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Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology ›› 2001, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (4): 627-629.

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Assessment of ecosystem health - concept framework and indicator selection

YUAN Xingzhong1, LIU Hong1, LU Jianjian2   

  1. 1. Institute of Resources and Environmental Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062
  • Received:2000-01-26 Revised:2000-04-27 Online:2001-07-25 Published:2001-07-25

Abstract: Based on the concept framework of ecosystem health,this paper discussed the suitable indicators to synthetically assess the ecosystem health in governed landscape.Healthy ecosystem means not only ecological health itself,but also the long-term maintenance of healthy human population and the beneficial promotion of social and economic development.Resilience,biodiversity and productivity are the characteristics of healthy ecosystem.The first step in the structure of indicators to assess ecosystem health should be the determination of precise indicator principles.According to the purpose of assessment and the principles of selecting indicator,the indicator system for assessing ecosystem health can be divided into three categories,namely,biophysical indicators,ecological indicators,and social and economic indicators.

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