· Communities are usually visible on the landscape. They can be mapped and described, and many kinds of measurements can be made.
· Communities are often visibly affected by management actions, and a "common" language can be used to describe this.
· Communities integrate other elements such as soil and water or climate, therefore allowing integration of other system functions in our descriptions and measurements.
· An increased efficiency of effort can result from classification leading to quantification and evaluation.
· Communities can serve as indicators for larger concerns or conditions.
Disadvantages of defining and managing for community definitions include:
· No community exists by itself, and an evaluation or analysis of only communities may be incomplete.
· Specific information on the components (species, processes) is hidden or absent.
· Ecological implications may be unclear –
· Species interactions and responses (you may need to track compliance for a species, or a species is a significant resource on its own)
· Scalar considerations, such as area integrity, may not be addressed
· Final interpretations of the meaning of project outcomes may not be as clear
· It is a non-traditional approach and may require additional explanation and tool development.
· The relevance of the advantages and disadvantages to ecosystem work can be summarized this way:
· Work with communities provides a way to move from a single-resource view toward an ecosystem perspective.
· Work with communities will not necessarily be sufficient on its own, and requires some additional tools.