Ecological monitoring strategy with special reference to a rocky subtidal programme

Excluding the most polluted areas, a general problem to handle in an ecological monitoring context is the recognition of pollution-induced changes as opposed to natural variations always occurring in marine communities. In the search for solutions to this problem, a combination of different methods is suggested. The use of basic ecological community studies, comparison of common patterns on a broad geographical scale, and making predictions from short and long term trend models are the methods that have been tried and discussed. Ecological knowledge and comparison of common patterns are here suggested as the most fruitful tools in an ecological monitoring programme.