If you appraise something or someone, you consider them carefully and form an opinion about them. [formal] This prompted many employers to appraise their selection and recruitment policies. [VERB noun] Gloria slid an appraising eye over the rest of the rack before reaching for the dress.
(a) Natural ecosystem boundaries occur between a tropical evergreen and riparian forest, and between the riparian forest and the river that it borders. (b) Natural boundaries occur across the gradient from marine to intertidal to foreshore environments near the shore in temperate coastal regions.
Maintaining ecosystem function is important to maintaining the capacity of the region to supply ecosystem servcies. In the Framework, ecosystem functions are recognised as important for maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity (the diversity of genes, species and ecosystems) for their own sake. As well, they may provide contributions to goods and services (ecosystem services) that people value.