Using ecological indicators to assess environmental status: new research shows marine ecosystems need to be gauged as whole, individual systems.

Ways to manage natural resources have been under development for decades, driven by an increasing need to understand the effect of man-made impacts on ecosystems. Often, it has been assumed that management could be based on the population dynamics of an individual species but new research shows how in the marine environment whole ecosystems need to be assessed individually rather than benchmarked against all other ecosystems. The new study published yesterday in PLOS ONE found that ecosystem traits—such as type (for example lagoon, estuary or bay), size, depth and location—need to be taken in to account when assessing an ecosystem’s environmental status or health. To read more click here