You are here:
INDICATORS OF ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY FOR ESTUARIES
Citation:
Jordan, S J. AND L M. Smith. INDICATORS OF ECOSYSTEM INTEGRITY FOR ESTUARIES. In Proceedings, Estuarine Indicators Workshop, Sanibel Island, FL, October 29 - 31, 2003. CRC Press - Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, 467-480, (2005).
Impact/Purpose:
This chapter offers several relevant concepts and a few examples of indicators of the large-scale structure and behavior of estuarine ecosystems. Principles for development and application of indicators are also outliend.
Description:
Jordan, Stephen J. and Lisa M. Smith. In press. Indicators of Ecosystem Integrity for Estuaries. In: Proceedings of the Estuarine Indicators Workshop, 29-31 October 2003, Sanibel Island, FL. Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation, Sanibel, FL. 23 p. (ERL,GB 1194).
Ideal indicators of ecosystem integrity integrate multiple structural and functional attributes of the ecosystem, have temporal and spatial dimensions, express real variability, are standardized with respect to reference conditions, societal goals, or both, and support predictions. Definitions of the practically synonymous terms 'integrity' and 'health' include the notions of balance, stability, sustainability, diversity, and productivity. Indicators can be designed to gauge the current status of an ecosystem, point to the direction of change, provide management benchmarks, and predict the time needed to reach a goal. Conceptual models of whole-system dynamics show how indicators can relate ecosystem responses to exterior stress in the absence of, or in combination with, detailed simulation models. Examples of single-species, multiple-species, and whole-system indicators are presented in the context of conceptual models and predictions. For example, an index of relative abundance of tolerant species of juvenile fishes in Chesapeake Bay echoed decade-scale changes in the Bay ecosystem predicted by a conceptual model, and a multivariate index of ecosystem integrity for the same system was sensitive to patterns of land cover in estuarine watersheds. Although indicators of ecosystem integrity usually will not have great precision, they can offer accurate and robust information about ecosystems over large temporal and spatial scales.