Challenges in the development and use of ecological indicators

Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 2004

I Abstract Ecological indicators have widespread appeal to scientists, environmental managers, and the general public. Indicators have long been used to detect changes in nature, but the scientific maturation in indicator development primarily has occurred in the past 40 years. Currently, indicators are mainly used to assess the condition of the environment, as early-warning signals of ecological problems, and as barometers for trends in ecological resources. Use of ecological indicators requires clearly stated objectives; the recognition of spatial and temporal scales; assessments of statistical variability, precision, and accuracy; linkages with specific stressors; and coupling with economic and social indicators. Legislatively mandated use of ecological indicators occurs in many countries worldwide and is included in international accords. As scientific advancements and innovation in the development and use of ecological indicators continue through applications of molecular biology, computer technology such as geographic information systems, data management such as bioinformatics, and remote sensing, our ability to apply ecological indicators to detect signals of environmental change will be substantially enhanced.

Ecological Indicators, 2013

Monitoring the health of ecosystems is imperative to achieve sustainability. In this, ecological indicators have a crucial and evolving role to play. Although indicators are vital to monitoring the state and trends of ecosystems and the consequences of anthropogenic pressures, they may not lead to necessary action unless they are coupled with identification and monitoring of drivers. This will provide a basis for evaluating the effectiveness of policy responses, thus providing information that is actionable by policy makers and the public. We argue that expanding the role of indicators will render them far more effective as a resource for combating ecosystem degradation. Using the Baltic Sea as an example we analyse the nature of this challenge and provide concrete solutions to problems hindering the effectiveness of ecological indicator use in restoring health to large-scale ecosystems.

Ecological Indicators, 2007

This article approaches the concept of ecological indicators from a social science perspective. By applying theoretical concepts from policy analysis and social studies of science about knowledge utilization, problem structuring and the boundaries between science and policy to the issue of ecological indicators, we aim to contribute to our understanding not only of the development but more importantly of the actual use of ecological indicators in policy processes and the importance of political context.

Ecological Indicators

Ecological Indicators, 2013

In this paper some tendencies of indicator development and application are presented from a quantitative and a qualitative point-of-view. The results of a mainly statistical analysis of the first twenty volumes of the journal Ecological Indicators are described and discussed. The focus of this investigation has been set on five questions:. (A) Which types of ecological indicators have been applied and how frequently have they been used? (B) In which management context have the indicators been applied? (C) Which integrative tools have been utilized to present the results in an aggregated form? (D) Has a theory for the application and interpretation of ecological indicators been developed? (E) Which are the resulting challenges in indicator development and application? The answers to the first three questions are given in tables and figures, while the fourth question is answered shortly and with references to the key papers that are covering the theoretical considerations behind the application of ecological indicators. Discussing the focal challenges it is foreseen that two theoretical questions will require enhanced attention the coming years: to apply fewer and more general indices and to translate the multitude of indicators to the concept of sustainability that covers the ecological-sociological-economic and political background of the overall indication activities. Furthermore, the general demands for aggregation and integration and an assessment of normative loadings in indicator systems are listed as focal tasks for future development in the field.

Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 2000

The baseline specifications for indicators for ecological risk assessment and management are presented. These indicators may be related to the assessment space as determined by cultural values and laws. This assessment space is a multivariate expression of the assessment endpoints. The three types of indicators include current position, the probability of leaving the assessment space, and the probability of reentering the assessment space. The formulation of indicators must recognize that ecological systems are dynamically complex and composed of both deterministic and stochastic components. As has been demonstrated in laboratory ecological systems and field experiments, the best impact indicators change over time, eliminating the possibility of a single variable being an accurate measure of position and change. We set six specific requirements for developing a useful set of indicators, as follows. The indicators must be placed in the context of the assessment space. Because project...

Science of The Total Environment, 1993

Current environmental issues such as declining biodiversity, sustainability of ecosystems, and global atmospheric change are manifestations of multiple stresses. The need to establish baseline ecological conditions as a reference for assessing future change has grown more acute with the increasing complexity and scale of environmental issues. In the United States the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program is an interagency effort to provide a long-term monitoring program to determine status and trends in ecological resources at regional and national scales. This paper discusses the indicator framework for this monitoring program, the linkage between indicator selection and successful assessment, and the status of indicator selection in 1992.

EcoHealth, 2007

To ensure indicators of ecosystem health are integrated into environmental decision-making, it is imperative to provide a comprehensive framework for indicator selection and use. The same framework can also be used to evaluate the utility of any given indicator. The Atlantic Slope Consortium (ASC) has developed such a framework, based upon three primary elements: 1) The specific questions to be answered (the type of indicator), recognizing the following types of questions/indicators: Condition assessment: snapshot of the current state of the system; Stressor diagnosis: identification of causative factors of condition; Communication to the public: encouraging comprehension of condition in its most elementary or integrated form; Futures assessment: estimating the probable trajectory of condition, or assessing the vulnerability of any system to a stochastic event; Evaluation: a subset of condition indicators that evaluate the effectiveness of management actions. 2) The spatial and/or temporal scale of the issue being addressed (the spatial/temporal scale over which the indicator is valid).

2000

EPN6201R-991005 May 2000 EVALUATION GUIDELINES FOR ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS Edited by Laura E. Jackson Janis C. Kurtz William S. Fisher US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development Research Triangle Park, NC 2771 I @ Printed ...

Ecological Indicators

Increased recognition of the need for ecosystem-based management has resulted in a growing body of research on the use of indicators to represent and track ecosystem status, particularly in marine environments. While multiple frameworks have been developed for selecting and evaluating indicators, certain types of indicators require additional consideration and validation. In particular, an index, which we define as an aggregation of two or more indicators, may have unique properties and behaviors that can make interpretation difficult, particularly in a management context. We assert that more rigorous validation and testing is required for indices, particularly those used to inform management decisions. To support this point we demonstrate the need for validation and then explore current development and validation processes for ecosystem indices. We also compare how other disciplines (e.g., medicine, economics) validate indices. Validating indices (and indicators) is particularly challenging because they are often developed without an explicit objective in mind. We suggest that exploring the sensitivity of an index to the assumptions made during its development be a prerequisite to employing such an index.