In ecological studies, a shifting baseline is a new basal state which has significantly diverged from the original system state. Shifting Baseline Syndrome (SBS) describes social and psychological phenomenon by which individuals, communities or generations compare any such changes in the biological system against a single point of reference or 'baseline', often set at the beginning of their life or career. Individuals are therefore unable to accurately perceive long-term change beyond their own biographical experience. 

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As described by Papworth et al. (2009), SBS can be differentiated into two distinct forms of amnesia; so called for the loss of knowledge that is fundamental to shifting baseline syndrome. Personal amnesia, describes incidences in which individuals cannot perceive change over time, often recalling exaggerated instances as the recollected norm. Conversely, generational amnesia, describes phenomena in which the baseline shifts from generation to generation and whole communities can forget past conditions, often through lack of communication across age groups. Therefore, generational amnesia occurs when each new generation takes the new, degraded state of the ecosystem as their baseline upon which they gauge and perceive future change.

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Daniel Pauly was one of the first to introduce the concept of shifting baseline syndrome in the context of fisheries science. He eloquently describes the issue through his 2010 TED talk below, using anecdotes from his rich and varied career:

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