Citation:

Smith, L., J. Bousquin, L. Harwell, James Harvey, AND J. Summers. A Conceptual Approach for Characterizing Estuarine Habitat: Informing Restoration Effectiveness to Maximize Ecological and Social Outcomes. Social Coast Forum, Charleston, SC, February 03 - 06, 2020.

Impact/Purpose:

This presentation describes a systematic approach for prioritizing and evaluating the potential effectiveness of restoration activities in estuarine systems. Using identified thresholds to characterize the ecological suitability and social relevance of estuarine habitats provides information for natural resource managers and local decision makers to use when prioritizing restoration activities at site and estuarine scales, and evaluating restoration effectiveness in context of maximizing ecological and social outcomes.

Description:

Ecosystem management requires a holistic and systematic approach that considers both ecological integrity and human values. Socio-ecological assessments can inform adaptive management actions to maintain and improve ecological functions and accommodate human use through preservation and conservation, remediation, and restoration. Prioritizing coastal restoration activities should incorporate the potential ability of sites to maintain ecological processes, support viable native populations, and provide societal benefits. In estuarine systems, assessments of restoration effectiveness should evaluate the ability of habitats to support both ecologically and locally relevant species over time. We present a conceptual framework for developing an ecological suitability assessment approach for Gulf of Mexico estuaries. The approach addresses societal values and multi-species habitat suitability through 1) identification of habitat requirements for ecologically and locally relevant species; 2) harmonization and synthesis of ecological monitoring data; and 3) extrapolation of ecological condition within a spatial framework. This spatial framework incorporates data to characterize habitat suitability for multiple species at multiple trophic levels. From this data we will develop a composite measure of habitat suitability, weighted by ecological function and societal relevance, for each identified species. Composite measures for each species will be combined into an indexed measure of ecological suitability for each spatial unit. Using identified thresholds to characterize the ecological suitability and social relevance of estuarine habitats provides information for natural resource managers and local decision makers to use when prioritizing restoration activities at site and estuarine scales, and monitoring restoration effectiveness in context of ecological and social outcomes.

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