scholarly journals Can simple be useful and reliable? Using ecological indicators to represent and compare the states of marine ecosystems

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunne-Jai Shin ◽  
Alida Bundy ◽  
Lynne J. Shannon ◽  
Monique Simier ◽  
Marta Coll ◽  
...  

Abstract Shin, Y-J., Bundy, A., Shannon, L. J., Simier, M., Coll, M., Fulton, E. A., Link, J. S., Jouffre, D., Ojaveer, H., Mackinson, S., Heymans, J. J., and Raid, T. 2010. Can simple be useful and reliable? Using ecological indicators to represent and compare the states of marine ecosystems. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 717–731. Within the IndiSeas WG, the evaluation of exploited marine ecosystems has several steps, from simple binary categorization of ecosystems to a more-complex attempt to rank them and to evaluate their status using decision-tree analyses. With the intention of communicating scientific knowledge to the public and stakeholders, focus is on evaluating and comparing the status of exploited marine ecosystems using a set of six ecological indicators and a simple and transparent graphic representation of ecosystem state (pie charts). A question that arose was whether it was acceptable to compare different types of marine ecosystems using a generic set of indicators. To this end, an attempt is made to provide reference levels to which ecosystems can be objectively compared. Unacceptable thresholds for each indicator are determined based on ecological expertise derived from a questionnaire distributed to a group of scientific experts. Analysis of the questionnaires revealed no significant difference in the thresholds provided for different ecosystem types, suggesting that it was reasonable to compare states directly across different types of ecosystem using the set of indicators selected.

2009 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 686-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yunne-Jai Shin ◽  
Lynne J. Shannon

Abstract Shin, Y-J., and Shannon, L. J. 2010. Using indicators for evaluating, comparing and communicating the ecological status of exploited marine ecosystems. 1. The IndiSeas project. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 686–691. One of the challenges faced by the scientific community grappling with the ecosystem approach to fisheries is to propose a generic set of synthetic ecological indicators, which would accurately reflect the effects of fisheries on marine ecosystems, and could support sound communication and management practices. The IndiSeas Working Group was established in 2005 under the auspices of the Eur-Oceans Network of Excellence to develop methods to provide indicators-based assessments of the status of exploited marine ecosystems in a comparative framework. Here, we present the two main outputs of the first phase of the project: a suite of papers documenting a combination of indicator-based methods and results comparing the ecological status of the world's exploited marine ecosystems, and a website aiming to communicate these results beyond scientific audiences.


1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.M. King

The FDI (DDE) Index-with some modifications and a re-designed recording sheet-was used to determine the prevalence of the different types of developmental defects of enamel. The public water supply contained 1.0 ppm when the children were born and 0.7 ppm at the time of the examinations. All surfaces of the teeth of 460 female and 484 male, 12-year-old, Chinese children were examined after the teeth had been cleaned and dried. Mouth prevalences for all types of opacities, hypoplasia, and discoloration were 99.6%, 82.8%, and 16.6%, respectively. There was no apparent statistically significant difference between girls and boys. However, a statistically significant difference was seen between the sexes for white patches (p < 0.05), missing enamel (p<0.05), and horizontal grooves (p<0.01). There were 811 (85.7%) children with more than 13 teeth affected by opacities, and 417 (44.2%) children had more than four teeth affected by hypoplasia. The most common defect was the diffuse white patch, and the least common was the vertical groove. There were 189 (39.0%) boys with between four and 12 teeth affected by more than two types of defect per tooth. White lines were the most difficult defect to diagnose reproducibly. Intra-examiner reproducibility for all other defects achieved levels of "almost perfect" and "substantial" by calculation of the Kappa coefficient.


2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Shalini Soni ◽  
◽  
Sudha Babel

Covid-19 has necessitated mask use to safeguard oneself from coronavirus. The mask usage and safety practices followed by the public in India are reported in this paper. Sixty per cent of the subjects purchased masks on their own while 19 per cent stitched their masks; masks were used regularly (76%) for less than 4 hours (64.22%). During the lockdown, at workplaces, masks were removed for less than 30 minutes per day. Subjects reported that safety feeling was experienced when masks were donned (87%); felt that masks were unnecessary in Covid-19 unaffected areas/cities (67 %); whilst 47 per cent admitted to pulling down masks during use. An interesting fact emerging from the study was that the younger populace adhered less conscientiously to regular mask use as opposed to the elderly; paradoxically the elderly (49 and above) were the ones to pull down masks more frequently during use than the younger ones. Amongst them, 25 per cent repeated it 1-2 times a day. It was heartening to observe that most people (89%) exercised caution during mask use. A positive significant relationship existed between age and employer modes on regular mask usage; a highly positive significant relation was seen between the employment sector and regular mask use and a negative correlation among profession and mask use. Two-way ANOVA between demographic data on type and regular mask use yielded a significant difference. A highly significant relationship between gender, employer mode, and profession on different types of safety measures; and a significant relationship between the level of education and safety measures were found.


