Practical implementation of ecosystem monitoring for the ecosystem approach to management

Abstract

1. The implementation of the ecosystem approach means there is a need to monitor an increased range of environmental conditions and ecological components in the marine environment. Many existing monitoring surveys have successfully added tasks or components to an existing monitoring programme while maintaining consistency of time series. This approach is not practical when the immediate data need for a wide range of ecosystem components requires substantial changes to the programme or when collections of different ecological components have conflicting requirements. 2. We propose a more integrated approach aimed at not only assessing change, but simultaneously delivering evidence of the underlying reasons for observed changes. Using principles developed from observational and modelling efforts in the Barents Sea and the wider literature , we distil the essential characteristics an integrated monitoring programme must exhibit. We demonstrate how such an integrated programme can offer substantial operational efficien-cies compared to a coordinated approach. 3. Integrated monitoring based on ecosystem processes has significant advantages over the coordinated approach that uses ecosystem states independently and focuses on maximizing precision of each indicator. While integration is needed to address current policy requirements, changes to monitoring risk time-series consistency. However, we explain how such risks can be minimized while at the same time establishing a framework that allows the incorporation of important information from other less flexible data sources to be used in the assessment. 4. Policy implications. Process-based integrated monitoring is essential for the ecosystem approach. The focus on ecosystem processes provides the essential elements for future proof efficient management: (i) It provides both unbiased status estimates for reporting requirements and describes the causes of state change. (ii) It minimizes risks to historic time series while coping with changing ecological conditions. (iii) It quantifies ecosystem processes and provides the means to test hypotheses on how different processes interact. (iv) It uses all available information efficiently when used in conjunction with integrated assessments. (v) It is effective due to its adaptability to meet future policy demands and ecosystem requirements while using data in the most efficient manner given these demands.

A Review of the Tools Used for Marine Monitoring in the UK: Combining Historic and Contemporary Methods with Modeling and Socioeconomics to Fulfill Legislative Needs and Scientific Ambitions

“…Beyond improving our assessments of state, models are an integral part of the decision-making process, since they allow assessment of the performance of policies and potential management measures alongside quantification of the risk and uncertainty (Hyder et al, 2015a;Lynam et al, 2016). Models can also be used to assess the value of different configurations of monitoring networks, although further development is required in this area (Kupschus et al, 2016).…”

“…The "total ecosystem approach" to monitoring is a coherent evidence-to-advice package, supported by a fully-integrated ecosystem monitoring programme, and potentially a way to implement many of the new approaches identified above (Borja et al, 2016;Kupschus et al, 2016). At the center of this package is a dynamic model of the ecosystem function and its responses to pressures based on process relationships.…”

“…At the center of this package is a dynamic model of the ecosystem function and its responses to pressures based on process relationships. Monitoring data help to parameterize the relationships with individual states that contribute to one or more parameter estimates (Kupschus et al, 2016). Ideally, legislative assessments of ecosystem state are produced from results of this model, and future states are predicted for different sets of pressure and environmental trajectories.…”

Uses of Innovative Modeling Tools within the Implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive

“…However, ecosystems are complex and we cannot measure "everything everywhere." Rather, evaluation of trade-offs in monitoring different ecosystem state indicators (Kupschus et al, 2016) and potentially additional pressures (not listed in the MSFD) that modulate or confound these changes is needed (Queirós et al, 2016a). By explicitly linking ecosystem model development to MSFD monitoring program development, modeling can assist by:…”

The Dynamics and Resilience of Coral Reefs

“…Historically, monitoring activities deliver a detailed account on ecosystem states with an emphasis on the abundance of important biological species. However, state indicators are not able to reflect important underlying system dynamics (Kupschus, Schratzberger & Righton 2016;Siddig et al 2016). What is observed (i.e.…”