Handbook of Ecological Indicators for Assessment of Ecosystem Health - Chapter 1 pot

Handbook of
Edited by
Sven E. Jørgensen
Robert Costanza
Fu-Liu Xu
Ecological
Indicators
for
Assessment of
Ecosystem
Health
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Handbook of ecological indicators for assessment of ecosystem health / edited
by Sven E. Jørgensen, Robert Costanza, Fu-Liu Xu.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-56670-665-3
1. Ecosystem health. 2. Environmental indicators. I. Jørgensen, Sven Erik,
1934. II. Costanza, Robert. III. Xu, Fu-Liu. IV. Title.
QH541.15.E265H36 2005
577.27 dc22 2004015982
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
The Editors
Sven Erik Jørgensen is professor of environmental chemistry at the Danish
University of Pharmaceutical Sciences. He has doctorates in engineering from
Karlsruhe University and sciences from Copenhagen University. He ha s been
editor in ch ief of Ecological Modelling since the journal started in 1975. He is
chairman of the International Lake Environment Committee. He has edited or
authored 58 books in Danish and English and written 300 papers of which two-
thirds have been published in peer-reviewed international journals. He was the
first person to receive the Prigogine Award in 2004 for his outstanding work in

the use thus far of equilibrium thermodynamics on ecosystems. He has also
received the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize for his outstanding contribu-
tion to a global dissemination of ecological modeling and ecological manage-
ment of aquatic ecosystems, mainly lakes and wetlands.
Robert Costanza is Gordon Gund professor of ecological economics and
director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics in the Rubenstein
School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont.
His research interests include: landscape-level integrated spatial simulation
modeling; analysis of energy and material flows through economic and
ecological systems; valuation of ecosystem services, biodiversity, and natural
capital; and analysis of dysfunctional incentive systems and ways to correct
them. He is the author or co-author of over 350 scientific papers and 18 books.
His work has been cited in more than 2000 scientific articles since 1987 and
more than 100 interviews and reports on his work have appeared in various
popular media.
Fu-Liu Xu is an associate professor at the College of Environmental Sciences,
Peking University, China. He was a guest professor at the Research Center for
Environmental Quality Control (RCRQC), Kyoto University, from August
2003 to January 2004; and at the Research Center for Environmental Sciences,
Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), from August to October 2001. He
is a member of the editorial boards for two international journals. He received
his Ph. D. from Royal Danish University of Pharmacy in 1998. His research
fields include system ecology and ecological modeling, ecosystem health and
ecological indicators, ecosystem planning and management.
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction
S.E. Jørgensen
1.1 The Role of Ecosystem Health Assessment in Environmental

Management
1.2TheConceptualFlowinThisVolume
References
Chapter 2
ApplicationofIndicatorsfortheAssessmentofEcosystemHealth
S.E. Jørgensen, F L. Xu, F. Salas, and J.C. Marques
2.1CriteriafortheSelectionofEcologicalIndicatorsforEHA
2.2ClassificationofEcosystemHealthIndicators
2.2.1Level1
2.2.2Level2
2.2.3Level3
2.2.4Level4
2.2.5Level5
2.2.6Level6
2.2.7Level7
2.2.8Level8
2.3IndicesBasedonIndicatorSpecies
2.3.1Bellan’sPollutionIndex
2.3.2PollutionIndexBasedonAmpiphoids
2.3.3AMBI
2.3.4Bentix
2.3.5MacrofaunaMonitoringIndex
2.3.6BenthicResponseIndex
2.3.7ConservationIndex
2.4IndicesBasedonEcologicalStrategies
2.4.1Nematodes/CopepodsIndex
2.4.2Polychaetes/AmphipodsIndex
2.4.3InfaunalIndex
2.4.4FeldmanIndex
2.5IndicesBasedontheDiversityValue

