Title: Ecosystem health /
Authors: Rapport, David.
Publisher: Blackwell Science,
Year: 1998
Subjects: Environment; Ecosystem; Ecological assessment (Biology); Environmental health; Ecosystem management.
Abstract: "The vast, integrative field of ecosystem health explores the interrelations between human activity, social organization, natural systems, and human health. Ecosystem Health provides concepts, methods, and applications of principles in this fluid field. Numerous case studies exemplify how assessment of ecosystem health can be carried out, and how environmental problems at all levels, from local to global, may suggest the presence of a global distress syndrome. The focus of this book is on opportunities for the future." "Advanced undergraduate and graduate students as well as environmental practitioners will find Ecosystem Health a helpful resource in understanding the important relationship between humans and the rest of nature and our dealings with the environment on all scales."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: Pt. I. Ecosystem Health: An Integrative Science. 1. Need for a New Paradigm / David Rapport. 2. Defining Ecosystem Health / David Rapport. 3. Dimensions of Ecosystem Health / David Rapport. 4. Answering the Critics / David Rapport -- Pt. II. Approaches to Assessing the Health of Ecosystems. 5. Environmental Assessment: By Whom, for Whom, and to What Ends? / Richard Levins. 6. The Ecosocial Dynamics of Rural Systems / David Barkin and Richard Levins. 7. Assessing Ecosystem Health Across Spatial Scales / Yrjo Haila. 8. The Efforts of Community Volunteers in Assessing Watershed Ecosystem Health / Cynthia Lopez and Geoff Dates. 9. Assessing Cumulative Health Effects in Ecosystems / Patricia A. Lane. 10. Integrating Health Surveillance and Environmental Monitoring / Paul R. Epstein. 11. Qualitative Mathematics for Understanding, Prediction, and Intervention in Complex Ecosystems / Richard Levins. 12. Validation of Indicators / Walter G. Whitford. 13. Paleoecology: A Diagnostic Approach to Assessing Ecosystem Health / John P. Smol. 14. Ecological Risk Assessment: A Predictive Approach to Assessing Ecosystem Health / John Cairns, Jr. -- Pt. III. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability. 15. What Is Sustainability? / Robert Costanza, Michael Mageau and Bryan Norton [et al.]. 16. Predictors of Ecosystem Health / Robert Costanza, Michael Mageau and Bryan Norton [et al.]. 17. Social Decision Making / Robert Costanza, Michael Mageau and Bryan Norton [et al.] -- Pt. IV. Case Studies. 18. The Chesapeake Bay and Its Watershed: A Model for Sustainable Ecosystem Management? / Robert Costanza and Jack Greer. 19. Paleolimnological Assessments of Ecosystem Health: Lake Acidification in Adirondack Park / John P. Smol and Brian F. Cumming. 20. The Desert Grasslands / Walter G. Whitford. 21. The Health of Some Forest Ecosystems of Cuba / Leda Menendez, Deysi Vilamajo and Rene Capote.