The effect of scientific evidence on conservation practitioners’ management decisions

A major justification of environmental management research is that it helps practitioners, yet previous studies show it is rarely used to inform their decisions. We tested whether conservation practitioners focusing on bird management were willing to use a synopsis of relevant scientific literature to inform their management decisions. This allowed us to examine whether the limited use of scientific information in management is due to a lack of access to the scientific literature or whether it is because practitioners are either not interested or unable to incorporate the research into their decisions. In on‐line surveys, we asked 92 conservation managers, predominantly from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, to provide opinions on 28 management techniques that could be applied to reduce predation on birds. We asked their opinions before and after giving them a summary of the literature about the interventions’ effectiveness. We scored the overall effectiveness and certainty of evidence for each intervention through an expert elicitation process—the Delphi method. We used the effectiveness scores to assess the practitioners’ level of understanding and awareness of the literature. On average, each survey participant changed their likelihood of using 45.7% of the interventions after reading the synopsis of the evidence. They were more likely to implement effective interventions and avoid ineffective actions, suggesting that their intended future management strategies may be more successful than current practice. More experienced practitioners were less likely to change their management practices than those with less experience, even though they were not more aware of the existing scientific information than less experienced practitioners. The practitioners’ willingness to change their management choices when provided with summarized scientific evidence suggests that improved accessibility to scientific information would benefit conservation management outcomes. El Efecto de la Evidencia Científica sobre las Decisiones de Manejo de Quienes Practican la Conservación     

Use of opportunistic sightings and expert knowledge to predict and compare Whooping Crane stopover habitat

Predicting a species’ distribution can be helpful for evaluating management actions such as critical habitat designations under the U.S. Endangered Species Act or habitat acquisition and rehabilitation. Whooping Cranes (Grus americana) are one of the rarest birds in the world, and conservation and management of habitat is required to ensure their survival. We developed a species distribution model (SDM) that could be used to inform habitat management actions for Whooping Cranes within the state of Nebraska (U.S.A.). We collated 407 opportunistic Whooping Crane group records reported from 1988 to 2012. Most records of Whooping Cranes were contributed by the public; therefore, developing an SDM that accounted for sampling bias was essential because observations at some migration stopover locations may be under represented. An auxiliary data set, required to explore the influence of sampling bias, was derived with expert elicitation. Using our SDM, we compared an intensively managed area in the Central Platte River Valley with the Niobrara National Scenic River in northern Nebraska. Our results suggest, during the peak of migration, Whooping Crane abundance was 262.2 (90% CI 40.2?3144.2) times higher per unit area in the Central Platte River Valley relative to the Niobrara National Scenic River. Although we compared only 2 areas, our model could be used to evaluate any region within the state of Nebraska. Furthermore, our expert‐informed modeling approach could be applied to opportunistic presence‐only data when sampling bias is a concern and expert knowledge is available.     

Setting conservation management thresholds using a novel participatory modeling approach

We devised a participatory modeling approach for setting management thresholds that show when management intervention is required to address undesirable ecosystem changes. This approach was designed to be used when management thresholds: must be set for environmental indicators in the face of multiple competing objectives; need to incorporate scientific understanding and value judgments; and will be set by participants with limited modeling experience. We applied our approach to a case study where management thresholds were set for a mat‐forming brown alga, Hormosira banksii, in a protected area management context. Participants, including management staff and scientists, were involved in a workshop to test the approach, and set management thresholds to address the threat of trampling by visitors to an intertidal rocky reef. The approach involved trading off the environmental objective, to maintain the condition of intertidal reef communities, with social and economic objectives to ensure management intervention was cost‐effective. Ecological scenarios, developed using scenario planning, were a key feature that provided the foundation for where to set management thresholds. The scenarios developed represented declines in percent cover of H. banksii that may occur under increased threatening processes. Participants defined 4 discrete management alternatives to address the threat of trampling and estimated the effect of these alternatives on the objectives under each ecological scenario. A weighted additive model was used to aggregate participants’ consequence estimates. Model outputs (decision scores) clearly expressed uncertainty, which can be considered by decision makers and used to inform where to set management thresholds. This approach encourages a proactive form of conservation, where management thresholds and associated actions are defined a priori for ecological indicators, rather than reacting to unexpected ecosystem changes in the future.     

Improving Conservation Outcomes with Insights from Local Experts and Bureaucracies

We describe conservation built on local expertise such that it constitutes a hybrid form of traditional and bureaucratic knowledge. Researchers regularly ask how local knowledge might be applied to programs linked to protected areas. By examining the production of conservation knowledge in southern Mexico, we assert local expertise is already central to conservation. However, bureaucratic norms and social identity differences between lay experts and conservation practitioners prevent the public valuing of traditional knowledge. We make this point by contrasting 2 examples. The first is a master's thesis survey of local experts regarding the biology of the King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) in which data collection took place in communities adjacent to the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. The second is a workshop sponsored by the same reserve that instructed farmers on how to monitor endangered species, including the King Vulture. In both examples, conservation knowledge would not have existed without traditional knowledge. In both examples, this traditional knowledge is absent from scientific reporting. On the basis of these findings, we suggest conservation outcomes may be improved by recognizing the knowledge contributions local experts already make to conservation programming. Mejorando los Resultados de la Conservación con la Percepción de Expertos y Burócratas Locales Haenn et al.     

