This may rely on an understanding of what is good, hence including societal views as well as ecological views (see Mee et al., 2008). Furthermore, Odum (1985) described stress in the system as a set of EIGHTEEN adverse characteristics and so a healthy system by definition should be the converse of those characteristics (see Elliott and Quintino, 2007). The management of an ecosystem and an understanding of the way in which it changes under human influences requires a large amount of data, information and knowledge about the structure and functioning of the system; this can

be described as NINE stages which then allows management decisions to be made (Box 4; McLusky and Elliott, 2004). Such a framework, which is sufficiently generic to cover all human

activities, will encourage managers to obtain selleck chemicals llc the appropriate information for management. By accumulating information in progressing from Stage 1 to Stage 9, conservation and environmental protection bodies can then determine the effects of human activities on the marine system. Each of the ‘decisions’ relates to the way in which the ecosystem functions and Icotinib mouse the behaviour of materials or activities placed in the environment. For example, the placing of dredged material into the sea after dredging will have an effect which depends on the nature of the receiving environment (i.e. whether Amisulpride it has water currents above a threshold speed), and on the nature of the material being dumped (e.g. whether it is sand or mud). However, The Ecosystem Approach is necessary to ensure that all aspects are taken into account and thus that the overall health of systems and the ecosystem services that they deliver are recognised and protected. To detect change then requires monitoring the system – when to assess and what to assess – although we have further complicated this to result in TEN types of monitoring: • Surveillance monitoring – a ‘look-see’ approach which begins without deciding what are the end-points followed by a post hoc detection (a posteriori) of trends and suggested management action. As emphasised here, the aim of

marine management is to protect the whole system although, again as shown here, this is complex achievement. Given this complexity, we often deconstruct the ecosystem into a set of component parts, assess each of them in relation to any stressors and then aim to recombine our assessments to give the management of the whole system – this is what we previously called a ‘deconstructing structural approach’ as used for the European Water Framework Directive (Borja et al., 2010b). The WFD, adopted in 2000, concentrated on assessing deviation from Good Ecological Status by FIVE Biological Quality Elements (phytoplankton, macroalgae, macrophytes, benthic fauna and fishes) plus the chemical and physical characteristics.