Regulatory Endpoints, Ecological Uncertainties, and Environmental Decision-Making

The regulation and management of ecological systems are prescribed by regulatory endpoints, those norms which translate fundamental legislative purpose into regulatory action. Environmental decision-making requires the evaluation of ecological information vis-a-vis regulatory endpoints, but there is a plethora of sources of uncertainty associated with ecological predictions. This paper discusses the nature of these sources of uncertainties and discusses approaches to environmental decision-making in the presence of uncertainty.