Getting the Message Across: Using Ecological Integrity to Communicate with Resource Managers
Mitchell BR, Tierney GL, Schweiger EW, Miller KM, Faber-Langendoen D, Grace JB. 2014. Getting the Message Across: Using Ecological Integrity to Communicate with Resource Managers. Pages 199-230. In Guntenspergen GR (ed). Application of Threshold Concepts in Natural Resource Decision Making. New York
This chapter describes and illustrates howconcepts of ecological integrity, thresholds, and reference conditions can be integrated into a research and monitoring framework for natural resource management. Ecological integrity has been defined as a measure of the composition, structure, and function of an ecosystem in relation to the system’s natural or historical range of variation, as well as perturbations caused by natural or anthropogenic agents of change. Using ecological integrity to communicate with managers requires five steps, often implemented iteratively: (1) document the scale of the project and the current conceptual understanding and reference conditions of the ecosystem, (2) select appropriate metrics representing integrity, (3) define externally verified assessment points (metric values that signify an ecological change or need for management action) for the metrics, (4) collect data and calculate metric scores, and (5) summarize the status of the ecosystem using a variety of reporting methods. While we present the steps linearly for conceptual clarity, actual implementation of this approach may require addressing the steps in a different order or revisiting steps (such as metric selection) multiple times as data are collected. Knowledge of relevant ecological thresholds is important when metrics are selected, because thresholds identify where small changes in an environmental driver produce large responses in the ecosystem. Metrics with thresholds at or just beyond the limits of a system’s range of natural variability can be excellent, since moving beyond the normal range produces a marked change in their values.
- Type
- Book Chapter
- Authors
- Mitchell, Brian; Tierney, Geraldine; Schweiger, E; Miller, Kathryn; Faber-Langendoen, Don; Grace, James
- Units
- ABLI , ACAD , MABI , MORR , NETN , ROMN
- Keywords
- Assessment point, Communication tool, conceptual diagram, Condition metric, ecological integrity, ecological threshold, Forest, index of biological integrity, natural variability, Wetland