The
following is an abstract of a paper which was delivered at the 46th Meeting of
the ISSS, Shanghai, PRC, Aug. 2 to 6.
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Developing An Ecological Quality
Index
An ecological quality
index (Index) was developed which could indicate the degree of estuarine
wetlands restoration of a 13 hectare (32 acre) piece of industrial land,
cleaned from industrial pollution, level in contour and rather barren in appearance. Using a team of environmental
scientists and engineers and
systematically eliciting their expert judgments, ten key parameters of an estuarine
marsh were defined, weighted and scaled. The Index was then computed and used
to project over twenty years the ecological quality of the site as envisioned
by the team. In addition to the
forecast, the 95% confidence level bandwidth of the Index was projected
as well as the effects of various natural disaster scenarios on the Index. Applications of the methodology to
other ecological sites are discussed.
Key words: ecological quality index
restoration estuarine wetlands.