FRAMEWORK FOR ASSESSING EFFECTS OF GLOBAL CLIMATE-CHANGE ON MANGROVE ECOSYSTEMS

Ecological assessment represents a current approach to bridge scientific research and knowledge to the information needs in development of policy and management decisions. Mangrove ecosystems were chosen as a representative community type to examine available knowledge and develop approaches to detection and evaluation of the ecological responses to elements of global climate change. Risk assessments and ecological assessments have some parallel procedures and we briefly compare some common objectives and approaches. The focus of the discussions is in the context of ecological assessment, gathering and evaluating of data most relevant to the south Florida mangroves and associated habitats, and the framework to combine diverse sets of scientific data for the broader or more generalized perspectives and long-term information needs of policy formulation.