Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Evaluating and Monitoring the Health of Large-Scale Ecosystems", held at Montebello, Quebec, Canada, October 10-15, 1993

I. Defining Ecosystem Health.- - Robert Costanza.- 1. Ecosystem Health: An Emerging Integrative Science.- 2. Ecosystem Health - A Critical Analysis of Concepts.- 3. Qualitative and Quantitative Criteria Defining a "Healthy" Ecosystem.- 4. The Relationship Between Ecosystem Health and Delivery of Ecosystem Services.- 5. Environmental Health and Ecotoxicology: An Indispensable Link.- Rapporteur's Report.- II. Quantitative Indices for Ecosystem Health Assessment.- - Peter Calow.- 6. Ecological and Economic System Health and Social Decision Making.- 7. New Approaches to the Assessment of Marine Ecosystem Health.- 8. Using Biological Criteria to Protect Ecological Health.- 9. Biological Changes in the German Bight of the North Sea as Indicators of Ecosystem Health.- 10. Indices for Carcinogenicity in Aquatic Ecosystems: Significance and Development.- 11. Assessment of Ecosystem Health: Development of Tools and Approaches.- Rapporteur's Report.- III. Diagnostic Approaches.- - Kenneth Sherman.- 12. Degradation and Rehabilitation of Rivers: A Note on the Ecosystem Approach.- 13. An Influence Diagram Approach to the Diagnosis and Management of the Baltic Sea.- 14. Evaluation of New Techniques for Monitoring and Assessing the Health of Large Marine Ecosystems.- 15. Desertification: Implications and Limitations of the Ecosystem Health Metaphor.- Rapporteur's Report.- IV. Recovery and Rehabilitation of Large-Scale Ecosystems.- - David J. Rapport.- 16. Paleolimnological Approaches to the Evaluation and Monitoring of Ecosystem Health: Providing a History for Environmental Damage and Recovery.- 17. Recovery and Rehabilitation of Mediterranean Type Ecosystem: A Case Study from Turkish Maquis.- 18. Forest Recovery Following Pasture Abandonment in Amazonia: CanopySeasonality, Fire Resistance and Ants.- Rapporteur's Report.- V. Methodological Issues in Design and Analysis of Ecosystem Health.- - Mikael Hildén.- 19. Temporal and Spatial Variability as Neglected Ecosystem Properties: Lessons Learned from 12 North American Ecosystems.- 20. Assessment and Monitoring of Large Marine Ecosystems.- 21. Remote Sensing and Ecosystem Health: An Evaluation of Time Series AVHRR NDVI Data.- Rapporteur's Report.- Workshop Summary.

Ecosystem health offers a fresh perspective on the management of natural resources and the environment. While some of the root concepts can surely be traced back to Aldo Leopold and even earlier, it is only in the recent decade that a substantial body of work has emerged on this topic. There is no question that a novel approach which is by its nature cross disciplinary, bridging the health and biological sciences, will initially raise a number of questions particularly pertaining to the use of metaphors and the validity of the analogy. This volume however goes beyond merely the philosophical dimensions of the subject by covering a number of case studies which have given rise to the development of promising quantitative methods for diagnosis and rehabilitation of ecosystems under stress. The focus of most studies is on regional ecosystems i.e. ecosystems of large scale. As such, the methods and approaches should have wide appeal to government agencies charged with the responsibility of sustainable development of regional ecosystems and natural resources. Health is one of those difficult concepts that everyone thinks they can define, until they come to try. We all have personal knowledge about health and illness and this makes the ecosystem analogy so potentially powerful. Yet it is also clear that the uncritical application of the concept could lead to overly simplistic approaches to analysis and management of ecosystem health.