Achieving Conservation Science that Bridges the Knowledge–Action Boundary
Carly N. Cook,Carly N. Cook,Michael B. Mascia,Mark W. Schwartz,Hugh P. Possingham,Richard A. Fuller +5 more
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TLDR
4 institutional frameworks that can facilitate science that will inform management, including boundary organizations, research scientists embedded in resource management agencies, formal links between decision makers and scientists at research-focused institutions, and training programs for conservation professionals are highlighted.Abstract:
There are many barriers to using science to inform conservation policy and practice. Conservation scientists wishing to produce management-relevant science must balance this goal with the imperative of demonstrating novelty and rigor in their science. Decision makers seeking to make evidence-based decisions must balance a desire for knowledge with the need to act despite uncertainty. Generating science that will effectively inform management decisions requires that the production of information (the components of knowledge) be salient (relevant and timely), credible (authoritative, believable, and trusted), and legitimate (developed via a process that considers the values and perspectives of all relevant actors) in the eyes of both researchers and decision makers. We perceive 3 key challenges for those hoping to generate conservation science that achieves all 3 of these information characteristics. First, scientific and management audiences can have contrasting perceptions about the salience of research. Second, the pursuit of scientific credibility can come at the cost of salience and legitimacy in the eyes of decision makers, and, third, different actors can have conflicting views about what constitutes legitimate information. We highlight 4 institutional frameworks that can facilitate science that will inform management: boundary organizations (environmental organizations that span the boundary between science and management), research scientists embedded in resource management agencies, formal links between decision makers and scientists at research-focused institutions, and training programs for conservation professionals. Although these are not the only approaches to generating boundary-spanning science, nor are they mutually exclusive, they provide mechanisms for promoting communication, translation, and mediation across the knowledge-action boundary. We believe that despite the challenges, conservation science should strive to be a boundary science, which both advances scientific understanding and contributes to decision making.read more
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Conservation social science: understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation
Nathan J. Bennett,Nathan J. Bennett,Nathan J. Bennett,Robin Roth,Sarah C. Klain,Kai M. A. Chan,Patrick Christie,Douglas A. Clark,Georgina Cullman,Deborah Curran,Trevor J. Durbin,Graham Epstein,Alison Greenberg,Michael Paul Nelson,John Sandlos,Richard C. Stedman,Tara L. Teel,Rebecca E. W. Thomas,Diogo Veríssimo,Carina Wyborn +19 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the scope and purpose of eighteen subfields of classic, interdisciplinary and applied conservation social sciences and articulates ten distinct contributions that the social sciences can make to understanding and improving conservation.
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Reliable, verifiable and efficient monitoring of biodiversity via metabarcoding
Yinqiu Ji,Louise A. Ashton,Scott M. Pedley,David Edwards,David Edwards,Yong Tang,Akihiro Nakamura,Akihiro Nakamura,Roger L. Kitching,Paul M. Dolman,Paul Woodcock,Felicity A. Edwards,Trond H. Larsen,Wayne W. Hsu,Suzan Benedick,Keith C. Hamer,David S. Wilcove,Catharine Bruce,Xiaoyang Wang,Taal Levi,Taal Levi,Martin Lott,Brent C. Emerson,Douglas W. Yu,Douglas W. Yu +24 more
TL;DR: Compared with standard biodiversity data sets, metabarcoded samples are taxonomically more comprehensive, many times quicker to produce, less reliant on taxonomic expertise and auditable by third parties, which is essential for dispute resolution.
Journal ArticleDOI
Improving knowledge exchange among scientists and decision- makers to facilitate the adaptive governance of marine resources: A review of knowledge and research needs
Christopher Cvitanovic,Christopher Cvitanovic,Alistair J. Hobday,Alistair J. Hobday,L. van Kerkhoff,Shaun K. Wilson,Kirstin Dobbs,Nadine Marshall +7 more
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the literature in relation to knowledge exchange for natural resource management is presented, with a focus on recent evidence in relation with the management of marine resources, identifying critical barriers inhibiting knowledge exchange among marine scientists and decisions-makers.
Journal ArticleDOI
The future of fish passage science, engineering, and practice
Ana T. Silva,Martyn C. Lucas,Theodore Castro-Santos,Christos Katopodis,Lee J. Baumgartner,Jason D. Thiem,Kim Aarestrup,Paulo Santos Pompeu,Gordon C. O’Brien,Douglas C. Braun,Nicholas J. Burnett,David Z. Zhu,Hans-Petter Fjeldstad,Torbjørn Forseth,Nallamuthu Rajaratnam,John G. Williams,Steven J. Cooke +16 more
TL;DR: In this paper, 17 experts from different fish passage research fields (i.e., biology, ecology, physiology, ecohydraulics, engineering) and from different continents (e.g., North and South America, Europe, Africa, Australia) identified knowledge gaps and provided a roadmap for research priorities and technical developments.
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A How-to Guide for Coproduction of Actionable Science
TL;DR: The most reliable route to actionable science is coproduction, whereby managers, policy makers, scientists, and other stakeholders first identify specific decisions to be informed by science, and then jointly define the scope and context of the problem, research questions, methods, and outputs, make scientific inferences, and develop strategies for the appropriate use of science.
References
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The need for evidence-based conservation
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