2.5.1Shannon–WienerIndex
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2.5.2PielouEvennessIndex
2.5.3MargalefIndex
2.5.4Berger–ParkerIndex
2.5.5SimpsonIndex
2.5.6DeviationfromtheLog-NormalDistribution
2.5.7K-DominanceCurves
2.5.8AverageTaxonomicDiversity
2.5.9AverageTaxonomicDistinctness
2.6IndicatorsBasedonSpeciesBiomassandAbundance
2.6.1ABCMethod
2.7IndicatorsIntegratingAllEnvironmentInformation
2.7.1TrophicIndex
2.7.2CoefficientofPollution
2.7.3BenthicIndexofEnvironmentalCondition
2.7.4B-IBI
2.7.5BioticIntegrity(IBI)forFishes
2.7.6FishHealthIndex(FHI)
2.7.7EstuarineEcologicalIndex(EBI)
2.7.8EstuarineFishImportanceRating(FIR)
2.8 Presentation and Definition of Level 7 and 8 Indicators —
HolisticIndicators
2.9AnOverviewofApplicableEcologicalIndicatorsforEHA
2.10EHA:Procedures
2.10.1DirectMeasurementMethod(DMM)
2.10.2EcologicalModelMethod(EMM)
2.10.3EcosystemHealthIndexMethod(EHIM)
2.11 An Integrated, Consistent Ecosystem Theory That Can Be
AppliedastheTheoreticalBasisforEHA

References
AppendixA
Chapter 3
Application of Ecological Indicators to Assess Environmental Quality in
CoastalZonesandTransitionalWaters:TwoCaseStudies
J.C. Marques, F. Salas, J.M. Patrı
´
cio, and M.A. Pardal
3.1Introduction
3.2 Brief Review on the Application of Ecological Indicators in
EcosystemsofCoastalandTransitionalWaters
3.2.1IndicatorsBasedonSpeciesPresencevs.Absence
3.2.2BiodiversityasReflectedinDiversityMeasures
3.2.3IndicatorsBasedonEcologicalStrategies
3.2.4 Indicators Based on Species Biomass and
Abundance
3.2.5 Indicators Accounting for the Whole Environme ntal
Information
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
3.2.6 Thermodynamically Oriented and Network
Analysis-BasedIndicators
3.3HowtoChoosetheMostAdequateIndicator?
3.4 Case Studies: Subtidal Benthic Communities in the Mondego
Estuary (Atlantic Coast of Portugal) and Mar Menor
(MediterraneanCoastofSpain)
3.4.1StudyAreasandTypeofDataUtilized
3.4.2SelectedEcologicalIndicators
3.4.3SummaryofResults
3.4.3.1MondegoEstuary
3.4.3.2MarMenor

3.5 Was the Use of the Selected Indicators Satisfactory in the
TwoCaseStudies?
3.5.1 Application of Indicators Based on the Presence
vs.AbsenceofSpecies:AMBI
3.5.2 Indices Based on Ecologic Strategies:
Polychaetes/AmphipodsRatio
3.5.3 Biodiversity as Reflected in Diversity Measures:
MargalefandShannon–WiennerIndices
3.5.4 Indicators Based on Species Biomass
andAbundance:Wstatistic
3.5.5 Thermodynamically Oriented and Network
Analysis-Based Indicators: Exergy Index,
SpecificExergyandAscendancy
3.5.5.1ExergyandSpecificExergy
3.5.5.2Ascendancy
3.5.6BriefConclusions
References
Chapter 4
Development and Application of Ecosystem Health Indicators in the
NorthAmericanGreatLakesBasin
H. Shear, P. Bertram, C. Forst, and P. Horvatin
4.1Introduction
4.1.1BackgroundontheGreatLakesBasin
4.1.2IndicatorSelection
4.1.3DefinitionoftheSelectedIndicators
4.2GeneralConsiderations
4.2.1EcologicalDescriptionoftheGreatLakesBasin
4.2.1.1ToxicContaminants
4.2.1.2LandUse
4.2.1.3InvasiveSpecies

