Ecosystem Health

David Rapport, PhD, FLSProfessor, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph; Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.Robert Costanza, PhDProfessor, Department of Biological Science; Director, University of Maryland Institute for Ecological Economics, Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, Solomons, Maryland.Paul R. Epstein, MD, MPHAssociate Director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.Connie Gaudet, PhDEnvironment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Richard Levins, PhDJohn Rock Professor of Population Science, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.

• Need For A New ParadigmPressures on The EnvironmentEcosystem PathologyShortcomings of Present Approaches to Environmental ManagementLimitations of Economic ApproachesLimitations of The Ecological ApproachesLimitations of The Engineering ModelThe Need For Integrative KnowledgeDefining Ecosystem HealthEcosystem Health As A MetaphorWhat Is Implied By The Health Metaphor At The Ecosystem LevelWhat Is Not Implied By The Health Metaphor At The Ecosystem LevelEcosystem Health As A Societal GoalEcosystem Health As A Transdisciplinary ScienceCriteria For Ecosystem HealthVigorResilienceOrganizationMaintenance of Ecological ServicesManagement OptionsReduced SubsidyDamage to Neighbouring SystemsHuman Health EffectsDimensions of Ecosystem HealthIntroductionBiophysical DimensionSocioeconomic DimensionHuman Health DimensionSpatial/Temporal DimensionStress And ResponseSingle StressorsMultiple StressorsAnswering The CriticsInterfacing Societal Values And ScienceDistinguishing Between Health, Integrity And Sustainable DevelopmentEcosystem Health The Last Frontier of MedicineReferencesPart II: Approaches to Assessing The Health of Ecosystems; Assessment By Whom, For Who, to What Ends?; The Ecosocial Dynamics of Rural SystemsIntroductionPre-Modern Social SystemsThe Emergence of A Crisis of Rural LifeThe Dynamics of Rural PovertyThe Dual Economy: A Modern Alternative For Sustainable DevelopmentAssessing Ecosystem Health Across Spatial ScalesIntroductionDefining The Context: Ecosystem Health And Ecosocial ScaleSpatial Scalilng of Ecosocial ComplexesThe Range of Scales: The Taiga As An ExampleCriteria of Ecosystem HealthConcluding Remarks: An Emphatic "No!" to Shallow AnthropocentrismThe Efforts of Community Volunteers In Assessing Watershed Ecosystem HealthIntroductionEmpowering Community GroupsRiver Watch Network; Watershed Ecosystem HealthIndicators of Watershed Ecosystem HealthPhysical IndicatorsChemical IndicatorsBiological IndicatorsHuman Health IndicatorsHuman Use And Perception IndicatorsSelecting IndicatorsVolunteer Water MonitoringCase StudiesSouthwest: Isleta Pueblow And The Rio GrandeThe US Mexico Border: The Rio Bravo River WatchersNew England: The Connecticut River Watch ProgramNew England: The Mystic River WatchThe Merrimack River Volunteer Environmental Monitoring NetworkCase ConclusionsConclusionsReferencesAssessing Cumulative Health Effects In EcosystemsCumulative Effects: Background And DefinitionUnderstanding Casualty And Feedback In Assessing Cumulative EffectsDiagnostic Approaches; Loop Analysis MethodologyCore Loop Models From Data SetsCore Models of Marine CommunitiesCumulative Effects Assessment For The Northumberland StraitFish LandingsLoop Analysis Models of Key RelationshipsCombined Fisheries Foodwebs Illustrating Benthic-Pelagic CouplingSummary of ResultsIntegrating Health Surveillance And Environmental MonitoringEmerging Infectious Disease And Global ChangeIntroductionClimate Change And DiseaseMontane RegionsMarine EcosystemsGlobal Change, Biodiversity And Marine-Related DiseaseClimate Variability And EpidemicsMinimum TemperaturesBiodiversity And Emerging Infectious DiseasesEvolutionary Biology: The Environment And Disease Emergence; Ecology, Pests And Terrestrial EcosystemsR-Selected And K-Selected SpeciesCumulative Ecological Impacts of Global ChangeSynergies And PestsOcean WarmingDecadal VariabilityDiscontinuitiesCosts of EpidemicsIntegrated Assessment And MonitoringIntegrated Ecological Risk AssessmentBiological Indicators For Integrated MonitoringNew Methodologies For Surveillance And Integrated MonitoringAn Historical Note on Infectious Disease PandemicsConclusionsQualitative Mathematics For Understanding, Prediction And Intervention In Complex SystemsSome Methods of Qualitative AnalysisThe Indicators of Qualitative DynamicsLocal StabilitySigned DigraphsResistanceOsillationsCorrelation PatternsTime AveragingValidation of Indicators.InroductionBenchmark SitesField MeasurementsComputing Indicator MetricsPaleoecology: A Diagnostic Approach to Assessing Ecosysem HealthIntroductionPaleolimnologyPaleolimnological ApproachInterpreting Information In Sediment CoresQuantitative InferenceReferencesEcological Risk Assessment, A Predictive Approach to Assessing Ecosystem HealthIntroductionStages In Ecological Risk AssessmentUncertainty In Risk AssessmentsUncertainty And ScaleEcosystem Health And Self-InterestConclusionsReferencesPart III: Ecosystem Health And Sustainability; What Is Sustainability?IntroductionDefining And Predicting SustainabilityWhen?What System?How Long?ConclusionsPredictors of Ecosystem HealthMeasuring VigorMeasuring OrganizationMeasuring ResilienceSocial Decision MakingUsing Models to Build ConsensusA Three-Step Modeling ProcessScoping And Consensus-Building ModelsResearch ModelsManagement Modelstoward Global Ecosystem Health And Sustainability: The Importance of EnvisioningPart IV: Case Studies; The Chesapeake Bay And Its Watershed: A Model For Sustainable Ecosystem Management?IntroductionA Summary of The ProblemThe Chesapeake Bay And Its WatershedHistory of The Bay And Its Watershed; Principal Uses And Problems of The Chesapeake BayThe Bay And Its Watershed As A SystemSummaryEvolution of Chesapeake Bay ManagementBarriers And Bridges to Improved ManagementSocial TrapsBuilding Bridges With IncentivesSummary And SynthesisReferencesPaleolimnological Assessments of Ecosystem Health: Lake Acidification In Adirondack ParkIntroductionThe Acidification of Deep Lake Regional Changes In Lake AcidificationRegional Changes In Lake AcidificationReferencesThe Desert GrasslandsCharacteristics of The EcosystemHistory of DegradationRangeland RehavilitationReferencesHealth of Some Cuban Forest EcosystemsIntroductionCurrent Condition And Pressures on Cuban EcosystemsSocio-Historical StressesNatural And Anthropogenic Perturbations Affecting Existing Cumban EcosystemsMeteorological PerturbationsEcosystem Research And MonitoringThe Sierra Del Rosario Biosphere ReserveMethodologyResultsConclusionsThe Island Group Sabana-Camaguey MangrovesDescription And ObservationsConclusionsSummaryCritical Regions, A Profile of The HondurasIntroductionDeforestation And Natural DisastersIncreases In Infectious DiseaseWater-Borne InfectionsVector-Borne DiseaseLeishmaniasisLa Mosca BlancaClinical ImpactsConclusionsWho Framed The Kyronjoki?The FactsThe SuspectsThe OptionsThe Decision ProblemsThe FutureReferences