Ecosystem health

Not to be confused with Ecological health or Environmental health.
Studying coral health in St. Thomas.
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. There is no universally accepted benchmark for a healthy ecosystem,[3] rather the apparent health status of an ecosystem can vary depending upon which health metrics are employed in judging it[4] and which societal aspirations are driving the assessment. Advocates of the health metaphor argue for its simplicity as a communication tool. "Policy-makers and the public need simple, understandable concepts like health."[5] Some critics [6] worry that ecosystem health, a "value-laden construct", can be "passed off as science to unsuspecting policy makers and the public."[7] However, this term is often used in portraying the state of ecosystems worldwide and in conservation and management. For example, scientific journals and the UN often use the terms planetary and ecosystem health, such as the recent journal The Lancet Planetary Health.

  1. ^ Rapport, David (1998). "Defining ecosystem health." Pages 18-33 in Rapport, D.J. (ed.) (1998). Ecosystem Health. Blackwell Scientific.
  2. ^ Lackey, Robert T. (2001). "Values, Policy, and Ecosystem Health". BioScience. 51 (6): 437–443. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0437:VPAEH]2.0.CO;2.
  3. ^ Rapport, David J. (1992). "Evaluating ecosystem health." Journal of aquatic ecosystem health 1:15-24
  4. ^ Palmer, Margaret A. and Catherine M. Febria (2012). "The heartbeat of ecosystems." Science 336:1393-1394.
  5. ^ Meyer, Judy L. (1997). "Stream health: incorporating the human dimension to advance stream ecology." Journal of the North American Benthological Society 16:439^447
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference lancaster2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Lackey, Robert T. (2007). "Science, scientists, and policy advocacy." Conservation Biology. 21(1): 12-17.