ABSTRACT
There are three main types of monitoring, each serving a complementary function in the overall management system: (i) implementation monitoring to assess compliance with minimum practice standards; (ii) effectiveness monitoring to assess the status of the managed system and report on whether minimum performance standards for conservation have been achieved; and (iii) validation monitoring to improve our understanding of the cause–effect relationships that link human impacts with changes in biodiversity, and determine the extent to which existing management practices are adequate for meeting long-term conservation goals.
Indicators provide the practical tool by which changes in management practices and ecological responses can be measured and evaluated against agreed standards and long-term goals.
Management practice indicators serve a prescriptive function and define minimum practice standards. Performance indicators serve an evaluative function and are used to assess ecological responses to management and help define performance-based standards and conservation goals.
Performance indicators can be both indirect in the form of measures of forest structure and function and direct in the form of biological indicators and/or individual target species.
Biological indicators are used to estimate the impacts of management on parameters that cannot easily be measured directly, including the distribution and abundance of non-sampled species and overall ecosystem condition as measured by deviation from some more desirable system state. Target species complement biological indicators and include endangered species, and species of particular ecological, economic or cultural importance.