4.2.1.4HabitatStatusIncludingWetlands
4.2.1.5LakeEcology
4.2.1.6Nutrients
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4.2.2DataCollectionMethods
4.3Results
4.3.1StateIndicators—Complete
4.3.1.1Hexagenia
4.3.1.2 Wetland Dependent Bird Diversity
andAbundance
4.3.1.3 Area, Quality and Protection of
AlvarCommunities
4.3.2StateIndicators—Incomplete
4.3.2.1NativeFreshwaterMussels
4.3.3PressureIndicators—Complete
4.3.3.1PhosphorusConcentrationsandLoadings
4.3.3.2ContaminantsinColonialNestingWaterbirds
4.3.3.3ContaminantsinEdibleFishTissue
4.3.4PressureIndicators—Incomplete
4.3.4.1MassTransportation
4.3.4.2 Escherichia Coli and Fecal Coliform Levels in
NearshoreRecreationalWaters
4.3.5ResponseIndicators—Incomplete
4.3.5.1 Citizen/Commun ity Place-Based Stewardshi p
Activities
4.4Discussion
4.4.1LandUse
4.4.2HabitatDegradation
4.4.3ClimateChange
4.4.4ToxicContamination

4.4.5IndicatorDevelopment
4.5Conclusions
References
Chapter 5
Application of Ecological and Thermodynamic Indicators for the
AssessmentofLakeEcosystemHealth
F L. Xu
5.1Introduction
5.1.1EcosystemTypeandProblem
5.1.2TheChapter’sFocus
5.2Methodologies
5.2.1ATheoreticalFrame
5.2.2DevelopmentofIndicators
5.2.2.1TheProcedureforDevelopingIndicators
5.2.2.2LakeDataforDevelopingIndicators
5.2.2.3 Responses of Lake Ecosystems to
ChemicalStresses
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
5.2.2.4 Indicators for Lake Ecosystem Health
Assessment
5.2.3CalculationsforSomeIndicators
5.2.3.1CalculationsofExergyandStructuralExergy
5.2.3.2CalculationofBufferCapacity
5.2.3.3CalculationofBiodiversity
5.2.3.4CalculationsofOtherIndicators
5.2.4MethodsforLakeEcosystemHealthAssessment
5.3CaseStudies
5.3.1 Case 1: Ecosystem Health Assessment for
ItalianLakesUsingEHIM
5.3.1.1SelectingAssessmentIndicators

5.3.1.2CalculatingSub-EHIs
5.3.1.2.1EHI(BA)Calculation
5.3.1.2.2 EHI(BZ), EHI(BZ/BA), EHI(Ex) and
EHI(Exst)Calculations
5.3.1.3 Determining Weighting Factors (!
i
)
5.3.1.4 Assessing Ecosystem Health Status for
ItalianLakes
5.3.1.4.1EHIandStandardsforItalianLakes
5.3.1.4.2EcosystemHealthStatus
5.3.2 Case 2: Ecosystem Health Assessment for
LakeChaoUsingDMMandEMM
5.3.2.1 Assessment Using Direct Measurement Method
(DMM)
5.3.2.2 Assessment Using Ecological M odel
Method(EMM)
5.3.2.2.1 The Analysis of Lake Ecosystem
Structure
5.3.2.2.2 The Establishment of a Lake Ecological
Model
5.3.2.2.3 The Calibration of the Ecological
Model
5.3.2.2.4 The Calculation of Ecosystem Health
Indicators
5.3.2.2.5 The Assessment of Lake
EcosystemHealth
5.4Discussions
5.4.1AboutAssessmentResults
5.4.1.1AssessmentResultsforLakeChao