2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott I. Large ◽  
Gavin Fay ◽  
Kevin D. Friedland ◽  
Jason S. Link

Abstract Large, S. I., Fay, G., Friedland, K. D., and Link, J. S. 2013. Defining trends and thresholds in responses of ecological indicators to fishing and environmental pressures. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 70: 755–767. Both fishing and environmental forces can influence the structure of marine ecosystems. To further understand marine ecosystems and to implement ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM), an evaluation of ecosystem indicators is warranted. In this context, it is particularly important to identify thresholds where fishing and environmental pressures significantly influence ecological indicators. We empirically determined numerical values of environmental forces and fishing pressure that significantly altered the response of ecological indicators for the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem. Generalized additive models predicted a non-linear relationship for each pressure–response pairing. With this smoother, 95% confidence intervals (CI) for estimated first and second derivatives for each relationship were determined via parametric bootstrap. A significant trend or threshold was noted when the CI for the first or second derivative was greater or less than zero, delineating the level at which pressure variables influence the rate and direction of ecosystem indicator responses. We identify reference levels where environmental forces and fishing pressure result in ecosystem change by collectively examining the responses of multiple ecological indicators. Individual indicators showed unique responses to pressures, however, similar values for the pressures were associated with significant changes for multiple indicators. These reference levels establish a foundation for implementation of EBFM.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Anthony Okey

There is great interest and rapid progress around the world in developing sets of indicators of marine ecosystem integrity for assessment and management. However, the complexity of coastal marine ecosystems can challenge such efforts. To address this challenge, an expert-based, hierarchical, and adaptive approach was developed with the objectives of healthy marine ecosystems and community partnerships in monitoring and management. Small sets of the top-ranked indicators of ecosystem integrity and associated human pressures were derived from expert-rankings of lists of identified candidate indicators of the status of, and pressures on, each of 17 ecosystem features, organized within 8 elements in turn within 3 overlapping aspects of ecosystem health. Over 200 experts played a role in rating the relative value of 1,035 candidate indicators. A panel of topic experts was assigned to each of the 17 ecosystem features to apply 21 weighted indicator selection criteria. Selection criteria and candidate indicators were identified through literature reviews, expert panels, and surveys, and they were evaluated in terms of the experts’ judgements of importance to the health of Canada’s Pacific marine ecosystems. This produced a flexible, robust, and adaptable approach to identifying representative sets of indicators for any scale and for any management unit within Canada’s Pacific. At the broadest scale, it produced a top 20 list of ecosystem state and pressure indicators. These top indicators, or other sets selected for smaller regions, can then guide the development of both regional and nested local monitoring programs in a way that maximizes continuity while including locally unique values. This hierarchical expert-based approach was designed to address challenges of complexity and scale and to enable efficient selection of useful and representative sets of indicators of ecosystem integrity while also enabling the participation of broad government and stakeholder communities.


2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 732-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia L. Blanchard ◽  
Marta Coll ◽  
Verena M. Trenkel ◽  
Rémi Vergnon ◽  
Dawit Yemane ◽  
...  

Abstract Blanchard, J. L., Coll, M., Trenkel, V. M., Vergnon, R., Yemane, D., Jouffre, D., Link, J. S., and Shin, Y-J. 2010. Trend analysis of indicators: a comparison of recent changes in the status of marine ecosystems around the world. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 67: 732–744. Time-series of ecological and exploitation indicators collected from 19 ecosystems were analysed to investigate whether there have been temporal trends in the status of fish communities. Using linear and non-linear statistical methods, trends are reported for six indicators (mean length of fish in the community, mean lifespan, proportion of predatory fish, total biomass of surveyed species, mean trophic level of landings, and inverse fishing pressure), and the redundancy of these indicators across ecosystems is evaluated. The expected direction of change for an ecosystem that is increasingly impacted by fishing is a decline in all indicators. A mixture of negative and positive directions of change is recorded, both within and among all ecosystems considered. No consistent patterns in the redundancy of the ecological indicators across ecosystems emerged from the analyses, confirming that each indicator provided complementary information on ecosystem status. The different trends in indicators may reflect differing historical exploitation patterns, management, and environmental regimes in these systems. Commitment to monitoring programmes and development of system-specific baseline, target, and threshold reference levels are required. Improved understanding of the responsiveness and performance of ecological indicators to management actions are needed to address adequately whether ecosystems are recovering from, or being further impacted by, fishing, and whether management targets are being met. The relative effects of multiple environmental and ecological processes as well as multiple human-induced stressors that characterize exploited ecosystems also need to be quantified.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Aswindar Adhi Gumilang ◽  
Tri Pitara Mahanggoro ◽  
Qurrotul Aini

The public demand for health service professionalism and transparent financial management made some Puskesmas in Semarang regency changed the status of public health center to BLUD. The implementation of Puskesmas BLUD and non-BLUD requires resources that it can work well in order to meet the expectations of the community. The aim of this study is to know the difference of work motivation and job satisfaction of employees in Puskesmas BLUD and non-BLUD. Method of this research is a comparative descriptive with a quantitative approach. The object of this research are work motivation and job satisfaction of employees in Puskesmas BLUD and non-BLUD Semarang regency. This Research showed that Sig value. (P-value) work motivation variable was 0.019 smaller than α value (0.05). It showed that there was a difference of work motivation of employees in Puskemas BLUD and non-BLUD. Sig value (P-value) variable of job satisfaction was 0.020 smaller than α value (0.05). It showed that there was a difference of job satisfaction of BLUD and non-BLUD. The average of non-BLUD employees motivation were 76.59 smaller than the average of BLUD employees were 78.25. The average of job satisfaction of BLUD employees were 129.20 bigger than the average of non-BLUD employee were 124.26. Job satisfaction of employees in Puskesmas BLUD was higher than non-BLUD employees.


