurrence of Arctic char across the region with an overall accuracy of 89 percent. Arctic char is less likely to occur in lakes with warm summer temperatures, high dissolved organic carbon levels (i.e., browning), and presence of northern pike ( Esox lucius ). Importantly, climate warming impacts are moderated by habitat (i.e., lake area) and amplified by the presence of competitors and/or predators (i.e., northern pike). Climate warming projections under the RCP8.5 emission scenario indicate that 81% of extant populations are at high risk of extirpation by 2080. Highly vulnerable populations occur across their range, particularly near the southern range limit and at lower elevations, with potential refugia found in some mountainous and coastal regions. Our findings highlight that range shifts may give way to range contractions for this cold-water specialist, indicating the need for pro-active conservation and mitigation efforts to avoid the loss of Arctic freshwater biodiversity.

Global Change Biology↗
USGS2020

Describing historical habitat use of a native fish-Cisco (Coregonus artedi)-In Lake Michigan between 1930 and 1932

With the global-scale loss of biodiversity, current restoration programs have been often required as part of conservation plans for species richness and ecosystem integrity. The restoration of pelagic-oriented cisco ( Coregonus artedi ) has been an interest of Lake Michigan managers because it may increase the diversity and resilience of the fish assemblages and conserve the integrity of the ecosystems in a changing environment. To inform restoration, we described historical habitat use of cisco by analyzing a unique fishery-independent dataset collected in 1930–1932 by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries’ first research vessel Fulmar and a commercial catch dataset reported by the State of Michigan in the same period, both based on gear fished on the bottom. Our results confirmed that the two major embayments, Green Bay and Grand Traverse Bay, were important habitats for cisco and suggest that cisco could complete the entire lifecycle within either of the Bays as there was no lack of summer feeding and fall spawning habitats. Seasonally, our results showed that cisco stayed in nearshore waters in spring, migrated to offshore waters in summer, and then migrated back to nearshore waters in fall for spawning. The results also suggest that in summer, most ciscoes were in waters with bottom depths of 20–70 m, but the highest cisco density occurred in waters with a bottom depth around 40 m. We highlight the importance of embayment habitats to cisco restoration and the seasonal migration pattern of cisco identified in this study, which suggests that a restored cisco population can diversify the food web by occupying different habitats from the exotic fishes that now dominate the pelagic waters of Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan↗
USGS2013

Using hand proportions to test taxonomic boundaries within the Tupaia glis species complex (Scandentia, Tupaiidae)

Treeshrews (order Scandentia) comprise 2 families of squirrel-sized terrestrial, arboreal, and scansorial mammals distributed throughout much of tropical South and Southeast Asia. The last comprehensive taxonomic revision of treeshrews was published in 1913, and a well-supported phylogeny clarifying relationships among all currently recognized extant species within the order has only recently been published. Within the family Tupaiidae, 2 widely distributed species, the northern treeshrew, Tupaia belangeri (Wagner, 1841), and the common treeshrew, T. glis (Diard, 1820), represent a particularly vexing taxonomic complex. These 2 species are currently distinguished primarily based on their respective distributions north and south of the Isthmus of Kra on the Malay Peninsula and on their different mammae counts. This problematic species complex includes 54 published synonyms, many of which represent putative island endemics. The widespread T. glis and T. belangeri collectively comprise a monophyletic assemblage representing the sister lineage to a clade composed of the golden-bellied treeshrew, T. chrysogaster Miller, 1903 (Mentawai Islands), and the long-footed treeshrew, T. longipes (Thomas, 1893) (Borneo). As part of a morphological investigation of the T. glis – T. belangeri complex, we studied the proportions of hand bones, which have previously been shown to be useful in discriminating species of soricids (true shrews). We measured 38 variables from digital X-ray images of 148 museum study skins representing several subspecies of T. glis , T. belangeri , T. chrysogaster , and T. longipes and analyzed these data using principal components and cluster analyses. Manus proportions among these 4 species readily distinguish them, particularly in the cases of T. chrysogaster and T. longipes . We then tested the distinctiveness of several of the populations comprising T. glis and T. longipes . T. longipes longipes and T. l. salatana Lyon, 1913, are distinguishable from each other, and populations of T. "glis" from Bangka Island and Sumatra are distinct from those on the Malay Peninsula, supporting the recognition of T. salatana , T. discolor Lyon, 1906, and T. ferruginea Raffles, 1821 as distinct species in Indonesia. These relatively small, potentially vulnerable treeshrew populations occur in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot and will require additional study to determine their appropriate conservation status.

