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Studying coral health in St. Thomas. Ecosystem health is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem. [1] [2] Ecosystem condition can vary as a result of fire, flooding, drought, extinctions, invasive species, climate change, mining, fishing, farming or logging, chemical spills, and a host of other reasons.
An ecosystem has a good health if it is capable of self-restoration after suffering external disturbances. This is termed resilience. Measures of broad ecological health, like measures of the more specific principle of biodiversity, tend to be specific to an ecoregion or even to an ecosystem.
The presence or absence of certain plant or other vegetative life in an ecosystem can provide important clues about the health of the environment: environmental preservation. There are several types of plant biomonitors, including mosses, lichens, tree bark, bark pockets, tree rings, and leaves.
Environmental indicators can be measured and reported at different scales. For example, a town may track air quality along with water quality and count the number of rare species of birds to estimate the health of the environment in their area. Indicators are developed for specific ecosystems, such as the Great-Lakes in North America. [4]
Using ecological indicators is a pragmatic approach since direct documentation of changes in ecosystems as related to management measures, is cost and time intensive. For example, it would be expensive and time-consuming to count every bird, plant and animal in a newly restored wetland to see if the restoration was a success.
Such assessments, in conjunction with contamination and human health risk assessments, help to evaluate the environmental hazards posed by contaminated sites and to determine remediation requirements. [1] In ecological assessment many abiotic and biotic indicators, reflecting the pluralistic components of ecosystems, are used.
The debris and pollution from the recent L.A. fires will eventually make their way to the ocean — and scientists will be gauging the impact.
Alpha diversity refers to diversity within a particular area, community or ecosystem, and is measured by counting the number of taxa within the ecosystem (usually species) [14] Beta diversity is species diversity between ecosystems; this involves comparing the number of taxa that are unique to each of the ecosystems.