DESIGN AND MANAGEMENT OF CONTINENTAL WILDLIFE RESERVES - LESSONS FROM THE EVERGLADES

Evidence from the attempt to preserve wading birds in Everglades National Park suggests that application of biogeographic theory to design and management of continental wildlife reserves requires considerations additional to those previously proposed. Shape and areal extent alone are inadequate criteria for reserve design. Unlike islands, continental reserves are not necessarily self-contained ecosystems driven by endogenous processes. The isolation of a continental reserve may lead to a phenomenon of ecosystem degeneration, the extent and rapidity of which depends on the ecological condition of adjacent habitat. Management strategies to preserve maximum species richness are seldom totally acceptable and often inherently unattainable. Conflicts between species management and ecosystem management illustrate the need for instituting an array of management strategies on a regional basis for preservation of both endangered species and ecosystems. © 1979.