Diversity of Wetland Ecosystems — Integrating Multiple Spatio-temporal Scales for Coherent Conservation Strategies

抄録

　Biological diversity, its evolution and functions are a matter of debate in scientific as well as political contexts. The variability of biological units can be studied across a range of spatial and temporal scales, e.g. from individuals to populations, communities and whole ecosystems, and their dynamics can be followed over “ecological,” “evolutionary” or “geological” time periods. Knowledge gained from studies at any of these levels of complexity can be relevant for decision-making in nature conservation or restoration, although actual projects often rely solely on data related to abundance and distribution of selected taxa collected during short-term surveys. In this paper it is demonstrated how insights concerning organismic and environmental variability on different spatial and temporal scales can be combined to develop a comprehensive framework for conservation and restoration of ecosystems, using wetlands in Japan and Europe as an example.