Borja A, Ranasinghe A, Weisberg S B
AZTI-Tecnalia (Technological Institute for Fisheries and Food), Marine Research Division, Herrera Kaia, Portualdea s/n, 20110 Pasaia, Spain.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2009;59(1-3):1-4. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.11.006. Epub 2008 Dec 12.
During the last decade, there have been substantial scientific advances in the development of indices that measure the condition of biological ecosystem elements in coastal and estuarine waters. Though successful, these advances were only the initial steps and a special session on use of indices in ecological integrity assessments was held at the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation meeting to focus the field on the most appropriate directions for the next decade. The session identified four primary scientific challenges: (i) reduce the array of indices by identifying the index approaches that are most widely successful; (ii) establish minimum criteria for index validation; (iii) intercalibrate methods to achieve uniform assessment scales across geographies and habitats; and (iv) integrate indices across ecosystem elements. Where an explosion of indices characterized the last decade, the next decade needs to be characterized by consolidation. With increased knowledge and understanding about the strengths and weaknesses of competing index approaches, the field needs to unify approaches that provide managers with the simple answers they need to use ecological condition information effectively and efficiently.
在过去十年中，用于衡量沿海和河口海域生物生态系统要素状况的指标开发取得了重大科学进展。尽管取得了成功，但这些进展只是初步的，在沿海和河口研究联合会会议上专门召开了一次关于指标在生态完整性评估中的应用的会议，以使该领域专注于未来十年最适当的发展方向。该会议确定了四个主要科学挑战：（i）通过确定最广泛成功的指标方法来减少指标数量；（ii）建立指标验证的最低标准；（iii）相互校准方法以实现跨地理区域和栖息地的统一评估尺度；（iv）整合跨生态系统要素的指标。如果说过去十年的特点是指标激增，那么未来十年则需要以整合为特征。随着对相互竞争的指标方法的优缺点有了更多的了解，该领域需要统一方法，为管理者提供他们有效且高效地利用生态状况信息所需的简单答案。
