National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Sustainable Technology Division, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency, 26 West Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2012 Feb;94(1):41-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.08.003. Epub 2011 Sep 17.
This paper describes the theory, data, and methodology necessary for using Fisher information to assess the sustainability of the San Luis Basin (SLB) regional system over time. Fisher information was originally developed as a measure of the information content in data and is an important method in information theory. Our adaptation of Fisher information provides a means of monitoring the variables of a system to characterize dynamic order, and, therefore, its regimes and regime shifts. This work is part of the SLB Sustainability Metrics Project, which aimed to evaluate movement over time towards or away from regional sustainability. One of the key goals of this project was to use readily available data to assess the sustainability of the system including its environmental, social and economic aspects. For this study, Fisher information was calculated for fifty-three variables which characterize the consumption of food and energy, agricultural production, environmental characteristics, demographic properties and changes in land use for the SLB system from 1980 to 2005. Our analysis revealed that while the system displayed small changes in dynamic order over time with a slight decreasing trend near the end of the period, there is no indication of a regime shift. Therefore, the SLB system is stable with very slight movement away from sustainability in more recent years.
本文描述了使用 Fisher 信息评估圣路易斯流域（SLB）区域系统随时间推移的可持续性所需的理论、数据和方法。Fisher 信息最初是作为衡量数据信息量的一种方法而发展起来的，是信息论中的一种重要方法。我们对 Fisher 信息的改编提供了一种监测系统变量的方法，以描述动态秩序，从而描述其状态和状态转变。这项工作是 SLB 可持续性指标项目的一部分，该项目旨在评估随时间推移向或远离区域可持续性的运动。该项目的一个关键目标是使用现成的数据来评估系统的可持续性，包括其环境、社会和经济方面。在这项研究中，为描述 1980 年至 2005 年圣路易斯流域系统的食物和能源消费、农业生产、环境特征、人口特征以及土地利用变化的 53 个变量计算了 Fisher 信息。我们的分析表明，尽管系统随时间推移显示出动态秩序的微小变化，并且在该时期接近尾声时略有下降趋势，但没有迹象表明发生了状态转变。因此，SLB 系统是稳定的，近年来距离可持续性略有偏离。