5.4.1.2AssessmentResultsforItalianLakes
5.4.2AboutAssessmentIndicators
5.4.3AboutAssessmentMethods
5.5Conclusions
References
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
Chapter 6
Ecosystem Health Assessment and Bioeconomic Analysis in
CoastalLagoons
J.M. Zaldı
´
var, M. Austoni, M. Pl us, G.A. De Leo ,
G. Giordani , and P. Viaroli
6.1Introduction
6.2StudyArea:Sacca
DIGoro
6.3SimulationModels
6.3.1BiogeochemicalModel
6.3.2 Discrete Stage-Based Model of Tapes
Philippinarum
6.3.3Ulva’sHarvestingModel
6.3.4Cost/BenefitModel
6.3.5ExergyCalculation
6.4ResultsandDiscussion
6.4.1TheExistingSituation
6.4.2HarvestingUlvaBiomass
6.4.3ReductioninNutrientInputs
6.5Conclusions
Acknowledgments
References

Chapter 7
Application of Ecological and Thermodynamic Indicators for the
AssessmentoftheEcosystemHealthofCoastalAreas
S.E. Jørgensen
7.1Introduction
7.2Results
7.3Discussion
7.4Conclusions
References
Chapter 8
Application of Ecological Indicators for Assessing Health of
MarineEcosystems
V. Christensen and P. Cury
8.1Introduction
8.2Indicators
8.2.1EnvironmentalandHabitatIndicators
8.2.2Species-BasedIndicators
8.2.3Size-BasedIndicators
8.2.4TrophodynamicIndicators
8.3NetworkAnalysis
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
8.4PrimaryProductionRequiredtoSustainFisheries
8.5FishingDowntheFoodWeb
8.6FishinginBalance
8.7ApplicationofIndicators
8.7.1EnvironmentalandHabitatIndicators
8.7.2Size-BasedIndicators
8.7.3TrophodynamicIndicators
8.8Conclusion
References

Chapter 9
UsingEcologicalIndicatorsinaWhole-EcosystemWetlandExperiment
W.J. Mits ch, N. Wang, L. Zhang, R. Deal, X. Wu, and A. Zuwerink
9.1Introduction
9.2Methods
9.2.1SiteHistory
9.2.2MacrophyteCommunityIndex
9.2.3FieldIndicators
9.2.4SimilarityIndex
9.3Results
9.3.1MacrophyteCommunityDiversity
9.3.2MacrophyteProductivity
9.3.3AlgalDevelopment
9.3.4MacroinvertebrateDiversity
9.3.5WaterChemistry
9.3.6NutrientRetention
9.3.7AvianUse
9.3.8BasinSimilarity
9.4Discussion
9.4.1CommunityDiversityandEcosystemFunction
9.4.2ProductivityastheIndependentVariable
9.4.3DiversityatDifferentLevels
9.4.4AquaticConsumers
9.4.5ReplicationandExperimentalScale
Acknowledgments
References
Chapter 10
The Joint Use of Exergy and Emergy as Indicators of Ecosystems
Performances
S. Bastianoni, N. Marchettini, F.M. Pulselli, and M. Rosini

10.1Introduction
10.2ExergyandEcology
10.3EmergyandEcology
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
10.4TheRatioofExergytoEmergyFlow
10.5TheRatioofÁEXtoÁEM
References
Chapter 11
ApplicationofThermodynamicIndicestoAgro-Ecosystems
Y.M. Svirezhev
11.1Introduction
11.2SimplifiedEnergyandEntropyBalancesinanEcosystem
11.3 Entropy Overproduction as a Criterion of the Degradation
ofNaturalEcosystemsunderAnthropogenicPressure
11.4Whatisa‘‘ReferenceEcosystem’’?
11.5 Agro-Ecosystem: The Limits of Agriculture
IntensificationanditsEntropyCost
11.6 Concept of Sustainable Agriculture: the Thermodynamic
Criterion
11.7SoilDegradation:ThermodynamicModel
11.8‘‘EntropyFee’’forIntensiveAgriculture
11.9HungarianMaizeAgriculture
11.10 Agriculture in Northern Germany (Steinborn
andSvirezhev,2000)
11.11 Agriculture in Sachsen-Anhalt (Eastern Germany) and the
Dynamics of Entropy Overproduction
(Lindenschmidtetal.,2001)
References
Chapter 12
Ecosystem Indicators for the Integrated Management of Landscape

