Intactness is a commonly used measure of ecological integrity, especially when evaluating conservation status at the landscape scale. We argue that in the large and relatively unfragmented landscapes of the Arctic and sub-Arctic, intactness provides only partial insight for managers charged with maintaining ecological integrity. A recent landscape assessment suggests that 95% of Alaska shows no measured direct or indirect impacts of human development on the landscape. However, the current exceptionally high levels of intactness in Alaska, and throughout the Arctic and sub-Arctic, do not adequately reflect impacts to the region’s ecological integrity caused by indirect stressors, such as a rapidly changing climate and the subsequent loss of the cryosphere. Thus, it can be difficult to measure, and manage, some of the conservation challenges presented by the ecological context of these systems. The dominant drivers of change, and their associated ecological and socioeconomic impacts, vary as systems decline in ecological integrity from very high to high, and to intermediate levels, but this is not well understood in the literature. Arctic and sub-Arctic systems, as well as other large intact areas, provide unique opportunities for conservation planning, but require tools and approaches appropriate to unfragmented landscapes undergoing rapid climate-driven ecological transformation. We conclude with possible directions for developing more appropriate metrics for measuring ecological integrity in these systems.

完整性是衡量生态完整性的常用指标，尤其是在评估景观尺度的保护状况时。我们认为，在北极和亚北极广阔且相对完整的景观中，完整性只能为负责维护生态完整性的管理者提供部分见解。最近的景观评估表明，阿拉斯加 95% 的地区没有测量到人类发展对景观的直接或间接影响。然而，目前阿拉斯加以及整个北极和亚北极地区的完好程度极高，并不能充分反映间接压力因素（例如气候迅速变化和随后的冰冻圈消失）对该地区生态完整性的影响。因此，测量和管理这些系统的生态环境带来的一些保护挑战可能很困难。随着系统的生态完整性从非常高到高和中等水平下降，变化的主要驱动因素及其相关的生态和社会经济影响也随之变化，但这在文献中并没有得到很好的理解。北极和亚北极系统以及其他大型完整地区为保护规划提供了独特的机会，但需要适合正在经历气候驱动的快速生态转型的未破碎景观的工具和方法。最后，我们提出了开发更合适的指标来衡量这些系统中生态完整性的可能方向。