Applicability of Montreal Process Criterion 1 - conservation of biologicaldiversity - to rangeland sustainability

Nine indicators of biodiversity conservation have been defined by the natio ns participating in the Montreal Process for assessing sustainability of te mperate and boreal forests. Five of these indicators address compositional and spatial diversity of ecosystems; two address species diversity; and two are indirect measures of genetic diversity. Our objective was to evaluate their applicability for assessing biodiversity on rangeland ecosystems. In addition to assessing applicability, we also address whether data and metho ds exist to measure each indicator, and review research that is needed to i mprove implementation. In general, we found no ecological arguments for dis qualifying any of the proposed indicators as applicable to rangelands. We d id find, however, that unambiguous definitions, data, and methods were woef ully lacking. Although some data exist for some indicators and some taxa, n one of the indicators can be quantified in a thorough and rigorous manner a t a national scale. Consequently, initial assessments of biodiversity on ra ngelands will have to be based on incomplete data. Research in the areas of definition clarification, inventory design, and testing of critical assump tions is necessary to conduct comprehensive, broad-scale assessments of bio diversity.