HealthandIntegrity
F. Mu
¨
ller
12.1Introduction
12.2BasicPrinciplesfortheIndicatorDerivation
12.2.1EcosystemTheory—TheConceptualBackground
12.2.2EcosystemAnalysis—TheEmpiricalBackground
12.2.3 Ecosystem Health and Ecological Integrity — The
NormativeBackground
12.3TheSelectedIndicatorSet
12.4CaseStudiesandApplications
12.4.1 Indicating Health and Integrity on the Ecosystem
Scale
12.4.2IndicatingLandscapeHealth
12.4.3ApplicationinSustainableLandscapeManagement
12.5DiscussionandConclusions
References
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
Chapter 13
Multi-Scale Resilience Estimates for Health Assessment of Real
HabitatsinaLandscape
G. Zurlin i, N. Zaccarelli, and I. Petrosillo
13.1Introduction
13.2Rationale
13.2.1EcologicalPhases,States,andScaleDomains
13.2.2ResilienceandResistance
13.3StudyAreaandMethods
13.3.1TheBaganzaStreamWatershed
13.3.2CorineHabitats

13.3.3EmpiricalPatternsofSelf-Similarity
13.3.4ChangeIntensityDetection
13.3.5RetrospectiveResilience
13.4Results
13.4.1BestRegressionModelsandScaleBreaks
13.4.2ChangeIntensityDetection
13.4.3ResilienceofHabitatScaleDomains
13.5GeneralDiscussionandConclusion
13.5.1GrasslandPhaseStates
13.5.2ScaleDomainsandProcesses
13.5.3AdaptiveCycleandResilience
Acknowledgments
References
Chapter 14
Emergy,Transformity,andEcosystemHealth
M.T. Brown and S. Ulgiati
14.1Introduction
14.2ASystemsViewofEcosystemHealth
14.3Emergy,Transformity,andHierarchy
14.3.1 Emergy and Transformity: Concept s and
Definitions
14.3.2Hierarchy
14.3.3TransformitiesandHierarchy
14.3.4TransformityandEfficiency
14.4Emergy,TransformityandBiodiversity
14.5EmergyandInformation
14.6MeasuringChangesinEcosystemHealth
14.7RestoringEcosystemHealth
14.8SummaryandConclusions
References

Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
Chapter 15
MassAccountingandMass-BasedIndicators
S. Bargigli, M. Raugei, and S. Ulgiati
15.1Introduction
15.1.1TargetsofMaterialFlowAccouting
15.2MAIA:GeneralIntroductiontotheMethodology
15.2.1HistoricalBackground
15.2.2TheMAIAMethod
15.2.2.1UsedversusUnused
15.2.2.2DirectversusIndirect
15.2.3CalculationRules
15.2.4MAIADatabase
15.2.5SelectedCaseStudies:FuelCellsandHydrogen
15.3NationwideMFA:GeneralIntroductiontotheMethodology
15.3.1HistoricalBackgroundofBulkMFA
15.3.2TheBulkMFAModel
15.3.3TheSystemBoundariesandSystemStock
15.3.3.1 Boundary between the Economy and the
NaturalEnvironment
15.3.3.2 Frontier to Other Economies (the Residence
vs.TerritoryPrinciple)
15.3.4ClassificationofFlows
15.3.5CategoriesofMaterials
15.3.6TheFinalSchemeandMaterialBalance
15.3.6.1MemorandumItemsforBalancing
15.3.7Indicators
15.3.7.1ThePhysicalTradeBalance
15.3.8DataSources
15.3.9StateoftheArtataNationalLevel

