Monitoring Ecological Change

by Ian F. Spellerberg

• ISBN13: 9780521527286
• ISBN10: 0521527287
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The state of ecosystems, biological communities and species are continuously changing as a result of both natural processes and the activities of humans. In order to detect and understand these changes, effective ecological monitoring programmes are required. This book offers an introduction to the topic and provides both a rationale for monitoring and a practical guide to the techniques available. Written in a nontechnical style, the book covers the relevance and growth of ecological monitoring, the organizations and programmes involved, the science of ecological monitoring and an assessment of methods in practice, including many examples from monitoring programmes around the world. Building on the success of the first edition, this new edition has been fully revised and updated with two additional chapters covering the relevance of monitoring to the reporting of the state of the environment, and the growth of community based ecological monitoring.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Martin Holdgate
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiii
Glossary of acronyms and abbreviations	xiv
Ecological monitoring	1	(28)
Environmental monitoring programmes and organizations	29	(47)
State of the environment reporting and ecological monitoring	76	(38)
Biological and spatial scales in ecological monitoring	114	(38)
Biological indicators and indices	152	(39)
Diversity and similarity indices	191	(29)
Planning and designing ecological monitoring	220	(29)
Community-based ecological monitoring	249	(25)
Ecological monitoring of species and biological communities	274	(46)
Ecological monitoring and environmental impact assessments	320	(26)
Appendix The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity	346	(20)
References	366	(22)
Index	388