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Historical coal mining in northwestern Czech Republic has caused substantial environmental damage. The ecological effects of coal mining include adverse impacts at the species, habitat, and landscape levels. Ecological functions of landscapes also have been disrupted. We used information regarding the ecological consequences of coal mining to describe an illustrative case study of how resource equivalency analysis methods could be used to calculate environmental liabilities.

Sustainable management of natural resources requires a good understanding of ecosystems components and their interrelationships. Statistics is essential for understanding the structure and behaviour of ecological processes and provides the basis of predictive modelling. Mostly, physical, chemical, and biological variables are recorded across time and space. They serve as indicators, giving information concerning the state and changes of ecosystems. Most of monitored ecological indicators are non-stationary in time structure. The classical static statistical methods revealed the presence of trends and long memories in these data sets. On the other hand, modern dynamic statistical methods indicate the presence of long-term cycling processes. The Fourier polynomial is a technique for approximating periodic functions by sums of cosine and sine periodic functions, shifted and scaled. Therefore, it may be suitable for approximating cycling processes with a fixed frequency as portrayed by some ecological indicators. Wavelet analysis can be used to investigate the timescale behaviour of ecological processes. This analysis reveals the long-term evolution of an ecological indicator at different resolutions, the dominant scale of variability in the data set, and its correlation and cross-correlation with other ecological indicators on a scale by scale basis.

Multi-scaled ecological monitoring networks offer significant potential to address a wide range of challenging environmental problems. Knowledge gained through these networks will be critical in understanding, detecting, and forecasting ecological changes that affect important ecological services upon which society depends. The networks will provide information necessary for societies to adapt to broad-scale changes such as those associated with land use, demographic, and climate change. Several new multi-tiered monitoring programs are being developed to evaluate ecological changes and associated drivers of change at a range of spatial and temporal scales. Additionally, existing ecological monitoring programs, such as the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program, are attempting to improve their capacities to extrapolate results to larger spatial extents by developing a standard set of measures or indicators and by facilitating cooperation among scientists within and among the various monitoring networks. Despite these attempts, several issues remain in integrating existing monitoring programs. We discuss these issues and review existing programs within a multi-tiered monitoring framework that explicitly incorporates citizen-based monitoring. Direct involvement of the public is seen as a critical element in expanding and maintaining existing and new ecological monitoring networks. We provide examples of two emerging ecological monitoring networks, the Terrestrial Observatory Network (TERENO) and the USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN), to convey some of the complexities and challenges confronting the design and implementation of multi-tiered ecological monitoring networks.

Long-term changes of freshwater ecosystems are mainly caused by immissions from drainage basin and atmosphere (nutrients, acid substances, etc.) and by changing climatic conditions. Freshwater ecosystems often react in non-linear ways to these external forces. Beyond a certain threshold, gradual shifts may cause catastrophic switches to another state. The way back to the previous state rarely corresponds to the past changes because of memory effects of the system. Long-term studies are necessary, but they do not allow for a simple extrapolation of past observations into the future.

Fishery papers on ecosystem indicators, or ecological indicators, have flourished over the last ten years, and many were justified by referring to the ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF). However, the reasons why indicators are relevant to an EAF are not always clear. Still less clear are the ways indicators might be used to give management advice in the context of an EAF. In this presentation we recount the emergence of the indicator concept in the EAF context. The concept being overloaded with two many roles and interpretations, we propose to split it into three separate tools fulfilling the functions of control, audit, and communication. We suggest these could be articulated by a conceptual model linking the problems to be managed and the possible management actions. The approach is exemplified for the Bay of Biscay multispecies fisheries.

Submerged aquatic plants can act as measurable indicators of ecological conditions occurring within a lake, and they need only be monitored once a year or even less. Historically in New Zealand there has been a reliance on water quality sampling for monitoring the health of lakes and these methods can be complex and costly involving multiple site visits and chemical analysis of water samples. As a result, lake monitoring has been irregular, or not done at all. LakeSPI or ‘Lake Submerged Plant Indicators’ is a new management tool that uses aquatic plants to monitor and assess ecological condition in a wide range of lake types. The method generates three indices: a Native Condition Index (extent and diversity of native plants) and an Invasive Condition Index (extent and impact of alien weeds), which are generated from scores allocated to carefully selected vegetation features; and an integrated LakeSPI Index which is largely derived from components of the other two indices and provides an overall indication of lake ecological condition. The LakeSPI method can be used to assess the status of lakes and monitor trends occurring within them, and it is expected that the use of LakeSPI will facilitate regular monitoring and reporting on a much wider range of lakes than has been possible using traditional water quality methods. By utilizing submerged aquatic plants the method focuses on lake littoral margins where there is greatest public interaction and interest.

