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1. Summary |
The management
of marine
resources requires a better knowledge of the structure, composition, and
function of ecosystems. However, the biological systems'
complexity and their interconnection
with the
social process complicates
the analysis of this ecological level. The marine ecosystem study is
particularly difficult in places like Latin America and Mexico, where it is
common to find
unreliable information (incompatible formats, obsolete dates, etc.).
Given that an
appropriate
decisions making process
on the Mexican ecosystems needs qualified information, the classification
system proposed suggests the
use of
environmental indicators
as common
describers of the
state
of six marine
ecosystems. A Geographic Information
System will
allow to the
identification of
overlapping
(thematic layers) and the environmental units identification; areas that
possess common characteristics and that respond similarly to environmental
or anthropogenic impacts.
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