An extensive point-in-time survey to determine the presence/absence, location or condition of a biotic or abiotic resource.

A systematic process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of operational programs. Its most effective form-"active" adaptive management-e [..]

Any living or nonliving feature or process of the environment that can be measured or estimated and that provide insights into the state of the ecosystem. The term Indicator is reserved for a subset o [..]

Sampling of the same physical units in multiple monitoring protocols.

Purposeful representations of reality that provide a mental picture of how something works to communicate that explanation to others.

The major external driving forces that have large-scale influences on natural systems. Drivers can be natural forces or anthropogenic.

A concept that expresses the degree to which the physical, chemical, and biological components (including composition, structure, and process) of an ecosystem and their relationships are present, func [..]

Defined as, "a spatially explicit unit of the Earth that includes all of the organisms, along with all components of the abiotic environment within its boundaries" (Likens 1992).

Major external driving forces such as climate, fire cycles, biological invasions, hydrologic cycles, and natural disturbance events (e.g., earthquakes, droughts, floods) that have large scale influenc [..]

The process of land-use decision making and land-management practice that takes into account the full suite of organisms and processes that characterize and comprise the ecosystem. It is based on the [..]