NatureServe (click here) is a non-profit organization focusing on four distinct areas:
- Documenting the conservation status and location of species and ecosystems
- Producing analyses to guide conservation planning
- Developing software tools to guide conservation planning
- Managing natural heritage programs and conservation data centers
NatureServe is invaluable in its dedication to the natural world and the resources available to scientists and the public.
It's purpose is stated below.
As rapid changes threaten our planet and all life that depends on it, someone must keep their finger on the pulse of the planet and its plants and animals whose future depends on conservation action. The NatureServe Network fills this role. We are on the front lines of halting the decline of biodiversity, with our focus on the prevention of species and ecosystem declines and the conservation of vulnerable species and the places most at risk of disappearing.
In 2003, NatureServe, put together a comprehensive description of ecosystems found on land in the USA. It is an invaluable guide to the world we live in as of 2003. It is scientific, but, also easier to use for the public. It provides the basics and then some in understanding how conservationists view the world.
This is the online guide:
"Ecological systems of the United States. A working classificiation of the U.S. Terrestrial Systems" (click here)
- Then find "Terrestrial Habitat Map" and download the PDF.
- Then open "NETHM documents."
- Then open "Ecol_sys_US."
There is another report on that same page entitled "NE_Hab_Class&Map_0708_Final Report" if anyone wants to read further.
There is also another article that might be of interest from NIH (National Institute of Health). Getting the article is not as intricate to find as the previous. In the year 2019, the title is obvious to me and I am sure others reading this and interested in the Climate Crisis.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2003 Jun 10; 100(12): 7147–7151
"The economic value of ecological stability" (click here)
By Paul R. Armsworth and Joan E. Roughgarden
Abstract
Seemingly intangible ecosystem characteristics that preoccupy ecologists, like ecosystem stability and the responsiveness of populations to environmental variation, have quantifiable economic values. We show how to derive these values, and how their consideration should change environmental decision making. To illustrate these concepts, we use a simple reserve design model. When resource managers choose a particular landscape configuration, their decision affects both the mean abundance of species and the temporal variation in abundances. Population stability and related phenomena have economic value, because management actions affect the variance of ecosystem components. In our example, a larger reserve size is recommended when accounting for the stability of the managed ecosystem.
