Critique on Ecological Methodologies Used in Water Quality Studies and Coastal Management: A Review

Abstract

The subject of ecology is the understanding of the relations among living organisms and their interactions with the abiotic environment. The need to quantify ecological phenomena requires the development of mathematical tools, including ecological indices, statistical procedures and simulation models. Some of these tools have been found to be convenient by many scientists and policy makers in related scientific disciplines to express marine pollution levels, marine water quality and future trends; they have, therefore, been adopted in coastal management methodologies and practices. In the present work, a number of ecological tools are reviewed regarding their relevance to supporting water quality studies, as well as their suitability to be included in the toolkit of coastal management practices. Their problems and weaknesses, together with the science–policy misconnection, are discussed.