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Our
primary objectives include:
·
Enhance the archive of existing data for these systems with
remotely sensed and time-series information on key variables
·
Exploit detailed knowledge of ecosystem structure and function
to synthesize this archive and develop candidate indicators
·
Test the ability of these indicators to gauge ecosystem health
and unambiguously detect trends resulting from both natural
variability and anthropogenic stresses in multiple estuaries.
Our
research plan includes the development of:
·
Indicators of microalgal and macrophyte functional groups
controlling much of estuarine and coastal primary production
·
Indicators capable of determining plankton and fish community
structure (organization) and function, specifically indices
that relate to trophic transfer and sustainable higher trophic
levels
·
Coupling these biological indicators to physical-chemical
and remote sensing assessments of ecosystem function, trophic
state and change
·
Developing and applying indicators and assessments within
a national coastal indicator framework (EPA-EaGLe Program
These
indicators form the backbone of ecosystem, regional and national
water quality, habitat assessment and living resources monitoring
and modeling efforts (Table 1).
These indicators will serve to calibrate and ground truth
aircraft and satellite remote sensing of estuarine and coastal
resources, including plant community structure, function,
and ecological health. These phytoplankton, marsh and seagrass
proxies will be linked with metrics of trophic structure to
provide indicators of living resources status.
The present
lack of established, regional and national bio-indicators,
despite extensive monitoring at thousands of sites nationwide
and specific community efforts to develop bio-indicators,
is testimony to the magnitude and complexity of the task ahead.
We feel that prior efforts toward this ambitious goal have
shown that the most promising avenue to success must link
theoretical constructs and empirical relationships.
We operate
on the premise that, “An indicator is a sign or signal
that relays a complex message potentially from numerous sources,
in a simplified and useful manner. An ecological indicator
is... a measure, an index of measures, or a model that characterizes
one or several critical components of ecosystem structure
and function... With a foundation of diagnostic research,
an ecological indicator may also be used to identify major
ecosystem stress (Jackson et al., 1999).” As it is likely
that different types of coastal systems differ in their response
to anthropogenic or naturally-induced stresses, we require
a framework for assessing status and predicting responses
for each of the major system types. The challenge is to produce
concise and accurate representations of ecosystem function
and “health” based on key variables, to detect trends
in this “health”, and to use these indicators to
predict the effects of human actions vs. natural variability
across a variety of systems, both regionally and nationally.
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