An Integrative Assessment Of Marine Ecosystem Health In Coastal Waters Along The Shandong Peninsula

The ecosystem-based environmental management is the research trend ofenvironmental quality management in coastal area. So far, some studies on ecosystemhealth assessment have been reported, however, a mature methodology for assessmentof ecosystem health has not been developed. The previous studies on ecologicalcondition assessment are focused on single quality element, such as water qualityassessment, eutrophication assessment and biodiversity assessment. However, theecosystem is a complicated and enormous carrier, with elements interwined with eachother, thus these thematic assessments could not provide an overall understanding ofecological condition. In this sense, the thematic assessment couldn’t meet therequirement of integrative management in China, and there’s an urgent need forestablishing an assessment method that fits our particularities.The study of marine ecosystem health assessment was carried out fromassessment approach and case study in this paper. Firstly, based on extensiveliterature research, we outlined the assessment framework as follows: using thePressure-State-Response framework to build indicator system, from the aspects ofterrigenous pressures, water quality and biological response; guided by the WaterFramework Directive, the assessment approach built by HELCOM was used forreference, and the EQR was employed as an indicator of marine ecosystem health.The contents of case study includes:(1) the general condition of coastal area inShandong Province, introduced from the aspects of physical geography and socialeconomy;(2) using the sampling data and sociometric data to assess the ecologicalcondition of coastal area in Shandong Province, and analyzing the relation betweenthe quality elements;(3) using the sampling data and sociometric data between2006-2009to assess the ecological condition of Laizhou Bay, analyzing the annualvariation of ecological condition and using the AMBI to explore the relationshipbetween the benthic environment and environmental parameters. Based on existing dataset and geographic characteristic of the Shandong Peninsula,this paper established the assessment indicator system using the PSR framework.Using the established assessment approach by HELCOM, this paper made a piloteffort to assess the marine ecosystem health of the Shandong Peninsula. Althoughthere are some inadequate shortage on indicator selection and reference condition, theresult of assessment could reflect the ecological condition of coastal waters along theShandong Peninsula objectively, and the established assessment approach in thispaper provides a valuable reference for marine ecosystem health assessment.