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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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- by all stakeholder
- by the public
- understandable to the 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”
Canadian Ecological and Monitoring and Assessment Network
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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