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These pages are still under construction.
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This page provides some background and justification for the headings selected to describe each indicator.
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The following is from Fulton et al 2004a -
We use the term attribute to refer to a quantity or aspect of a system that is the real focus of interest or concern. Attributes often correspond to the subject matter in high-level management objectives, such as “(improve) ecosystem health”, “(maintain) ecosystem integrity” and “(conserve) biodiversity” (Fulton et al. 2001). Unfortunately, attributes may not be directly measurable quantities. As a result, indicators that characterise the state of the attribute of interest and then track, or predict, significant changes in this state are used. Where attributes are directly measurable, the attribute and indicator will be identical, such as population biomass, for species where this can be measured. Where direct measurement is impossible or impractical, a suitable indicator is chosen that is a proxy for the attribute of interest. Where the attribute is biomass, a common proxy in fisheries assessment is the catch rate for the species in question. There can be many indicators for the same attribute. The key is to find “robust” indicators that are good proxies for the corresponding attributes, and cost effective in terms of measurement...
In this section list any attributes that are related to this indicator.
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Indicators can be limited to a certain ecological area depending on the type of data that is required or they can be used across all ecosystem. Many indicators are still being development and their use across all ecosystems is currently in review based on data available and the types of ecosystems that the indicator was initially developed for. This section is intended to highlight any ecosystems that an indicator is not suited to, has not been tested for, or if it is suitable to be used in all ecosystems.
Identified capability
Appropriate definitions required
demonstrable = this indicator definitely shows this by these studies, data sets, etc.
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In general, a poor rating based on this subjective system did mean an indicator was dropped from further consideration by simulation testing. However, if an indicator has been strongly advocated in the past, is already widely used, or if field work had indicated that it may actually have potential, then it was included (if possible given the form of the model) regardless of rating.
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Examples of an indicator in use
These next three section are management oriented and are here to provide examples of how an indicator is used in a system.
Current status and trends
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Information that could be described in this section includes:
- What was it like in an undisturbed/unexploited system?
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- How would it be expected to change?
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- Which direction is the indicator showing a
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- system is going in
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- - steady, decreasing or increasing?
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The trend associated with meeting an operational objective can be a limited or target reference point, trajectory or direction. Target stock use in management plans has a tradition of setting reference points (Jennings 2005). In other fields a reference point can not be made therefore a trajectory or reference direction is used instead. See figure below from Jennings 2005 for an example of points, trajectories and directions. The unexploited, target, precautionary and limit are reference points where as the green arrows are the trajectories or reference directions. These are all measurement of progress of the management performance.
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- reference points that show an undisturbed or unexploited system.
- limit reference points that show the values of indicators associated with serious or irreversible harm.
- target reference points that show the preferred values of the indicators.
- Precautionary reference points may be used to guarantee a high (preferably specified) probability of avoiding a limit because most indicator values include error.
Management strategies and/or objectives
define a standard set of management objectives?? ie from Indiseas
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Information that could be described in this section includes:
- Has it been used in a management strategy? if so how?
- What is the relationship to management strategies/ objectives?
- Which of the four specific management objective (adapted from Indiseas) has been used for this indicator?
- Conservations biodiversity -
- Ecosystem stability and resistance to perturbations -
ecosystem - Ecosystem structure and functioning -
resource - Ecosystem structure and functioning -
- Resource potential
has it been used in a management strategy? if so how?
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Need to add definitions to the above objectives
Stakeholder/public acceptability
Acceptability with stakeholders
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Information that could be described in this section includes:
- Is the indicator understandable to the public? stakeholders?
Associated links
website set up to provide a map interface for describing indicators, provide background and overview of the status of their ecosystems - http://www.indiseas.org/
Journal dedicated to ecological indicators - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/ecological-indicators/
Special edition of ICES Journal of Marine Science (2005) - http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/3.toc
Fish and Fisheries special edition (2011) - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/faf.2011.12.issue-2/issuetoc
Marine Ecology Progress Series (2012) Theme Section of this volume - http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v459/
SCOR-IOC Working Group 119 “Quantitative Ecosystem Indicators for Fisheries Management”
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- Does the public and/or stakeholders need further education about an indicator and how it is used for management objectives?
- What is the acceptability with stakeholders? Answers include:
- It is widely accepted
- There is good public awareness
- There is weak public awareness
- There is no public awareness
- It is unknown
Is more background info is needed for this section?
Associated links
Useful weblink and initiatives for an indicator.
References
Bulter, SJ., Freckleton, R.P., Renwick, A.R. and Norris, K. (2012) An objective, niche-based approach to indicator species selection, Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 3(2), 317-326.
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Other references that would be useful to read in regard to the indicator referred to on this page.
Citation
Please cite this page as:
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Reviewers
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Additional notes may include: personal communication, email feedback
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