9
Integration of Physical, Biological,
and Socioeconomic Information
D. Scott Slocombe
9.1 Introduction
Ecological assessment is a process tool that supports a wide range of environmental management
activities, from ecosystem-based management to
impact assessment to ecological restoration. All
these activities rely on an adequate information
base for analysis, planning, and decision making;
remember the old regional planners' rule "survey ~
analysis ~ plan." Environmental management activities are often linked in practice, but still may
have different goals. Goals range from relatively
specific and ecological, as in restoration, to broad
and multifaceted, as in ecosystem-based management (cf. Slocombe, 1998). Different goals imply,
to some degree, different kinds of needed information. But, even so, most environmental management activities draw on a very wide range of information from the biological, physical, and human
(particularly mean social and economic) domains.
Integration of varied information is needed
within ecological assessment for a range of reasons,
some common and others depending on the contextual activity and its goals. It is a truism of environmental science and management that decisions based on partial knowledge usually create
unexpected effects: integration of different kinds of
knowledge can help to avoid this. Equally, in different ways, integration can support assessment,
planning, and decision-making activities by helping to identify unexpected relationships within the
ecosystem, fostering identification of a full range
of possibilities, and providing full identification of
the consequences in a range of realms of particular decisions (Table 9.1). This chapter focuses on
the integration of basic information about the human, biological, and physical dimensions (or domains) of ecosystems at all scales to support the
goals of assessment, planning, and management decision making. Emphasis is placed on assessment
and integration of information as the basis of planning and management.
The precise meaning of integration is not a trivial question. In part, it is a technical or administrative task: putting information in common formats and within an integrated environmental
information system so that information about different things can be overlaid and compared. Here
such issues are discussed as steps on the way to a
deeper meaning (see especially, Chapters 8, 11, and
12). The deeper meaning of information integration
presents a conceptual challenge: finding ways to
meaningfully link information about different dimensions of an ecosystem to provide new, fuller
understanding of it, especially the connections and
relationships between its biological, physical, and
human dimensions (an entire sociobiophysical system: Grzybowski and Slocombe, 1988). A good
place to start is Born and Sonzogni's (1995) characterization of integrated environmental management: comprehensive, interconnective, strategic,
and interactive-coordinative.
Integrating information involves a threefold
challenge: (1) integrating information about different kinds of things (e.g., geomorphology and human attitudes to development); (2) integrating information from different sources (e.g., scientists
and citizens); and (3) integrating information that
is in very different forms (e.g., quantitative data
and qualitative survey results).
The quest for integration is not a new one. Many
broadly environmental initiatives over the last hundred years have sought to integrate different aspects
of the world around us, the views of different
groups, and different kinds of information. These
included early regional and watershed planning ef119
Integration of Physical, Biological,
and Socioeconomic Information
D. Scott Slocombe
9.1 Introduction
Ecological assessment is a process tool that supports a wide range of environmental management
activities, from ecosystem-based management to
impact assessment to ecological restoration. All
these activities rely on an adequate information
base for analysis, planning, and decision making;
remember the old regional planners' rule "survey ~
analysis ~ plan." Environmental management activities are often linked in practice, but still may
have different goals. Goals range from relatively
specific and ecological, as in restoration, to broad
and multifaceted, as in ecosystem-based management (cf. Slocombe, 1998). Different goals imply,
to some degree, different kinds of needed information. But, even so, most environmental management activities draw on a very wide range of information from the biological, physical, and human
(particularly mean social and economic) domains.
Integration of varied information is needed
within ecological assessment for a range of reasons,
some common and others depending on the contextual activity and its goals. It is a truism of environmental science and management that decisions based on partial knowledge usually create
unexpected effects: integration of different kinds of
knowledge can help to avoid this. Equally, in different ways, integration can support assessment,
planning, and decision-making activities by helping to identify unexpected relationships within the
ecosystem, fostering identification of a full range
of possibilities, and providing full identification of
the consequences in a range of realms of particular decisions (Table 9.1). This chapter focuses on
the integration of basic information about the human, biological, and physical dimensions (or domains) of ecosystems at all scales to support the
goals of assessment, planning, and management decision making. Emphasis is placed on assessment
and integration of information as the basis of planning and management.
The precise meaning of integration is not a trivial question. In part, it is a technical or administrative task: putting information in common formats and within an integrated environmental
information system so that information about different things can be overlaid and compared. Here
such issues are discussed as steps on the way to a
deeper meaning (see especially, Chapters 8, 11, and
12). The deeper meaning of information integration
presents a conceptual challenge: finding ways to
meaningfully link information about different dimensions of an ecosystem to provide new, fuller
understanding of it, especially the connections and
relationships between its biological, physical, and
human dimensions (an entire sociobiophysical system: Grzybowski and Slocombe, 1988). A good
place to start is Born and Sonzogni's (1995) characterization of integrated environmental management: comprehensive, interconnective, strategic,
and interactive-coordinative.
Integrating information involves a threefold
challenge: (1) integrating information about different kinds of things (e.g., geomorphology and human attitudes to development); (2) integrating information from different sources (e.g., scientists
and citizens); and (3) integrating information that
is in very different forms (e.g., quantitative data
and qualitative survey results).
The quest for integration is not a new one. Many
broadly environmental initiatives over the last hundred years have sought to integrate different aspects
of the world around us, the views of different
groups, and different kinds of information. These
included early regional and watershed planning ef119