Redefining ecosystem integrity for an Anthropocene biosphere: a process‐ and lineage‐based framework for restoration

Restoration increasingly operates in rapidly transforming landscapes shaped by human‐driven global change, where historical reference states no longer represent achievable or even desirable targets. Yet, ecological restoration and conservation management still rely on composition‐based definitions of ecosystem integrity that assume stable reference states. Such definitions are increasingly unfit for guiding restoration in a changing, human‐dominated biosphere. Here, I propose a redefinition of ecosystem integrity that prioritizes the persistence of key ecological processes and evolutionary heritage rather than compositional fidelity. Ecosystem integrity can be redefined as the capacity of an ecosystem to (1) sustain and regenerate core ecological functions—productivity, nutrient and water cycling, disturbance regimes, trophic interactions, and dispersal and gene flow—that underpin biodiversity potential, while (2) maintaining the persistence of a realm's long‐resident species and phylogenetic lineages, the loss of which would reduce global biodiversity, even as composition and functioning change through time. This approach reconciles functional resilience with evolutionary heritage and accommodates the role of novel and alien species when they enhance ecosystem functioning and global biodiversity. With this redefinition, ecosystem integrity can provide a useful foundation for assessing and steering restoration outcomes in the emerging Anthropocene biosphere.