'%Healthy Reefs for Healthy People - A Guide to Indicators of Reef Health and Social Well-being in the Mesoamerican Reef Region%'%by Melanie McField and Patricia Kramer%

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S E L E C T I N G I N D I C AT O R S

Tracking changes in the Mesoamerican Reef

Wolcott Henry

ecosystem over time requires a set of key indicators

that can be reliably measured and compared.

Indicators are the "meter sticks" of the Healthy Reefs

conceptual framework. They serve as signals to assess

statusandtrendsinecosystemhealthandmanagement

effectiveness25,26,27. The aim of this guide is to provide

a set of indicators to help field researchers (in biology,

social sciences, economics, etc.) and managers

interpret monitoring data and answer specific

management questions, particularly those that aim for

the big picture of eco-health on the ecoregional scale.

Most indicators of coral reef health currently used in

the Mesoamerican Reef region are measurements of

available that focus on ecological processes (e.g.,

either biological structure (e.g., coral cover, species

recruitment, herbivory); diagnosing specific causal

diversity, fish abundance) or environmental conditions

linkages (e.g., biomarkers of specific stressors); or

(e.g., temperature, nutrients). There are fewer studies

linking to ecosystem services and human well-being.

The 58 key indicators presented (Figure 5.a)

WHAT CAN INDICATORS DO?

were evaluated based on several criteria

and input

from the following sources:

· Describe changes in reef integrity or availability of

· A comprehensive review of relevant scientific and

ecosystem services.

gray literature from local, regional, and global

· Differentiate, when possible, natural

variation

publications.

disturbance from human impacts.

· Recommendations by international ecological

· Act as early warning signals and diagnostic tools.

experts at the Healthy Reefs Consultation

· Help managers evaluate the effectiveness of management

Workshop held in June 2004 in Miami, Florida (see

actions.

Acknowledgements).

· Help develop and set priorities for monitoring and

· Consultancies led and funded by the World Bank

research.

(Dr. Marea Hatziolos) for the identification and

development of key social indicators. Expert

· Help raise public awareness and engage communities in

decision-making.

contributors in these consultancies include: John

Dixon, Stefano Belfiore, David Rapport, Luisa

Maffi, John Howard, and Ola Ullsten. The resulting

report28, Measuring Coral Reef Ecosystem Health:

WHAT

WHAT WILL INDICATORS NOT DO

Integrating Societal Dimensions, constitutes

an important contribution to this guide.

· Due to the confounding effects of multiple causes, even the

· Recommendations by regional and local ecological

most reliable indicators can not always tell us why certain

health attributes and indicators are declining. Nature

and social experts at the Tulum +8 Meeting

remains full of surprises.

held in September 2005 in Cancun, Mexico.

See www.healthyreefs.org for more information.

· Our understanding of the forces controlling reef dynamics is

incomplete. These forces naturally vary in time and space.

· Discussions with many colleagues in local and

The `reference values' presented here are a first iteration

international agencies (see Acknowledgements).

based on region-wide averages and will need to be refined

as our knowledge and data increase.