Monitoring as a field

Chapter 2. This chapter sets the scene in terms of describing what we mean by monitoring. Capturing everything we know about monitoring would take a whole set of books; instead, we provide an introduction to how monitoring can be used to make informed decisions on management from global to multi- and single-country scales through to single sites. The knowledge or data required to improve management may be very similar regardless of the geographical scale. The difference lies in the scale of measures that have to be taken to provide information, which can help to recognize and rectify damage. The chapter outlines types of monitoring and what they typically are used for, including types of data and their different qualities. A summary of data collection and the difficulties of flexibility in monitoring schemes is discussed together with cross-references to chapters that delve deeper into these issues. Two specific examples of monitoring are given, the UK Countryside Survey and the high-technology surveys of dune formations carried out by permanent in situ laser scanners on Belgian shorelines.