Building references for nature conservation

Abstract

Conservation references are scientific objects that allow scientists and practitioners to assess changes in the living world caused by human activities through comparisons of current eco‐evolutionary systems with past systems. These references combine indicators of various states, pressures or processes with a temporal baseline that can vary from a few years to several billion years in the past. However, the references are associated with numerous conceptual and technical difficulties. Beyond the paucity of data for the construction of ancient, even prehuman, references, the relevance of these ancient references for studying ecosystems radically modified by our activities is questionable, particularly when the notions of conservation references and conservation objectives are confused and when several conservation ethics coexist that require distinct references. In this article, I highlight the importance of the choice of conservation references in the message delivered by scientific studies and the need to establish a common and operational framework for conservation references based on standardized indicators of dynamic processes and states distinct from conservation objectives.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved