Biological Integrity versus Biological Diversity as Policy Directives

Abstract

rity and biological diversity- have joined the lexicon of biologists and natural resource man- agers during the past two decades. The importance of these phrases is demonstrated by their influence on environmental research, regulatory, and policy agendas. The concepts behind the phrases are central to strategies being developed to sus- tain global resources (Lubchenco et al. 1991). Unfortunately, the phrases are widely used by the media, citi- zens, policy makers, and some bi- ologists without adequate attention to the concepts they embody. Pre- cise use of the terms integrity and diversity can help set and achieve societal goals for sustaining global resources; imprecise or inappro- priate use may exacerbate biotic impoverishment-the systematic decline in biological resources (Woodwell 1990). Although the related concepts of integrity and diversity were devel- oped more or less independently (in- tegrity in the study of aquatic sys- tems, diversity in the study of terrestrial systems), both apply to all biotic systems. The US Clean Water Act and Canada's National Paul L. Angermeier is an assistant unit leader at the National Biological Sur- vey, Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Re- search Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, Virginia Poly- technic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0321. James R. Karr is director of the Institute for En- vironmental Studies, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195.