including climate change. Climate change-driven impacts overlap and interfere
with other environmental pressures of various origins, and their effects may be
observed as multifaceted changes in ecosystems. For the purpose of management
decisions, the extent of these changes shall be evaluated using ecological indicators
as measures providing insight into the state of the environment by quantifying
habitat conditions.
An ecological indicator is a numerical value derived from measurements of
selected ecosystem/habitat properties, used for detecting and describing environmental changes over space and time (Duelli and Obrist 2003; Maxim 2012; Bauler
2012; Heink and Kowarik 2010a; Dziock et al. 2006). Indicators are usually
designed to reflect the achievement of specific goals. Moldan et al. (2012) specify
two approaches of goal setting:
• Perspective oriented – established in the course of political debates; policy relevant
indicators can be used to assess the effectiveness of legal regulations adopted in
order to reach definite goals, such as to limit CO 2 emission to the atmosphere;
• Long and short term – adopted at regional or local level and defining the needs to
measure and monitor ecosystem conditions and trends including the impacts of
climate change; in the latter case, the environmental properties which are particularly sensitive to pressures of climate change would be of best indicatory value.
There are several systems of indicator typology (Maxim and Spangenberg
2006). The EEA classification of indicators distinguishes four simple groups
including descriptive, performance, efficiency and welfare indicators within the
system of the “DPSIR” or “drivers, pressures, state, impact, response” indicators
(EEA 2007). Drivers and pressures embrace indicators of anthropogenic pressures
on the environment, such as land pollution or relief changes while the state and
impact indicators measure the resulting environmental effects, including habitat
sensitivity to stresses. Climate change-relevant indicators for habitat monitoring
belong, according to EEA, to the subsets of descriptive impact and state indicators.
In contrast, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) proposes that drivers
can be both anthropogenic and natural factors that directly or indirectly cause a
change in an ecosystem, thus climate change indicators can be assigned to the
driver class also (Maxim and Spangenberg 2006).
In this chapter we focus on long and short term ecological indicators which can
be used for tracking and monitoring climate induced changes in habitat quality,
especially in wetland habitats. Consequently, they can be used for adaptation of
conservation planning. The assessment of habitat changes with the use of indicators
requires the values measured (metrics) to be validated (Bockstaller and Girardin
2003). Not many ecological indicators have so far been empirically tested to
determine if they meet the criteria by which they were purportedly chosen.
The validation of indicator reliability may be made using reference standards,
normative values and limit numbers as well as by referring to iterative measurements performed in selected habitat compartments. Under the HABIT-CHANGE
project, some indicators of habitat sensitivity to climate change were experimentally validated in wetlands (in the Biebrza National Park). An attempt was made to
determine which impact indicators are most sensitive and valid for monitoring
78
J. Sienkiewicz et al.
with other environmental pressures of various origins, and their effects may be
observed as multifaceted changes in ecosystems. For the purpose of management
decisions, the extent of these changes shall be evaluated using ecological indicators
as measures providing insight into the state of the environment by quantifying
habitat conditions.
An ecological indicator is a numerical value derived from measurements of
selected ecosystem/habitat properties, used for detecting and describing environmental changes over space and time (Duelli and Obrist 2003; Maxim 2012; Bauler
2012; Heink and Kowarik 2010a; Dziock et al. 2006). Indicators are usually
designed to reflect the achievement of specific goals. Moldan et al. (2012) specify
two approaches of goal setting:
• Perspective oriented – established in the course of political debates; policy relevant
indicators can be used to assess the effectiveness of legal regulations adopted in
order to reach definite goals, such as to limit CO 2 emission to the atmosphere;
• Long and short term – adopted at regional or local level and defining the needs to
measure and monitor ecosystem conditions and trends including the impacts of
climate change; in the latter case, the environmental properties which are particularly sensitive to pressures of climate change would be of best indicatory value.
There are several systems of indicator typology (Maxim and Spangenberg
2006). The EEA classification of indicators distinguishes four simple groups
including descriptive, performance, efficiency and welfare indicators within the
system of the “DPSIR” or “drivers, pressures, state, impact, response” indicators
(EEA 2007). Drivers and pressures embrace indicators of anthropogenic pressures
on the environment, such as land pollution or relief changes while the state and
impact indicators measure the resulting environmental effects, including habitat
sensitivity to stresses. Climate change-relevant indicators for habitat monitoring
belong, according to EEA, to the subsets of descriptive impact and state indicators.
In contrast, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) proposes that drivers
can be both anthropogenic and natural factors that directly or indirectly cause a
change in an ecosystem, thus climate change indicators can be assigned to the
driver class also (Maxim and Spangenberg 2006).
In this chapter we focus on long and short term ecological indicators which can
be used for tracking and monitoring climate induced changes in habitat quality,
especially in wetland habitats. Consequently, they can be used for adaptation of
conservation planning. The assessment of habitat changes with the use of indicators
requires the values measured (metrics) to be validated (Bockstaller and Girardin
2003). Not many ecological indicators have so far been empirically tested to
determine if they meet the criteria by which they were purportedly chosen.
The validation of indicator reliability may be made using reference standards,
normative values and limit numbers as well as by referring to iterative measurements performed in selected habitat compartments. Under the HABIT-CHANGE
project, some indicators of habitat sensitivity to climate change were experimentally validated in wetlands (in the Biebrza National Park). An attempt was made to
determine which impact indicators are most sensitive and valid for monitoring
78
J. Sienkiewicz et al.