A new approach to forest biodiversity monitoring in Canada

Society increasingly asks forestry agencies to consider maintenance of biodiversity alongside tree growth and wood supply when managing forests. In this paper we explore the mechanisms that managers currently have available to meet this expectation. When assessing three key indicators (trends in ecosystem and habitat extent, trends in distribution and abundance of species, and changes in status of threatened species), we found that managers lack the information for consistent, scientifically rigorous, unbiased reporting on the impact of their management on biodiversity in Canada. We outline the key characteristics of a controversial biodiversity monitoring approach that is taxonomically broad and cumulative-effects oriented. We argue that programs designed specifically to monitor biodiversity, although sometimes criticized as inefficient and ineffective, are statistically and biologically robust in the long term, especially compared to the status quo. Given the nature of biodiversity and the diversity of human impacts, if forest management agencies are sincere in their desire to manage biodiversity, they need to devote the same effort and scientific rigor used to monitor tree growth and harvest rates to develop standardized protocols and rigorous sampling designs for biodiversity monitoring. Federal and provincial governments, as well as the scientific community, will need to cooperate with and support forest managers in this new endeavour. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

社会越来越要求林业机构在管理森林时，将生物多样性的维护与树木生长和木材供应一并考虑。在本文中，我们探讨了管理者目前可用于满足这一期望的机制。在评估三个关键指标（生态系统和栖息地范围的趋势、物种分布和数量的趋势以及受威胁物种状况的变化）时，我们发现管理者缺乏对其在加拿大的管理对生物多样性影响进行一致、科学严谨、无偏见报告的信息。我们概述了一种有争议的生物多样性监测方法的关键特征，这种方法在分类学上范围广泛且以累积效应为导向。我们认为，专门设计用于监测生物多样性的项目，尽管有时被批评为低效和无效，但从长期来看在统计学和生物学上是稳健的，尤其是与现状相比。鉴于生物多样性的性质和人类影响的多样性，如果森林管理机构真心希望管理生物多样性，他们需要投入与监测树木生长和采伐率相同的努力和科学严谨性，以制定生物多样性监测的标准化方案和严谨的抽样设计。联邦和省级政府以及科学界将需要在这一新的努力中与森林管理者合作并提供支持。（C）2009爱思唯尔有限公司。保留所有权利。