Twenty-First Century Ecosystems: Managing the Living World Two Centuries After Darwin
Committee for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: A Symposium; U.S. National Committee for DIVERSITAS; National Research Council
NAS Press | 2011 | ISBN: 0309209013 9780309209014 | 91 pages | PDF | 2 MB

This report summarizes the views expressed by symposium participants; however, it does not provide a session-by-session summary of the presentations at the symposium. This issue provides a sharp focus on a few concepts that enable scientists, environmental NGOs, and policy makers to engage more effectively around issues of central importance for biodiversity and ecosystem management.

The two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, February 12, 2009, occurred at a critical time for the United States and the world.
The purpose of the symposium on Twenty-first Century Ecosystems was to capture some of the current excitement and recent progress in scientific understanding of ecosystems, from the microbial to the global level, while also highlighting how improved understanding can be applied to important policy issues that have broad biodiversity and ecosystem effects.
The aim was to help inform new policy approaches that could satisfy human needs while also maintaining the integrity of the goods and services provided by biodiversity and ecosystems over both the short and the long terms.

Contents
1 INTRODUCTION
2 EIGHT THEMES FOR MANAGING THE LIVING WORLD
1: Learning What We Have
2: Learning How Ecosystems Are Working and Changing
3: Saving What We Can
4: Managing Ecosystem Services as Complex Adaptive Systems
5: Increasing Capacity to Inform Policy Through Integrated Science
6: Increasing Societal Capacity to Manage and Adapt to Environmental Change
7: Strengthening International Institutions and U.S. Engagement and Leadership
8: Accounting for the Value of Nature
Concluding Thoughts
APPENDIXES
A Symposium Program
B Selected Definitions
C Biographies of Speakers
D Biographies of Symposium Committee Members