Efficacy of Two Lion Conservation Programs in Maasailand,Kenya

Lion (Panthera leo) populations are in decline throughout most of Africa. The problem is particularly acute in southern Kenya, where Maasai pastoralists have been spearing and poisoning lions at a rate that will ensure near term local extinction. We investigated 2 approaches for improving local tolerance of lions: compensation payments for livestock lost to predators and Lion Guardians, which draws on local cultural values and knowledge to mitigate livestock‐carnivore conflict and monitor carnivores. To gauge the overall influence of conservation intervention, we combined both programs into a single conservation treatment variable. Using 8 years of lion killing data, we applied Manski's partial identification approach with bounded assumptions to investigate the effect of conservation treatment on lion killing in 4 contiguous areas. In 3 of the areas, conservation treatment was positively associated with a reduction in lion killing. We then applied a generalized linear model to assess the relative efficacy of the 2 interventions. The model estimated that compensation resulted in an 87–91% drop in the number of lions killed, whereas Lion Guardians (operating in combination with compensation and alone) resulted in a 99% drop in lion killing. Eficacia de Dos Programas de Conservación de Leones en Maasailand, Kenia     

A model to determine the lake nutrient standards for drinking water sources in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Ecoregion, China

Lake eutrophication (LE) has become an increasingly severe environmental problem recently. However, there has been no nutrient standard established for LE control in many developing countries such as China. This study proposes a structural equation model to assist in the establishment of a lake nutrient standard for drinking water sources in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Ecoregion (Yungui Ecoregion), China. The modeling results indicate that the most predictive indicator for designated use-attainment is total phosphorus (TP) (total effect =-0.43), and chlorophyll a (Chl-a) is recommended as the second important indicator (total effect =-0.41). The model is further used for estimating the probability of use-attainment associated with lake water as a drinking water source and various levels of candidate criteria (based on the reference conditions and the current environmental quality standards for surface water). It is found that these candidate criteria cannot satisfy the designated 100% use-attainment. To achieve the short-term target (85% attainment of the designated use), TP and Chl-a values ought to be less than 0.02 mg/L and 1.4 μg/L, respectively. When used as a long-term target (90% or greater attainment of the designated use), the TP and Chl-a values are suggested to be less than 0.018 mg/L and 1 μg/L, respectively.     

基于CBR的新型防空导弹故障诊断专家系统研究

应用基于案例推理技术研究了某新型防空导弹的故障诊断问题。在对原理进行介绍的基础上,采用CBR的知识表示方法及推理机制等建立了故障诊断专家系统,给出了诊断实例,使导弹武器系统的诊断推理保证了高效率和高质量。     

应急准备知识库系统设计与实现——以演练方案为例

为解决应急准备过程中普遍存在的“知识断档”问题,提出设计与实现应急准备知识库系统的针对性解决方案,并以演练方案编制为例,从应用实践的角度出发,提出具体思路。定义“知识范畴-知识主体-知识点”3级层次架构,提出包含“输入提取、存储、维护更新、知识应用”在内的应急准备知识库系统定位,归纳由“用户、知识内容、使用场景、应用模式”所构成的应急准备知识库“四要素设计法”。其中,针对知识加工输出这一复杂需求,引入以方案模板设计和智能向导制作为核心的设计实现理念。研究结果为应急准备实操人员逐渐摆脱“知识断档”的困境,以及进一步强化应急准备整体能力,提供了一种可行的思路和方法。     

Leader‐signaled knowledge hiding: Effects on employees' job attitudes and empowerment

The authors introduce the concept of leader‐signaled knowledge hiding (LSKH) and conduct two studies observing what happens when leaders signal employees that knowledge hiding (KH) is practiced, tolerated, and expected. Social learning theory provides the basis for predicting that LSKH encourages subordinates to hide knowledge, even though they suffer from negative job attitudes in reaction. In Study 1, data measured at two time points (N = 1,162) shows that LSKH positively predicts KH among subordinates. The KH dimensions of evasive hiding and playing dumb (but not rationalized hiding) negatively relate to job satisfaction and positively affect turnover intentions. Study 2 (N = 1,169) replicates these results with cross‐sectional data. Moreover, Study 2 demonstrates that evasive hiding and playing dumb negatively affect empowerment, whereas rationalized hiding has a positive effect. Both studies reveal that subordinates will show less KH when they work under leaders who avoid LSKH and in turn have more job satisfaction, feel more empowered, and harbor fewer turnover intentions. The results in this study provide important practical implications for knowledge management activities.     

Differential implications of team member promotive and prohibitive voice on innovation performance in research and development project teams: A dialectic perspective

How and when does team member voice facilitate team innovation? Integrating research on member voice and a dialectic perspective of innovation, we advance a model in which team member promotive voice enhances team innovation through team knowledge utilization, whereas team member prohibitive voice enhances team innovation through team reflexivity in a nonlinear fashion. We further propose that the differential effects of team member promotive and prohibitive voice will be stronger at different stages (idea generation vs. idea implementation) of the innovation cycle. Survey data from 78 research and development project teams showed a positive indirect effect between team member promotive voice and team innovation through team knowledge utilization, although this relationship was also mediated through team reflexivity. Moreover, the indirect effect of team member promotive voice on team innovation via team knowledge utilization was stronger for teams in the idea generation stage of team innovation. Results also confirmed a nonlinear indirect relationship between team member prohibitive voice and team innovation via team reflexivity such that the positive effects of team member prohibitive voice tapered off at high levels. Contrary to our expectations, the effects of prohibitive voice held regardless of stage. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.