GOALS

The overall goal of the ASC is to develop and test a set of indicators in coastal systems that are ecologically appropriate, economically reasonable, and relevant to society. This suite of indicators will produce integrated assessments of the condition, health and sustainability of aquatic ecosystems. These indicators will be developed using ecological and socioeconomic information compiled at the scale of estuarine segments and small watersheds, with clear connections to smaller and larger scales.

Specific objectives include:

1. To develop and test ecological and socioeconomic indicators of aquatic resource condition, construct models that use environmental, geographic, and stressor data to predict indicator responses, and use models to link upstream watersheds and downstream estuaries.
2. To develop large scale measures for characterizing landscape attributes and land-use patterns to serve as predictors of a range of environmental conditions.
3. To deliver a nested suite of indicators to managers, where the implications of aggregating models at various scales are considered, and for which reliability is known.

Overview