Author(s):  
Aliza Sultana ◽  
Ashok Kumar Paul ◽  
Meher Un Nessa

This study was conducted in the Khulna metropolitan city to determine the status of noise pollution at major traffic intersections and assess the possible effect of noise on regular noise afflicted people. For this research, five busiest roadways and traffic intersections; two mixed zone and three commercial zones were selected purposively and 'ST-8850 Sound Level Meter' was used to record the noise pressure level. Average noise pressure level and some noise parameters (Leq, L10, L50, L90, and Lnp) were measured at different shifts in each location both on working days and holidays. The result evidently specified that noise level in all major traffic circles of Khulna metropolitan city was much higher than the recommended threshold of acceptable noise level set by the Department of Environment (DOE) of Bangladesh. It was observed that the mixed area (Sonadanga, Gollamari) tends to have a higher average noise level than those of the commercial area (Shibbari, Notunrasta, Dakbangla). The noise pollution level (Lnp) in mixed areas varied from 92.77 dB (A) to 104.74 dB(A) on working days and 86.9 dB(A) to 105.5 dB(A) on holidays. On working days, the highest Leq was observed 92.65 ± 4.15 dB(A) in Sonadanga (mixed area), whereas the lowest was 85.13 ± 2.83 dB(A) in Dakbangla (commercial area). However, on holidays the highest level of Leq was found 90.41 ± 2.25 dB(A) in Sonadanga, while the lowest levels were 80.43 ± 3.20 dB(A) in Dakbangla. One-way ANOVA with LSD post-hoc test results illustrated that on working days there was a significant difference between the noise pollution levels (NPL) in different shifts of day time (F = 8.412, p < .05). The respondents of the study area addressed that they were the most affected by annoyance (70%), headache (62%), and hearing loss (46%) due to regular exposure to the traffic noise. Therefore, it is recommended to enhance awareness regarding the cause and effect of noise pollution among the noise producers and oppressed people. Subsequently, administrative measures have to take to attenuate noise pollution and indemnify the quality health of the citizens.


Author(s):  
Yaroslav Skoromnyy ◽  

The article reveals the conceptual foundations of the social responsibility of the court as an important prerequisite for the legal responsibility of a judge. It has been established that the problem of court and judge liability is regulated by the following international and Ukrainian documents, such as: 1) European Charter on the Law «On the Status of Judges» adopted by the Council of Europe; 2) The Law of Ukraine «On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges»; 3) the Constitution of Ukraine; 4) The Code of Judicial Ethics, approved by the Decision of the XI (regular) Congress of Judges of Ukraine; 5) Recommendation CM/Rec (2010) 12 of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Council of Europe to member states regarding judges: independence, efficiency and responsibilities; 6) Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct. The results of a survey conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and the Razumkov Center, the Council of Judges of Ukraine and the Center for Judicial Studios with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation based on the «Monitoring of the State of Independence of Judges in Ukraine – 2012» as part of the study of the level of trust in the modern system were considered and analyzed, justice, judges and courts. It is determined that a judge has both a legal and a moral duty to impartially, independently, in a timely manner and comprehensively consider court cases and make fair judicial decisions, administering justice on the basis of legislative norms. Based on the study of the practice of litigation, it has been proven that judges must skillfully operate with various instruments of protection from public influence. It has been established that in order to ensure the protection of judges from the public, it is necessary to create special units that will function as part of judicial self-government bodies. It was proposed that the Council of Judges of Ukraine, which acts as the highest body of judicial self- government in our state (in Ukraine), legislate the provision on ensuring the protection of the procedural independence of judges.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Ali Muhammad ◽  
Zahoor Ul Haq ◽  
Imad Khan

This study uses Pakistan Social and Living Measurement Survey 2016 to study gender discrimination in school enrollment across the four provinces of Pakistan using bi-variate analysis. Results show that there is highly significant difference between male and female education in rural areas (x^2=4940.50 and p<0.05). Analysis indicate that gender disparity in enrollment is significantly higher in low income households (x^2=115.468 and P<0.05). The study also showed that as compared to male, fewer female are enrolled in both public and private sectors. Hence, socio-economic factors play important role in making decision about children enrollment in different types of school. The study recommends that government to take appropriate steps to reduce gender discrimination in school enrollment by offering subsidy on female education in the country.


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