This post is the second of a pair focused on the challenges facing the Endangered Species Act and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 21st century. You can read the first post here. 

In drafting the 1973 Endangered Species Act (ESA), Congress gave explicit attention and priority, and therefore funding, to individual species. Rather than approaching species conservation through a more holistic consideration of a species' importance within its ecological community, giving broader attention to biodiversity, or looking to the ability of a species to provide ecosystem services, this decision has had the effect of a creating a gap between politics and ecology. Critics of the ESA who argue the law does not go far enough have long advocated for these more comprehensive approaches. 

To date, scientists have bolstered recommendations for species conservation based in part on biodiversity and ecosystem effects. However, these have had a scientific basis rather than a legal one. Could the species triage framework advanced by Australia's Hugh Possingham and Arizona State University Professor Leah Gerber (see my previous ESA post for more on that) help to fill this gap and provide an impetus for FWS to update its thinking and shift …