Connecting Ecological Monitoring and Ecological Indicators: A Review of the Literature

Ecological monitoring is receiving renewed interest, is being performed with increased scientific rigor, and offers plentiful research opportunities. In the 1990s several countries are embarking on ambitious national ecological monitoring programs as monitoring is becoming more important for assess­ ing ecological status and for underpinning environmental policy decisions and funding priorities. Several important facets of monitoring are reviewed in this article including: 1) the philosophy and objectives upon which monitoring programs are based, 2) the use of ecological indicators for assess­ ing the status of the environment and, 3) criteria upon which to base the choice of indicators. The most important issues in monitoring lie not in post-monitoring data analyses but rather in all phases of the design of the monitoring regime.