title: Fixism and conservation science.
abstract: The field of biodiversity conservation has recently been criticized as relying on a fixist view of the living world in which existing species constitute at the same time targets of conservation efforts and static states of reference, which is in apparent disagreement with evolutionary dynamics. We reviewed the prominent role of species as conservation units and the common benchmark approach to conservation that aims to use past biodiversity as a reference to conserve current biodiversity. We found that the species approach is justified by the discrepancy between the time scales of macroevolution and human influence and that biodiversity benchmarks are based on reference processes rather than fixed reference states. Overall, we argue that the ethical and theoretical frameworks underlying conservation research are based on macroevolutionary processes, such as extinction dynamics. Current species, phylogenetic, community, and functional conservation approaches constitute short-term responses to short-term human effects on these reference processes, and these approaches are consistent with evolutionary principles.
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Robert
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fontaine
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Veron
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Anne-Christine
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Monnet
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Legrand
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clavel
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chantepie
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Couvet
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ducarme
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Benoît
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fontaine
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jiguet
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: le Viol
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rolland
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sarrazin
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.|Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive UMR 5175, Campus CNRS, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier, cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Teplitsky
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, CP135, 43 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Maud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mouchet
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: Anthropocene; Antropoceno; biodiversidad; biodiversity; especies; ethics; evolutionary potential; potencial evolutivo; species; ética