Testing the use of best professional judgment to create biological benchmarks for habitat assessment of wetlands and oak savannas in northwestern Indiana

Gordon, Brad A.; Rothrock, Paul E.; Labus, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2015.07.014

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Further problems may arise with the biases inherent in converting raw data into categorical scores (Gorrod et al, 2013). Proxy indicators that rely on expert judgement should be used with caution as assessor experience levels may result in varied opinions of the same site (Gordon et al, 2016). Indicators such as vegetation structure and grazing intensity are particularly vulnerable to observer bias as they are reliant on the timing of the assessment and the level of surveyor experience of the habitat.…”

Section: Recommendations For Developing Scorecards Outside Of Results...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Gorman,

Kindermann,

Healy

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Ecological monitoring is a vital tool to help us assess habitat condition and understand the mechanism(s) for habitat change. Yet many countries struggle to meet their monitoring requirements in part due to the high assessment workload. Rapid ecological assessment methods may have an important role to play in this regard. Following their success within several European habitats (e.g., semi-natural grasslands), they are now being developed for additional habitats such as heathlands, peatlands, and other agri-associated areas. Whilst some rapid assessments using ecological scorecards have been shown to be accurate compared to traditional ecological monitoring, less is known about the functionality of these scorecards in heterogenous landscapes. In this study, we selected four existing scorecards to test alongside a prototype. We assessed how these different scorecards measured habitat condition on the same heathland sites. We found that the choice of metrics, their score weighting, and the thresholds used for categorical scores cause scorecards to assess the same site with substantial variation (37%). Vegetation metrics were the primary cause of score variation, with vegetation structure and positive indicator species being the leading causes. Our study indicates that while current scorecards may be representative of project-specific goals, they may not be suitable for wider monitoring uses in their current form. Ecological scorecards have great potential to drastically increase the extent of monitoring, but caution is needed before adapting existing scorecards beyond the purposes from which they were designed.

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Section: Recommendations For Developing Scorecards Outside Of Results...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Gorman,

Kindermann,

Healy

et al. 2024

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further problems may arise with the biases inherent in converting raw data into categorical scores (Gorrod et al, 2013). Proxy indicators that rely on expert judgement should be used with caution as assessor experience levels may result in varied opinions of the same site (Gordon et al, 2016). To reduce the chances of error, indicators should be clearly de ned to reduce ambiguity in their interpretation and have raw data recorded, such as average vegetation height instead of visual grazing assessments.…”

Section: For Developing Scorecards Outside Of Results-based Aesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use: An Irish Case Study

Gorman

Morley

Kindermann

2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ecological monitoring is a vital tool to help us assess habitat condition and understand the mechanism(s) for habitat change. Yet many countries struggle to meet their monitoring requirements in part due to the high assessment workload. Rapid ecological assessment methods may have an important role to play in this regard. Following their success on semi-natural grasslands, they are now being developed for multiple agri-associated habitats such as heathlands and peatlands. Whilst grassland scorecards have shown to be accurate compared to traditional ecological monitoring, less is known about the functionality of these scorecards in heterogenous landscapes. In this study, we selected four existing scorecards to test alongside a prototype. We assessed how these different scorecards measured habitat condition on the same heathland sites. We found that the choice of metrics, their score weighting, and the thresholds used for categorical scores cause scorecards to assess the same site with substantial variation (37%). Vegetation metrics were the primary cause of score variation, with vegetation structure and positive indicator species being the leading causes. Our study indicates that while current scorecards may be representative of project specific goals, they may not be suitable for wider monitoring uses in their current form. Ecological scorecards have great potential to drastically increase the extent of monitoring, but caution is needed before adapting existing scorecards beyond the purposes from which they were designed.

show abstract

“…Further problems may arise with the biases inherent in converting raw data into categorical scores (Gorrod et al, 2013 ). Proxy indicators that rely on expert judgement should be used with caution as assessor experience levels may result in varied opinions of the same site (Gordon et al, 2016 ). Indicators such as vegetation structure and grazing intensity are particularly vulnerable to observer bias as they are reliant on the timing of the assessment and the level of surveyor experience of the habitat.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in ecological scorecards and their potential for wider use

Gorman,

Kindermann,

Healy

et al. 2024

Environ Monit Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ecological monitoring is a vital tool to help us assess habitat condition and understand the mechanism(s) for habitat change. Yet many countries struggle to meet their monitoring requirements in part due to the high assessment workload. Rapid ecological assessment methods may have an important role to play in this regard. Following their success within several European habitats (e.g., semi-natural grasslands), they are now being developed for additional habitats such as heathlands, peatlands, and other agri-associated areas. Whilst some rapid assessments using ecological scorecards have been shown to be accurate compared to traditional ecological monitoring, less is known about the functionality of these scorecards in heterogenous landscapes. In this study, we selected four existing scorecards to test alongside a prototype. We assessed how these different scorecards measured habitat condition on the same heathland sites. We found that the choice of metrics, their score weighting, and the thresholds used for categorical scores cause scorecards to assess the same site with substantial variation (37%). Vegetation metrics were the primary cause of score variation, with vegetation structure and positive indicator species being the leading causes. Our study indicates that whilst current scorecards may be representative of project-specific goals, they may not be suitable for wider monitoring uses in their current form. Ecological scorecards have great potential to drastically increase the extent of monitoring, but caution is needed before adapting existing scorecards beyond the purposes from which they were designed.

show abstract

Testing the use of best professional judgment to create biological benchmarks for habitat assessment of wetlands and oak savannas in northwestern Indiana

Cited by 5 publications

References 28 publications

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use

Variation in Ecological Scorecards and their Potential for Wider Use: An Irish Case Study

Variation in ecological scorecards and their potential for wider use

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