Functionalizing ecological integrity: using functional ecology to monitor animal communities

Abstract

Ecological integrity—the degree to which an ecosystem supports ecological structure, composition, diversity, function, and connectivity typical of natural conditions—has been a guiding principle in ecosystem monitoring around the world. However, in terrestrial ecosystems, integrity-based monitoring often excludes animal communities, even though they are critical drivers of integrity. Methodological advances in monitoring and data science have made it easier to document animal communities. We highlight examples of these advances and how they remove barriers to adopting animal-specific integrity metrics. We then illustrate how describing animal communities in terms of functional ecology, which has also undergone substantial development over the past several decades, can provide a generalizable approach to incorporating animal communities into integrity-based monitoring across taxa and ecosystems. Incorporating animal communities into ecological integrity monitoring is a vital step toward understanding how human-driven change, restoration, and conservation shape terrestrial ecosystems worldwide.