Ecological indicator

Ecological indicators are used to communicate information about ecosystems and the impact human activity has on ecosystems to groups such as the public or governmentpolicy makers. Ecosystems are complex and ecological indicators can help describe them in simpler terms that can be understood and used by non-scientists to make management decisions. For example, the number of different beetletaxa found in a field can be used as an indicator of biodiversity.

Many different types of indicators have been developed. They can be used to reflect a variety of aspects of ecosystems, including biological, chemical and physical. Due to this variety, the development and selection of ecological indicators is a complex process.