Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea.
Assessments of the environmental status of marine ecosystems are increasingly needed to inform management decisions and regulate human pressures to meet the objectives of environmental policies. This paper addresses some generic methodological challenges and related uncertainties involved in marine...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2011-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3084783?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1818298716096823296 |
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| author | Henn Ojaveer Margit Eero |
| author_facet | Henn Ojaveer Margit Eero |
| author_sort | Henn Ojaveer |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Assessments of the environmental status of marine ecosystems are increasingly needed to inform management decisions and regulate human pressures to meet the objectives of environmental policies. This paper addresses some generic methodological challenges and related uncertainties involved in marine ecosystem assessment, using the central Baltic Sea as a case study. The objectives of good environmental status of the Baltic Sea are largely focusing on biodiversity, eutrophication and hazardous substances. In this paper, we conduct comparative evaluations of the status of these three segments, by applying different methodological approaches. Our analyses indicate that the assessment results are sensitive to a selection of indicators for ecological quality objectives that are affected by a broad spectrum of human activities and natural processes (biodiversity), less so for objectives that are influenced by a relatively narrow array of drivers (eutrophications, hazardous substances). The choice of indicator aggregation rule appeared to be of essential importance for assessment results for all three segments, whereas the hierarchical structure of indicators had only a minor influence. Trend-based assessment was shown to be a useful supplement to reference-based evaluation, being independent of the problems related to defining reference values and indicator aggregation methodologies. Results of this study will help in setting priorities for future efforts to improve environmental assessments in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere, and to ensure the transparency of the assessment procedure. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T04:39:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b68e79faae9a4973ab6850a5c2b36109 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T04:39:45Z |
| publishDate | 2011-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-b68e79faae9a4973ab6850a5c2b361092022-12-21T23:59:21ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-01-0164e1923110.1371/journal.pone.0019231Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea.Henn OjaveerMargit EeroAssessments of the environmental status of marine ecosystems are increasingly needed to inform management decisions and regulate human pressures to meet the objectives of environmental policies. This paper addresses some generic methodological challenges and related uncertainties involved in marine ecosystem assessment, using the central Baltic Sea as a case study. The objectives of good environmental status of the Baltic Sea are largely focusing on biodiversity, eutrophication and hazardous substances. In this paper, we conduct comparative evaluations of the status of these three segments, by applying different methodological approaches. Our analyses indicate that the assessment results are sensitive to a selection of indicators for ecological quality objectives that are affected by a broad spectrum of human activities and natural processes (biodiversity), less so for objectives that are influenced by a relatively narrow array of drivers (eutrophications, hazardous substances). The choice of indicator aggregation rule appeared to be of essential importance for assessment results for all three segments, whereas the hierarchical structure of indicators had only a minor influence. Trend-based assessment was shown to be a useful supplement to reference-based evaluation, being independent of the problems related to defining reference values and indicator aggregation methodologies. Results of this study will help in setting priorities for future efforts to improve environmental assessments in the Baltic Sea and elsewhere, and to ensure the transparency of the assessment procedure.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3084783?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Henn Ojaveer Margit Eero Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea. PLoS ONE |
| title | Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea. |
| title_full | Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea. |
| title_fullStr | Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea. |
| title_short | Methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem: case study of the Baltic Sea. |
| title_sort | methodological challenges in assessing the environmental status of a marine ecosystem case study of the baltic sea |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3084783?pdf=render |
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