15.3.10LimitsandNeededImprovementsofMFA
References
Chapter 16
TheHealthofEcosystems:theYthanEstuaryCaseStudy
D. Raffaelli, P. White, A. Renwick, J. Smart, and C. Perrings
16.1Introduction
16.1.1ThePhysicalContext
16.1.2Long-TermDataSets
16.2ChangesinAgriculture
16.3ChangesinWaterQuality
16.4ChangesinBiology
16.5MeasuresofEcosystemHealth
16.5.1WaterQualityIndex(WQI)
16.5.2MacroinvertebrateIndicesofWaterQuality
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16.5.3EstuaryQualityIndicators
16.5.4EcosystemIndicators
16.6ACoupledHuman–EcologicalSystem?
16.7Policy,Debate,andtheBurdenofScientificProof
References
Chapter 17
Assessing Marine Ecosystem Health — Concepts and Indicators,
with Reference to the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine,
NorthwestAtlantic
P.G. Wells
17.1Introduction
17.2ConceptsofMarineEcosystemHealth
17.2.1ConceptualFramework
17.2.2Health
17.2.3EcosystemHealth

17.2.3.1IdentifySymptoms
17.2.3.2IdentifyandMeasureVitalSigns
17.2.3.3ProvisionalDiagnosis
17.2.3.4TeststoVerifyDiagnosis
17.2.3.5MakeaPrognosisfortheBay
17.2.3.6Treatment
17.2.4MarineEcosystemHealth
17.2.5EcologicalorEcosystemIntegrity
17.2.6EcologicalChange
17.2.7MarineEnvironmentalQuality(MEQ)
17.2.8SustainabilityofMarineEcosystems
17.2.9HumanHealthandMarineEcosystemHealth
17.3IndicatorsforAssessingMarineEcosystemHealth
17.3.1MonitoringApproaches
17.3.2IndicatorsandIndices
17.3.3StatusandTrendsAnalysis
17.4SummaryandConclusions
Acknowledgments
References
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
S.E. Jørgensen
1.1 THE ROLE OF ECOSYSTEM HEALTH ASSESSMENT IN
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
The idea to apply an assessment of ecosystem health to environmental
management emerged in the late 1980s. The parallels with the assessment of
human health are very obv ious. We go to the doctor to get a diagnosis (to
determine what is wrong) and hopefully initiate a cure to bring us back to
normal. The doctor will take various measurements and make examinations

(pulse, blood pressure, sugar in the urine etc.) before making a diagnosis and
suggesting a cure.
The idea behind the assessment of ecosystem health is similar (see
Figure 1.1). If we observe that an ecosyst em is not healthy, we want a
diagnosis. What is wrong? What caused this unhealthy condition? What can
we do to bring the ecosystem back to normal? To answer these questions, and
also to come up with a cure, ecological indicators are applied.
Since ecosystem health assessment (EHA) emerged in the late 1980s,
numerous attempts have been made to use the idea in practice, and again and
again environmental managers and ecologists have asked the question: Which
ecological indicators should we apply? It is clear today that it is not possible to
find one indicator or even a few indicators that can be used generally, as some
naively thought when EHA was introduced. Of course there are general
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
ecological indicators that are used almost every time we have to assess
ecosystem health; but they are never sufficient to present a complete diagno-
sis — the general indicators always have to be supplemented by other indi-
cators. Our doctor has also general indicators. He will always take the patient’s
pulse, temperature, and blood pressure — very good general indicators — but
he also has also always to supplement these general indicators with others that
he selects according to the description of the problem as given by the patient.
The same is true for the ecological doctor. If he observes dead fish but clear
water, he will suspect the presence of a toxic substance in the ecosystem, while
he will associate dead fish and very muddy water with oxygen depletion. In
these two cases he will use two different sets of indicators, although some
general indicators may be used in both cases.
The first international conference on the application of ecological
indicators for the assessment of ecosystem health was held in Fort Lauderdale,
Florida, in October 1900. Since then there have been several national and
international conferences on ecological indicators and on EHA. In 1992 a book

