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Editorial: Bridging the gap between policy and science in assessing the health status of marine ecosystems

Elliott, Mike; Austen, Melanie; Berg, Torsten; Borja, Angel; Carstensen, Jacob; Cochrane, Sabine; Danovaro, Roberto; Greenstreet, Simon; Heiskanen, Anna-Stiina; Lynam, Christop; Snelgrove, Paul

Authors

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Professor Mike Elliott Mike.Elliott@hull.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor of Estuarine and Coastal Sciences/ Research Professor, Institute of Estuarine and Coastal Studies

Melanie Austen

Torsten Berg

Angel Borja

Jacob Carstensen

Sabine Cochrane

Roberto Danovaro

Simon Greenstreet

Anna-Stiina Heiskanen

Christop Lynam

Paul Snelgrove



Contributors

Angel Borja
Editor

María C. Uyarra
Editor

Jacob Carstensen
Editor

Marianna Mea
Editor

Abstract

Human activities,both established and emerging, increasingly affect the provision of marine ecosystem services that deliver societal and economic benefits. Monitoring the status of marine ecosystems and determining how human activities change their capacity to sustain benefits for society requires an evidence-based Integrated Ecosystem Assessment approach that incorporates knowledge of ecosystem functioning and services).Although,there are diverse methods to assess the status of individual ecosystem components, none assesses the health of marine ecosystems holistically, integrating information from multiple ecosystem components. Similarly,while acknowledging the availability of several methods to measure single pressures and assess their impacts, evaluation of cumulative effects of multiple pressures remains scarce.Therefore,an integrative assessment requires us to first understand the response of marine ecosystems to human activities and their pressures and then develop innovative, cost-effective monitoring tools that enable collection of data to assess the health status of large marine areas. Conceptually, combining this knowledge of effective monitoring methods with cost-benefit analyses will help identify appropriate management measures to improve environmental status economically and efficiently. The European project DEVOTES (DEVelopment Of innovative Tools for understanding marine biodiversity and assessing good Environmental Status) specifically addressed these topics in order to support policymakers and managers in implementing the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Here, we synthesize our main innovative findings, placing these within the context of recent wider research, and identifying gaps and the major future challenges.

Citation

Elliott, M., Austen, M., Berg, T., Borja, A., Carstensen, J., Cochrane, S., …Snelgrove, P. (in press). Editorial: Bridging the gap between policy and science in assessing the health status of marine ecosystems. In A. Borja, M. Elliott, M. C. Uyarra, J. Carstensen, & M. Mea (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88945-004-6

Acceptance Date Aug 31, 2016
Deposit Date Oct 18, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Bridging the gap between policy and science in assessing the health status of marine ecosystems
Electronic ISSN 2296-7745
Peer Reviewed Not Peer Reviewed
ISBN 9782889450046
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/978-2-88945-004-6
Keywords Environmental status, Marine health, Status assessment, Management, Ecosystem approach, Socioecology
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/444240

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Copyright Statement
© 2016 Borja, Elliott, Snelgrove, Austen, Berg, Cochrane, Carstensen, Danovaro, Greenstreet, Heiskanen, Lynam, Mea, Newton, Patrício, Uusitalo, Uyarra and Wilson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.





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