Monitoring Ecological Change

An introduction to ecological monitoring, providing both a rationale for monitoring and a practical guide to the techniques available.

Ian F. Spellerberg (Author)

9780521820288, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 August 2005

410 pages, 77 b/w illus. 48 tables
25.3 x 18 x 3.4 cm, 0.98 kg

'I recommend this book as introductory teaching tool mainly for the undergraduate and graduate students and also for research fellows and practitioners as it offers a profound insight into the science and practice of ecological monitoring, considering different levels of biodiversity and including examples from a wide range of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.' Phytocoenologia

The state of ecosystems, biological communities and species are continuously changing as a result of both natural processes and the activities of humans. In order to detect and understand these changes, effective ecological monitoring programmes are required. This book offers an introduction to the topic and provides both a rationale for monitoring and a practical guide to the techniques available. Written in a nontechnical style, the book covers the relevance and growth of ecological monitoring, the organizations and programmes involved, the science of ecological monitoring and an assessment of methods in practice, including many examples from monitoring programmes around the world. Building on the success of the first edition, this edition has been fully revised and updated with two additional chapters covering the relevance of monitoring to the reporting of the state of the environment, and the growth of community based ecological monitoring.

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
1. Ecological monitoring
2. Environmental monitoring programmes and organizations
3. State of the environment reporting and ecological monitoring
4. Biological scales and spatial scales in ecological monitoring
5. Biological indicators and indices
6. Diversity and similarity indices
7. Planning and designing ecological monitoring
8. Community-based ecological monitoring
9. Ecological monitoring of species and biological communities
10. Ecological monitoring and environmental impact assessments
Appendix 1. Acronyms used in the text
Appendix 2. The 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Environmental science, engineering & technology [TQ], Environmental management [RNF], Biodiversity [RNCB], Ecological science, the Biosphere [PSAF]