UN reports generally concentrate upon quantitative analysis of the direct drivers of ecology on global poverty and ecosystem change, but the contributors to the Millennial Ecosystem Assessment (MA) have initiated a discussion of ‘indirect drivers’ – the relation of culture, aesthetics and spirituality to global climate change – and, for the first time, have made this qualitative evidence endogenous to their models. The MA validates ecological aesthetics as a science of quality but finds difficulty in presenting evidence in support of its claim. Ecological aesthetics has achieved prominence at local level as well, among those in forestry management of national, provincial and state parks in the United States and Canada. Yet they too find difficulty in assessing evidence; indeed their attempts to derive a match between perceptual categories of aesthetic beauty and ecological sustainability have generally failed. The qualitative science of ecological aesthetics which Bateson developed towards the end of his life offers several avenues out of the near impasse in these two cases. Bateson studies ecological aesthetics at a second order level, stressing the contextual difference between industrial society’s understanding of basic categories of space, time and connectivity, and the same categories perceived from a more ‘holistic’ point of view – ecological aesthetics as a form of “conservation of time”.

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) defines a framework for assessing water bodies in Europe in the future. The conditions in the Directive impose a strong demand for “new” assessment systems. The AQEM project developed an assessment system for European streams using macroinvertebrates. Almost 900 samples were taken in about 400 streams covering 29 stream types distributed over eight countries. The role of the Oligochaeta within this European database was analysed. Almost half a million specimens of oligochaetes were collected in 772 samples. Eight families, 41 genera and 69 species were recorded, although identification emphasised the families Tubificidae and Naididae. Three countries identified oligochaetes to species level, most others restricted their identifications to easy identifiable taxa. Numbers of specimens, species, genera and families differed strongly between the countries due to method, although standardised, and taxonomic knowledge. About 50% of all collected oligochaete taxa had assigned biological and ecological indicator values for metric calculation in the AQEM assessment system. A further refinement of this indication list as well as increased coverage of oligochaete taxa was advised. Weighted averaging was used to evaluate the relation between oligochaete distribution and ecological quality class. It was concluded that when higher taxonomic levels are used in assessment, the quality evaluation results become biased. Furthermore, oligochaetes can tell us much more about the ecological status of streams than is commonly assumed. Differences in ecological optima among Limnodrilus udekemianus, Ilyodrilus templetoni, Aulodrilus pluriseta, Nais communis, and Spirosperma ferox are shown.

The Florida Everglades, a vast wetland dotted with diverse tree islands, is a uniquely difficult wetland to manage because of competing urban, agricultural and environmental water demands. Tree islands in certain sections of the Everglades have experienced altered hydroperiod due to water management practices that has, at times, caused tree island vegetation to die. This study uses the Everglades Landscape Vegetation Model (ELVM) to investigate whether an observed trend in tree island loss is reversible, and if tree islands can be used as performance measures or ecological indicators for the success of Everglades restoration actions. The ELVM was developed and designed to be a tool to understand the spatial and temporal interactions among vegetation, water, fire and nutrients. Simulation results from this model suggest that hydroperiod is a major factor contributing to tree island development and stability in the Everglades. Simulations of the ELVM indicated that tree island water depths greater than 30 cm and hydroperiods longer than 150 days were decreasing tree island survival rates. According to the model, about 60% of tree islands lost in the Water Conservation Area 2A (WCA-2A) in the last few decades can be recovered by restoring the natural hydrological regimes. As a result, tree island health could be used as a performance measure to evaluate the effects of various hydrological restoration alternatives in the Everglades.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have formed a partnership to establish pilot sites for the development of a network known as the Coastal Intensive Site Network (CISNet). CISNet is composed of intensive, long-term monitoring and research sites around the U.S. marine and Great Lakes coasts. In this partnership, EPA and NOAA are funding research and monitoring programs at pilot sites that utilize ecological indicators and investigate the ecological effects of environmental Stressors. NASA is funding research aimed at developing a remote sensing capability that will augment or enhance in situ research and monitoring programs selected by EPA and NOAA. CISNet has three objectives: 1) to develop a sound scientific basis for understanding ecological responses to anthropogenic stresses in coastal environments, including the interaction of exposure, environment/climate, and biological/ecological factors in the response, and the spatial and temporal nature of these interactions, 2) to demonstrate the value of developing data from selected sites intensively monitored to examine the relationships between changes in environmental Stressors, including anthropogenic and natural stresses, and ecological response, and 3) to provide intensively monitored sites for development and evaluation of indicators of change in coastal systems.

