Practical methods are needed to effectively generate and communicate data/information which may constructively influence attaining and sustaining health in ecosystems subjected to increasing human pressure. First adopted in the 1970's but sparingly used since, ecological characterization is an approach to synthesizing environmental and ecological information that may be further enhanced to help meet these evolving needs. Such information syntheses can be adapted to support necessary planning and management activities and have already been conducted as intensive explanations/descriptions of ecosystems and other functional units.
A science panel convened to review thought and practice in this area has recommended that greater emphasis be given to societal, human, and behavioral aspects of ecological characterization (or "socio-ecological characterization"), both as objects of analysis and as active elements in a larger valuation and decision-making processes. An implicit consequence is that characterization will need to accommodate and articulate the complex influences of ecological processes, management objectives, human impacts, and societal values. Doing so will require integrating requisite data, information, and models within a comprehensive yet simple framework that can inform and enable evaluating options for ecosystem management.
Improved predictive capability is needed to better anticipate and direct change in both managed and unmanaged ecosystems. Land use, land transformation, and land transition modeling are key predictive elements for assessing (particularly) managed landscapes and for scenario writing methods which, when sufficiently refined, will significantly enhance the capability and robustness of modern ecological characterization.
NOAA's National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) and the University of Colorado-CIRES through their joint Ecosystems activities are actively engaged in the development of ecological characterization as both practice and product contributing to more effective ecosystem management. Current focus is on coastal ecosystems health and coastal management for which land use modeling and its variants can become a key component. Extending land use modeling with its terrestrial emphasis through more inclusive ecosystem models to create linkages with aquatic and marine processes will provide much of the analytic capability needed to bring ecological characterization to maturity.
Consistent with the purposes described, working partnerships are being pursued by NGDC to culture both tool/technique development and methods application of land use modeling to coastal ecosystem management. The workshop provides an additional useful means of establishing such collaboration.