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The analysis of ecological impacts in human-dominated environments: reply to Stewart-Oaten (2008)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2008

F. BULLERI ,
A. J. UNDERWOOD  and
L. BENEDETTI-CECCHI
F. BULLERI*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy
A. J. UNDERWOOD
Affiliation:
Centre for Research on Ecological Impacts of Coastal Cities, Marine Ecology Laboratories A11, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
L. BENEDETTI-CECCHI
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via A. Volta 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy
*
*Correspondence: Dr F. Bulleri Tel: +39 050 2211414 Fax: +39 050 2211410 e-mail: fbulleri@biologia.unipi.it
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Extract

We appreciate the effort and thought that Stewart-Oaten (2008) has put into his comment on our paper in Environmental Conservation (Bulleri et al. 2007). Clearly, the philosophical and methodological approaches used in ecological impact assessments (EIAs) warrant much further attention and discussion by ecologists. We would like, however, to clarify that the goals of our comment were far from summarizing available procedures and, even more, from expressing an opinion about which among these should be retained or rejected. This is quite well reflected by the contents of our paper (Bulleri et al. 2007). Our ‘main purpose’ (to quote Stewart-Oaten 2008) was to point out that the degree of naturalness of a site is irrelevant to whether or not some proposed disturbance causes an impact and that all disturbances potentially cause negative impacts.

Type
Comment
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 35 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 11 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2008

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