Data analyzed at national, multistate or state scales often reveal more serious deterioration of various biological assemblages than that suspected from site specific studies simply because the impacts are observed regionally rather than locally. Unfortunately many regional assessments are based on data collected with differing sampling designs and methods, making their representativeness, accuracy and precision questionable. In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) began EMAP-Surface Waters (EMAP-SW), a program for developing methods to monitor and assess status and trends in the nation's lakes and rivers in a statistically and ecologically rigorous manner. EMAP-SW has now conducted regional multistate pilots in streams and rivers throughout the U.S.A. in collaboration with State agencies, universities and EPA regional offices. We discuss EMAP's conceptual design, which focuses on biological integrity through use of multiple biological assemblages and includes physical and chemical habitat and landscape characteristics. When coupled with appropriate biological indicators, a probability-based design enabled us to provide accurate, precise and unbiased assessments of biological conditions, along with quantitative estimates of sampling uncertainty. Regional EMAP-SW surveys indicated the importance of assessing multiple biological assemblages because each assemblage was differentially sensitive to different stressors and at different spatial scales. Synthesizing multiple metrics from multiple assemblages allowed us to detect the effects of multiple anthropogenic disturbances. We also illustrate the value of using historical reconstruction and paleolimnological data for determining reference conditions where disturbance is extensive. We conclude that an EMAP approach to sampling design and indicators (recognizing natural ecoregional differences) has distinct advantages for monitoring and assessments that may be applicable to European Communities seeking to assess the ecological integrity of waters.

A group of landscape ecological indicators were applied to biophysical data masked to the Tensas River Basin. The indicators were used to identify and prioritize sources of nutrients in a Mississippi/Atchafalaya River System sub-basin. Remotely sensed data were used for change detection assessment. With these methods, we were able to look at land use practices over the past twenty years in the Tensas River Basin of Louisiana. A simple land use classification was applied to multispectral scanner (MSS) data from 1972 and 1991. The landscape analysis methods described in this paper will show how to use these methods to assess the impact of human land use practices that are being implemented to improve environmental quality. Landscape assessment methods can be used as a simple, timely, cost effective approach for monitoring, targeting, and modeling ecosystem health in watersh{nteds.} Although this study was conducted in the southeast, the methods described in this paper may be applicable to western landscapes.

A scientific treatment of biodiversity must aim at the development of a generally valid theory, for only in this way, the scientific foundations for pragmatic approaches to the preservation of biodiversity can be worked out. This is also embodied in the “International Convention” on the protection and conservation of biodiversity, which was passed at the United Nations’ conference “Environment and Development” at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and has meanwhile been ratified by numerous nations. In this article, a definition of the concept “biodiversity” will be given, and partly synonymously used terms, like “variation”, “differentiation”, “diversification”, “heterogeneity”, “variety”, “variability”, “complexity”, and “richness” be differentiated. As matter and energy occur in very different organization forms and on varying hierarchy levels, it is necessary to delimit first those areas in which biodiversity phenomena appear.

