Conservation biology must set geographic conservation priorities not only based on the compositional or structural but also on the functional dimensions of biodiversity. However, assessing functional diversity is challenging at the regional scale. We propose the use of satellite-derived Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs), defined here as patches of land surface that share similar primary production dynamics, to incorporate such aspects of ecosystem functional diversity into the selection of protected areas. We applied the EFT approach to the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, to characterize the regional heterogeneity of primary production dynamics in terms of EFTs; to set conservation priorities based on EFT richness and rarity; and to explore whether such EFT-based conservation priorities were consistent with and/or complementary to previous assessments focused on biodiversity composition and structure. EFTs were identified based on three ecosystem functional attributes derived from seasonal dynamics of the Enhanced Vegetation Index: the annual mean (proxy of primary production), the seasonal coefficient of variation (descriptor of seasonality), and the date of maximum (indicator of phenology). EFT-based priorities identified 26% of the peninsula as being of extreme or high priority and reinforced the value of the ecosystem functional diversity of areas already prioritized by traditional conservation assessments. In addition, our study revealed that biodiversity composition- and structure-based assessments had not identified the full range of important areas for EFT diversity and tended to better capture areas of high EFT rarity than those of high EFT richness. Our EFT-based assessment demonstrates how remotely sensed regional heterogeneity in ecosystem functions could reinforce and complement traditional conservation priority setting.

保护生物学必须不仅根据组成或结构，而且还应根据生物多样性的功能范围确定地理保护的重点。但是，在区域范围内评估功能多样性具有挑战性。我们建议使用卫星衍生的生态系统功能类型（EFT）（在此定义为具有相似的主要生产动态的陆地表面斑块），将生态系统功能多样性的这些方面纳入保护区的选择中。我们将EFT方法应用于墨西哥下加利福尼亚半岛，以EFT来描述初级生产动态的区域异质性。根据电子转帐的丰富性和稀有性确定保护重点；并探讨这种基于电子转帐的保护重点是否与先前针对生物多样性组成和结构的评估相一致和/或互补。根据增强型植被指数的季节动态得出的三个生态系统功能属性来确定EFTs：年平均数（初级生产的代表），季节变化系数（季节性的描述）和最大值的日期（物候指标） 。基于EFT的优先事项确定了该半岛26％的优先事项或高度优先事项，并加强了传统保护评估已优先考虑的地区的生态系统功能多样性的价值。此外，我们的研究表明，基于生物多样性组成和结构的评估尚未确定出所有广泛的EFT多样性重要领域，并且往往比EFT丰富度更高的地区更好地捕获了EFT稀有度较高的地区。我们基于EFT的评估表明，生态系统功能的遥感区域异质性如何增强和补充传统的保护重点设置。