RESUMO
To conserve ecosystem and its services is a frontier and hot topic in the researches of conservation ecology. This paper reviewed the newest concepts and methods in the assessment of ecosystem and its services conservation, with the focus on the indicators and criteria for assessing the conservation status and the endangerment level of ecosystem as well as the main methods of ecosystem services assessment and conservation (including benefit transfer, systematic modeling, and quantitative indicator-based estimation). With the consideration of the research progress and the demands of ecological conservation in China, some issues to be urgently solved were put forward: 1) formulating the indicators, criteria, and methods suitable for the assessment of ecosystem conservation in China, 2) developing the methodologies for the quantitative assessment of ecosystem services, 3) determining the demands and optimal spatial arrangement of ecosystem and its services conservation in China, and 4) establishing the policies and incentive mechanisms for ecosystem and its services conservation. The resolution of these issues would supply important guarantee to the development of ecological civilization in China.