The concentration of heavy metals in the environment, their deposition and long range transport are becoming one of the more prominent issues for some regions of Central and Eastern Europe. Heavy metals pollution can be monitored by using several basic methods. One is to measure the accumulation and concentration of heavy metals in tissues of indicator species. Biological indicators (or bioindicators) are organisms which - with reference to chemical, physiological, ethological or ecological factors - provide information on the state of ecosystems. They must be sensitive enough to indicate environmental changes as soon as possible (Novakova, 1987). Small mammals represent one of the best groups as ecological indicators in terrestrial ecosystems. Mammalian body, especially kidney, bone and liver responses are realistic monitors of mammalian exposure to heavy metals. The problems associated with conducting open cast coal mining operations in an environmentally friendly and acceptable manner are important issues for some regions in Central and Eastern Europe. An indivisible part of industrial activity is subsequent rehabilitation of all areas of abandoned and closed mines. Such revitalisation of landscape (restoration of soil fertility, creation of basic green cover, reforestation and re-joining it with neighbouring biotops) requires both biological and chemical monitoring. Small mammals are often used as monitors of environmental contamination (Talmage and Walto, 1991). Study of the input of risk elements from the environment into the animal and human organisms requires as one of the most important factors the knowledge of natural levels (as background or so-called reference values) of the elements in organs of animals living in uncontaminated areas.

The flora of the Mediterranean basin includes ca. 20,000 species of vascular plants and can consequently be regarded as one of the richest on the globe. The highest diversity is in general found in the Northern portion and on mountains, and appears concentrated in the belt with an optimal combination of warm temperatures and high rainfall. The topographical distribution of species is not uniform: climax vegetation has generally a feebly diversified flora; endemics mostly occur in extreme habitats (coasts, mountains), whereas the richest flora grows in environments influenced by man. The hypothesis of man-vegetation interactions in the garrigue is discussed.

We define regional sustainability as the continuous support of human quality of life within a region's ecological carrying capacity. To achieve regional sustainability, one must first assess the current situation. That is, indicators of status and progress are required. The ecological footprint is an area-based indicator which quantifies the intensity of human resource use and waste discharge activity in relation to a region's ecological carrying capacity. If the ecological footprint of a human population is greater than the area which it occupies, the population must be doing at least one of the following: receiving resources from elsewhere, disposing of some of its waste outside of the area, or depleting the area's natural capital stocks. To achieve global sustainability, the sum of all regional footprints must not exceed the total area of the biosphere. This paper explains the mechanics of a footprint calculation method for nations and regions. As the method is standardized, the relative ecological load imposed by nations and regions can be compared. Further, a nation's or region's consumption can be contrasted with its local ecological production, providing an indicator of potential vulnerability and contribution to ecological decline.

Human activities cause changes in the equilibrium between natural and agricultural landscape owing to the unforeseeable and confused expansion of the urban environment. Ecological indicators well correlated with the natural value of the environment, such as carabid beetles, are useful to manage it. Carabid coenoses have been used in an ecological study of the Karst landscape, with the purpose of assessing the impact related to the building of the “Elettra” synchrotron research laboratories, and suggesting some environmental improvements in the surrounding areas, so as to counterbalance, on the whole, the loss of natural value caused by the buildings.

Research on carabids within the framework of nature conservation has only developed relatively recently in Belgium. Much of the fundamental work has now been done: distribution maps, habitat requirements of most species and an analysis of the causes for the reduction of the carabid fauna during recent decades. More recent developments were landscape ecological investigations and the use of carbid beetles as ecological indicators in site assessment studies. Research would be needed to: 1. evaluate the effects of management practices on carabid populations; 2. better understand the population dynamics and genetics of rare and threatened species; and 3. elaborate red lists for this group of animals.

Recently, carabid remains from excavations in Flanders, Belgium, have been used in palaeoecological reconstructions while other insect groups have been excluded. The reasons for this option are discussed. The potential value of cara-bids in archaeological research is illustrated by two examples. The first example, from a Roman well at Burst (East-Flanders, Belgium), shows that the carabid fauna can reveal changes in land use during the period the well was functional. The second example illustrates how the palaeoecological analysis of the carabid fauna from a well inside the cathedral of Antwerp (Belgium) helps to date the architectural history of the monument.

No one organism lives in simple isolation, interacting, according to selfish physiological requirements, with its physical and chemical — abiotic — environment. Such a straightforward relationship is shattered by the fact that the individual shares its environment with other organisms of the same or different species; the simple interplay of organism and environment becomes confounded by a whole host of biotic factors. In brief, each organism is part of a complete community of creatures, each interacting with each other as well as with their abiotic environment, and each affecting each other’s use of the resources that they share.