Reserve Design and the New Conservation Theory

Summary

Reserve design is one of the most fundamental tools conservationists have to protect, maintain, or enhance ecosystem function, heterogeneity or patchiness, and ultimately, biological diversity. Unique objects of our ecological heritage, such as species, communities, and sites, once the traditional focus of reserve design, are now perceived as integral components of ecosystems demonstrated to be open, dynamic, and heterogeneous. From a contemporary conservation view, reserve design encompasses ecological processes governing the ecosystem, including the activity and turnover of organisms and the structure of natural communities. Reserve design also acknowledges the landscape context defining the spatial and temporal relations of ecosystems bounded by natural, functional limits, and anthropogenic constraints.

The challenge facing contemporary conservation practice is to design a reserve that will effectively preserve and manage samples of natural and seminatural landscapes that are representative of a larger, regionalized landscape, and yet, still maintain the integrity of ecosystem function, heterogeneity, and biological diversity. Accomplishing adequate representation of a regionalized landscape requires establishing an integrated, landscape-scale, reserve design. This type of reserve design, referred to as a “bioreserve,” is a regionalized network of individual preserves as core sites integrated within a series of concentric zones acting as corridors or successive buffers to the core sites. The level of protection in each zone is based on the direct relationship of the zone to the dominant core and any perceivable threats or constraints due to conflicting land uses. An integrated, reserve network is described to protect the Connecticut River Tidelands ecosystem.

Reserve design is as much a process as it is a product. To achieve the goals of reserve design, key ecological issues must be conveyed between three interrelated, but different disciplines: science, management, and policy. A matrix approach is proposed to structure the interactions within and among disciplines. To illustrate the utility of the interactive matrix approach, a case study is presented for the establishment of an integrated reserve design for preserving the ecological integrity of the Connecticut River Tidelands ecosystem.