Assessing Ecological Integrity and Representation in National Parks

National parks are expected to conserve pristine, intact land- and seascapes representative of our nation’s ecological heritage. Yet the rate and magnitude of global change challenges parks to manage for ecological integrity, particularly given the small size of parks relative to the landscape dynamics that shape their flora and fauna. We propose a framework for assessing ecological integrity that includes measurement of key ecological attributes, including the natural range of variability.