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Ecosystem Assessment (ecosystem + assessment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Life Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Trends in the state of nature and their implications for human well-being

ECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 11 2005
Andrew Balmford
Abstract Two major international initiatives , the Convention on Biological Diversity's target to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment , raise the profile of ecological data on the changing state of nature and its implications for human well-being. This paper is intended to provide a broad overview of current knowledge of these issues. Information on changes in the status of species, size of populations, and extent and condition of habitats is patchy, with little data available for many of the taxa, regions and habitats of greatest importance to the delivery of ecosystem services. However, what we do know strongly suggests that, while exceptions exist, the changes currently underway are for the most part negative, anthropogenic in origin, ominously large and accelerating. The impacts of these changes on human society are idiosyncratic and patchily understood, but for the most part also appear to be negative and substantial. Forecasting future changes is limited by our poor understanding of the cascading impacts of change within communities, of threshold effects, of interactions between the drivers of change, and of linkages between the state of nature and human well-being. In assessing future science needs, we not only see a strong role for ecological data and theory, but also believe that much closer collaboration with social and earth system scientists is essential if ecology is to have a strong bearing on policy makers. [source]

Ecosystem assessment: links between science and community , the common ground?

ECOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT & RESTORATION, Issue 1 2003
Max Finlayson
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

A framework for incorporating climate regime shifts into the management of marine resources

FISHERIES MANAGEMENT & ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2006
J. R. KING
Abstract, It is possible to use an ecosystem-based management approach to incorporate knowledge of climate regime impacts on ecosystem productivity to manage fishery resources. To do so, it requires the development of a coherent framework that can be built using existing stock assessment and management activities: ecosystem assessment, risk analyses, adaptive management and reference points. This paper builds such a framework and uses two population simulations to illustrate the benefits and tradeoffs of variable regime-specific harvest rates. The framework does not require prediction of regime shifts, but assumes that detection can occur soon after one has happened. As such, decisions do not need to be coincident to regime shifts, but can be delayed by an appropriate period of time that is linked to a species' life history, i.e. age of maturity or recruitment. Fisheries scientists should provide harvest recommendations that reflect a range of levels of risk to the stock under different assumptions of productivity. Coupling ecosystem assessment with ecosystem-based management would allow managers to select appropriate regime-specific harvest rates. [source]