02790naa a2200373 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001902400390006010000170009924501350011626000090025150001100026052016370037065000180200765000160202565000230204165000200206465300170208465300230210165300230212465300230214765300190217065300250218970000170221470000160223170000150224770000180226270000150228070000170229570000200231270000160233270000150234877300530236310594982020-02-20       2019    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d7 a10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.01.0772DOI1 aBLUMETTO, O.  aEcosystem integrity index, an innovative environmental evaluation tool for agricultural production systems.h[electronic resource]  c2019  aArticle history: Received 4 July 2018; Received in revised form 9 January 2019; Accepted 29 January 2019.  aABSTRACT: Environmental assessment of agricultural production systems is an increasing concern within the international community. When evaluation involves biodiversity indicators, as richness or diversity in certain taxa or their roles in ecosystems, the participation of specialists is required to identify, classify and interpret diversity at the level of species, communities and ecosystems. Due to costs and time demand, this can be an important obstacle when a widespread use of these assessments is needed to contribute to policy making and evaluation, field management decision-making or implementation of a specific technology. We developed a new index that combines different environmental characteristics which can be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively with a basic training, can be implemented quickly and each index component is directly associated with key aspects for the assessment of ecosystem capacity to sustain wildlife and ecosystem services. The Ecosystem Integrity Index (EII) evaluates the status of a specific ecosystem under agricultural use, referred to an optimal condition that must be established for the ecoregion. Its application involves a qualitative and quantitative visual evaluation considering four components: vegetation structure, plant species, soil and riparian areas. Each component is valued on a 0?5 scale, where 5 is the best possible condition. EII is a simple and robust tool for evaluating and monitoring integrity of groecosystems and the primary validation demonstrates good correlation with other environmental variables such as wildlife diversity and soil organic carbon.  aBIODIVERSIDAD  aECOSISTEMAS  aMANEJO DE PASTOREO  aSUSTENTABILIDAD  aBIODIVERSITY  aECOSYSTEM SERVICES  aGRAZING MANAGEMENT  aRIPARIAN ECOSYSTEM  aSUSTAINABILITY  aVEGETATION STRUCTURE1 aCASTAGNA, A.1 aCARDOZO, G.1 aGARCIA, F.1 aTISCORNIA, G.1 aRUGGIA, A.1 aSCARLATO, S.1 aALBICETTE, M.M.1 aAGUERRE, V.1 aALBÍN, A.  tEcological indicators, 2019gv. 101, p. 725-733.