Journal of Mammalogy↗
USGS2016

Does biodiversity protect humans against infectious disease? Reply

The dilution effect is the sort of idea that everyone wants to be true. If nature protects humans against infectious disease, imagine the implications: nature's value could be tallied in terms of human suffering avoided . This makes a potent argument for conservation, convincing even to those who would otherwise be disinclined to support conservation initiatives. The appeal of the dilution effect has been recognized by others: “the desire to make the case for conservation has led to broad claims regarding the benefits of nature conservation for human health” (Bauch et al. 2015 ). Randolph and Dobson ( 2012 ) were among the first to critique these claims, making the case that promotion of conservation to reduce Lyme disease risk, although well intentioned, was flawed. Along with Randolph and Dobson's critique, there have been several calls for a more nuanced scientific assessment of the relationship between biodiversity and disease transmission (Dunn 2010 , Salkeld et al. 2013 , Wood and Lafferty 2013 , Young et al. 2013 ). In response, supporters of the dilution effect have instead increased the scope of their generalizations with review papers, press releases, and, like Levi et al. (2015), letters. These responses have been successful; it is not uncommon to read papers that repeat the assertion that biodiversity generally interferes with disease transmission and that conservation will therefore generally benefit human health. Here, we explain how Levi et al. (2015) and other, similar commentaries use selective interpretation and shifting definitions to argue for the generality of the dilution effect hypothesis.

Ecology↗
USGS2016

Considerations for building climate-based species distribution models

Climate plays an important role in the distribution of species. A given species may adjust to new conditions in-place, move to new areas with suitable climates, or go extinct. Scientists and conservation practitioners use mathematical models to predict the effects of future climate change on wildlife and plan for a biodiverse future. This 8-page fact sheet written by David N. Bucklin, Mathieu Basille, Stephanie S. Romañach, Laura A. Brandt, Frank J. Mazzotti, and James I. Watling and published by the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation explains how, with a better understanding of species distribution models, we can predict how species may respond to climate change. The models alone cannot tell us how a certain species will actually respond to changes in climate, but they can inform conservation planning that aims to allow species to both adapt in place and (for those that are able to) move to newly suitable areas. Such planning will likely minimize loss of biodiversity due to climate change.

Report↗
USGS2020

Conservation genomics in a changing arctic

Although logistically challenging to study, the Arctic is a bellwether for global change and is becoming a model for questions pertinent to the persistence of biodiversity. Disruption of Arctic ecosystems is accelerating, with impacts ranging from mixing of biotic communities to individual behavioral responses. Understanding these changes is crucial for conservation and sustainable economic development. Genomic approaches are providing transformative insights into biotic responses to environmental change, but have seen limited application in the Arctic due to a series of limitations. To meet the promise of genome analyses, we urge rigorous development of biorepositories from high latitudes to provide essential libraries to improve the conservation, monitoring, and management of Arctic ecosystems through genomic approaches.

Trends in Ecology and Evolution↗
USGS2019

Framework for monitoring shrubland community integrity in California Mediterranean type ecosystems: Information for policy makers and land managers

Shrublands in Mediterranean‐type ecosystems worldwide support important ecosystem services including high levels of biodiversity and are threatened by multiple factors in heavily used landscapes. Use, conservation, and management of these landscapes involve diverse stakeholders, making decision processes complex. To be effective, management and land use decisions should be informed by current information on ecosystem quality and resilience. However, obtaining this information is often a challenge due to the extent of landscapes involved. Here we present a conceptual integrity monitoring framework based on simple easily observable ecosystem components readily understood by nonspecialists. Community integrity is defined by plant functional group based on relative proportion of shrubs and nonnative annual grasses. The ability to use these straightforward metrics results from four factors: relatively good alignment of characteristic bird, mammal, and insect communities with shrub cover, positive feedback between annual grasses and short fire intervals, the inhibitory effect of annual grasses on shrub seedling establishment, and similar functional group response to different disturbances. Two additional metrics, indicator species and shrub species diversity, capture subtle yet persistent signatures of disturbance on integrity not reflected in functional group composition. The framework is designed to: categorize habitats into ecosystem integrity classes, forecast likely integrity class changes caused by threats and environmental conditions, and provide a simple reporting mechanism that can be overlain with data on conservation status and vulnerabilities. The proposed framework includes a pilot phase to validate empirical relationships, thresholds, and sampling efficiency. The accessibility of these metrics to nonspecialists is anticipated to enhance communication among stakeholders and thus facilitate problem solving. Leveraging monitoring and mapping programs driven by other needs (e.g., species conservation and fire management) affords meaningful opportunities to offset program costs.

California↗