Species Redundancy: A Redundant Concept?

Abstract

The concept of 'species redundancy' (or 'ecological redundancy') has recently been applied to community and conservation ecology. The suggestion is that, in some communities, some species are 'redundant', i.e. they could be lost without much effect on the structure and functioning of the whole community. In this paper, we have three aims. Firstly we explore the history: the origin and use of the concept. Then we ask what redundancy means in practice: what has to remain constant before we can declare 'redundancy', and how should redundancy be determined? Finally we discuss the value of the concept of 'redundancy' in conservation.