Ecological Indicators

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Environmental Condition

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-5

      PDF

   2. Factors Shaping and Shaped by the Environment: 1990–2010

      • Joseph F. Coates

      Pages 7-52

   3. Protecting the Environment: A Research Strategy for the 1990s—An Indicator of Change in EPA

      • Erich W. Bretthauer

      Pages 53-59

   4. Using Environmental Indicators for Policy and Regulatory Decisions

      • D. P. Beardsley

      Pages 61-63

   5. Ecological Indicators of Marine Condition

      • Sylvia A. Earle

      Pages 65-65

   6. Ecological Forecasting: “What for?”

      • S. Pegov

      Pages 67-84

3. Determining and Communicating the Environmental Agenda

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 85-88

      PDF

   2. Indicators of the Causes of Ecological Impacts or What’s Causing the Global Environmental Crisis

      • Russell W. Peterson

      Pages 89-100

   3. Earth Day Plus 20: Rediscovering Ecology

      • Douglas P. Wheeler

      Pages 101-108

   4. Global Indicators: What the People Expect

      • Lynn A. Greenwalt

      Pages 109-114

4. Ecological Indicators

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 115-119

      PDF

   2. Evolution of Indicators of Ecosystem Health

      • David J. Rapport

      Pages 121-134

   3. Indicators in Regional Ecological Monitoring and Risk Assessment

      • Jay J. Messer

      Pages 135-146

   4. Indicator Selection: A Key Element in Monitoring System Design

      • Robert C. Ward

      Pages 147-157

   5. Thermodynamics and Measures of Ecological Integrity

      • James J. Kay, Eric D. Schneider

      Pages 159-182

   6. Indicators of Ecosystem Integrity

      • Henry A. Regier

      Pages 183-200

   7. Ecological Indicators and Ecological Modelling

      • S. E. Jørgensen

      Pages 201-209

5. Surface Water Ecosystems Monitoring

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 211-214

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   2. Choosing Ecological Indicators: Effects of Taxonomic Aggregation on Sensitivity to Stress and Natural Variability

      • Thomas M. Frost, Stephen R. Carpenter, Timothy K. Kratz

      Pages 215-227

Today environmental problems of unprecedented magnitude confront planet earth. The sobering fact is that a whole range of human activities is affecting our global environment as profoundly as the billions of years of evolution that preceded our tenure on Earth. The pressure on vital natural resources in the developing world and elsewhere is intense, and the destruction of tropical forests, wildlife habitat, and other irreplaceable resources, is alarming. Climate change, ozone depletion, loss of genetic diversity, and marine pollution are critical global environmental concerns. Their cumulative impact threatens to destroy the planet's natural resources. The need to address this situation is urgent. More than at any previous moment in history, nature and ecological systems are in human hands, dependent on human efforts. The earth is an interconnected and interdependent global ecosystem, and change in one part of the system often causes unexpected change in other parts. Atmospheric, oceanic, wetland, terrestrial and other ecological systems have a finite capacity to absorb the environmental degradation caused by human behavior. The need for an environmentally sound, sustainable economy to ease this degradation is evident and urgent. Policies designed to stimulate economic development by foregoing pollution controls both destroy the long-term economy and ravage the environment. Over the years, we have sometimes drawn artificial distinctions between the health of individuals and the health of ecosystems. But in the real world, those distinctions do not exist.

• agriculture
• climate
• climate change
• ecology
• ecosystem
• environment
• evolution
• forest
• natural resources
• nitrogen
• pollution
• risk assessment
• soil
• water
• wetland

• US Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, USA

  Daniel H. McKenzie

• Research Triangle Park, US Environmental Protection Agency, USA

  D. Eric Hyatt

• Research Triangle Park, Radian Corporation, USA

  V. Janet McDonald

Policies and ethics