Abstract
In order to assess overall ecosystem condition, it is necessary to choose indicators of environmental stress that incorporate two basic, and potentially contradictory, properties. Ecological indicators should be sensitive to the variety of anthropogenic stresses that could occur. At the same time, such indicators must be reasonably predictable in unperturbed ecosystems: some natural benchmark is necessary against which to assess a deviation due to stress. If sensitive parameters of ecosystem condition also exhibit greater levels of unpredictable variability, the choice of ecological indicators will involve a compromise between two conflicting factors.
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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Frost, T.M., Carpenter, S.R., Kratz, T.K. (1992). Choosing Ecological Indicators: Effects of Taxonomic Aggregation on Sensitivity to Stress and Natural Variability. In: McKenzie, D.H., Hyatt, D.E., McDonald, V.J. (eds) Ecological Indicators. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4659-7_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4659-7_15
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