Monitoring Ecological Impacts: Concepts and Practice in Flowing Waters

by Barbara J. Downes , Leon A. Barmuta , Peter G. Fairweather , Daniel P. Faith , Michael J. Keough , P. S. Lake , Bruce D. Mapstone , Gerry P. Quinn

• ISBN13: 9780521065290
• ISBN10: 0521065291
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-12
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Monitoring Ecological Impacts provides the tools needed by professional ecologists, scientists, engineers, planners and managers to design assessment programs that can reliably monitor, detect and allow management of human impacts on the natural environment. The procedures described are well grounded in inferential logic, and the statistical models needed to analyse complex data are given. Step-by-step guidelines and flow diagrams provide the reader with clear and useable protocols, which can be applied in any region of the world and to a wide range of human impacts. In addition, real examples are used to show how the theory can be put into practice. Although the context of this book is flowing water environments, especially rivers and streams, the advice for designing assessment programs can be applied to any ecosystem.

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Nature of Monitoring Problems and to Rivers

Why we need well-designed monitoring programs

The ecological nature of flowing waters

Assessment of perturbation

Principles of Inference and Design

Inferential issues for monitoring

The logical bases of monitoring design

Problems in applying designs

Alternative models for impact assessment

Applying Principles of Inference and Design

Applying monitoring designs to flowing waters

Inferential uncertainty and multiple lines of evidence

Variables that are used for monitoring in flowing waters

Defining important changes

Decisions and trade-offs

Optimization

The special case of monitoring attempts at restoration

What's next?

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