entitled Ecosystem Health was published by Island Press. Blackwell published a
book with the same title in 1998 and also launched a journal entitled Ecosystem
Figure 1.1 How ecological indicators are used for EHA and how to follow the effect of the
environmental management plan.
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
Health in the mid-1990s with Rapport as the editor-in-chief. Elsevier launched
a journal with the title Ecological Indicators in 2000 with Eric Hyatt and Felix
Mueller as editors-in-chief. It can therefore be seen from this short overview of
the development of the use of EHA and ecological indicators to perform the
EHA that there has been significant interest in EHA and ecological indicators.
Some may have expected that EHA would replace ecological modeling to a
certain extent, as it was a new method to quantify the disease of an ecosystem.
It is also possible (as will be discussed in the next chapter) to assess ecosystem
health based solely upon observations. On the other hand, EHA cannot be
used to make prognoses and does not give the overview of the ecological
components and their interactions like a model does. EHA and ecological
modeling are two rather different but complementary tools that together give
a better image of the environmental management possibilities than if either
were used independently. Today, models are used increasingly (as will also
demonstrated in this volume) as a tool to perform an EHA. The models are,
furthermore, used to give prognoses of the development of the EHA-applied
ecological indicators when a well-defined environmental management plan is
followed.
A number of ecological indicators have been applied during the last 15
years or so to assess ecosystem health. As already stressed, general ecological
indicators do not exist (or at least have not been discovered yet). A review of the
literature published over the last 15 years regarding EHA and a selection of
ecological indicators will reveal that it is also not possible to generate a set
of indicators that can be used for specific problems or specific ecosystems.
There are general indicators and there are problem- and ecosystem-specific

indicators, which will be used again and again for the same problems or the
same type of ecosystems; but because all ecosystems are different, even
ecosystems of the same type are very different, and there are always some
case-specific indicators that are selected on the basis of sound theoretical
considerations. We can therefore not simply give, let us say, 300 lists of
ecological indicators, with each list valid for a specific problem in a specific
ecosystem (we presume for instance 20 different problems and 15 different type
of ecosystems, totaling 300 combinations). Our knowledge about human health
is much more developed than our knowledge about ecosystem health, and there
is still no general procedure on how to assess a diagnosis for each of the several
hundred possible cases a doctor will meet in his practice. We will, however,
attempt to give an overview of the most applied ecological indicators for
different ecosystems in the next chapter. It is possible to give such an overview,
but not to give a general applicable procedure with a general valid list of
indicators. This does of course not mean that we have nothing to learn from
case studies. Because the selection of indicators is difficult and varies from case
to case, it is of course possible to expand one’s experience by learning about a s
many case studies as possible. This is the general idea behind this volume. By
presenting a number of different case studies representing different ecosystems
and different problems, an overview of the applicable indicators should be
obtained.
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis
1.2 THE CONCEPTUAL FLOW IN THIS VOLUME
Chapters 3 to 15 present different case studies focusing on different
ecosystems and different problems. Chapter 2 has tried to give an overview of
the other chapters (chapters 3 to 15) by presenting:
1. A discussion of the selection of ecological indicators for assessment of
ecosystem health.
2. A classification of indicators.
3. The definition of some important holistic indicators.

4. An overview of all the applied ecological indicators with indication of
where they have been applied and where they could be applied.
5. Three different procedures which can be applied for EHA.
6. A short presentation of a recently developed consistent ecosystem theories
that can explain the close relationship between E.P. Odum’s attributes
(1969 and 1971) and the presented holistic indicators rooted in
thermodynamics. The presented ecosystem theory is based on integration
of several different approaches, that are consistent to a high extent
(Jørgensen, 2002).
REFERENCES
1. Jørgensen, S.E. Integration of Ecosystem Theories: A Pattern, 3rd edition. Kluwer
Scientific Publ. Company, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2002, 428 p.
2. Odum, E.P. The strategy of ecosystem development. Science, 164, 262–270, 1969.
3. Odum, E.P. Fundamentals of Ecology. W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1974, 354 p.
Copyright © 2005 by Taylor & Francis