PARENT SESSION
Organized Oral Session 46: Ecological indicators at multiple scales
Organizer(s): F Müller and E Hyatt
Thursday, August 11, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM, Meeting Room 516 C, Level 5, Palais des congrès de Montréal

Indicating ecological integrity from the ecosystem to the landscape scale.

Mueller, Felix^*,1, ¹ Ecology Centre, University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany

ABSTRACT- Ecological Integrity is understood as an environmental target for the preservation against non-specific ecological risks. The objective of this concept is to support those processes and structures that are essential prerequisites of the ecological ability for self-organization. To indicate ecological integrity, three basic approaches have been integrated, (i) ecosystem theory and self-organization principles, (ii) ecosystem analysis and ecological modelling, and (iii) the normative background of ecological integrity and ecosystem health. These items were used to derive a functional indicator set, which describes ecosystem states on a holistic level. The resulting indicators will be presented in the paper, and applications will be shown, referring to ecosystem comparisons, ecosystem dynamics, landscape and watershed analysis and to the management of human-environmental systems, exemplified for reindeer herding strategies in Northern Europe. In the end, the role of scales will be discussed and some hypotheses concerning indicators and hierarchy theory will be derived.

Key words: Indicators, Integrity, Ecosystems, Landscapes