Progress developing the concept of other effective area-based conservation measures.

In 2010, the introduction of other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) into international policy caused a paradigm shift in area-based conservation, which included consideration of areas outside formal protected areas and places where biodiversity conservation may not be a management objective for the site. Despite the importance of this shift for global conservation, conservation science and policy have been slow to engage with the concept of OECMs. As the world moves toward protecting 30% of the Earth by 2030, it is imperative to develop evidence-based guidance for how to identify effective conservation measures, especially tools to help evaluate and monitor the biodiversity outcomes associated with potential OECMs. To understand the current progress in developing the concept of OECMs, I evaluated the peer-reviewed literature to consolidate and synthesize current knowledge. I conducted a thematic analysis of papers to identify the types of challenges and opportunities being discussed and lessons from studies evaluating the effectiveness of OECMs. Only 105 studies mentioned OECMs, and those that did rarely move beyond superficial mention of OECMs as part of area-based conservation. Around one-half of studies listed potential risks or benefits of OECMs but none provided evidence these issues have materialized. Twenty-three studies attempted to identify potential OECMs, although specific case studies were rare. The 7 studies that evaluated existing OECMs were highly critical of how they had been implemented to date. Studies that evaluated conservation outcomes were extremely rare, and suggested effectiveness must be judged on a case-by-case basis. The current literature not only leaves many gaps in the science required to operationalize the concept of OECMs, but also often raises additional questions that need to be addressed. If these gaps are not filled by robust science, the promised benefits for biodiversity from OECMs may never be realized.

Progreso en el desarrollo del concepto de otras medidas efectivas de conservación basadas en el área Resumen En 2010, la introducción de otras medidas eficaces de conservación basadas en zonas geográficas específicas (OECM) en la política internacional provocó un cambio de paradigma en la conservación basada en el área, que incluyó la consideración de zonas situadas fuera de las áreas protegidas formales y lugares donde la conservación de la biodiversidad puede no ser un objetivo de gestión para el sitio. A pesar de la importancia de este cambio para la conservación mundial, la ciencia y la política de la conservación han tardado en comprometerse con el concepto de OECM. A medida que el mundo avanza hacia la protección del 30% de la Tierra para 2030, es imperativo desarrollar orientaciones basadas en pruebas sobre cómo identificar medidas de conservación eficaces, especialmente herramientas que ayuden a evaluar y supervisar los resultados de biodiversidad asociados a posibles OECM. Para comprender los avances actuales en el desarrollo del concepto de OECM, evalué la bibliografía revisada por pares para consolidar y sintetizar los conocimientos actuales. Realicé un análisis temático de los artículos para identificar los tipos de retos y oportunidades que se debatían y las lecciones extraídas de los estudios que evaluaban la eficacia de las OECM. Sólo 105 estudios mencionaron las OECM, y los que lo hicieron rara vez iban más allá de la mención superficial de las OECM como parte de la conservación basada en el área. Aproximadamente la mitad de los estudios mencionaron los riesgos o beneficios potenciales de las OECM, pero ninguno aportó pruebas de que estos problemas se hubieran materializado. Veintitrés estudios intentaron identificar OECM potenciales, aunque los estudios de casos fueron escasos. Los siete estudios que evaluaron las OECM existentes fueron muy críticos con la forma en que se habían aplicado hasta la fecha. Los estudios que evaluaban los resultados de la conservación eran muy escasos y sugerían que la eficacia debía juzgarse caso por caso. La bibliografía actual no sólo deja muchos vacíos en la ciencia necesaria para hacer operativo el concepto de OECM, sino que a menudo plantea cuestiones adicionales que deben abordarse. Si estos vacíos no se cubren con una ciencia sólida, es posible que los beneficios prometidos de las OECM para la biodiversidad nunca lleguen a materializarse.

Environmental evidence in action: on the science and practice of evidence synthesis and evidence-based decision-making.

In civil society we expect that policy and management decisions will be made using the best available evidence. Yet, it is widely known that there are many barriers that limit the extent to which that occurs. One way to overcome these barriers is via robust, comprehensive, transparent and repeatable evidence syntheses (such as systematic reviews) that attempt to minimize various forms of bias to present a summary of existing knowledge for decision-making purposes. Relative to other disciplines (e.g., health care, education), such evidence-based decision-making remains relatively nascent for environment management despite major threats to humanity, such as the climate, pollution and biodiversity crises demonstrating that human well-being is inextricably linked to the biophysical environment. Fortunately, there are a growing number of environmental evidence syntheses being produced that can be used by decision makers. It is therefore an opportune time to reflect on the science and practice of evidence-based decision-making in environment management to understand the extent to which evidence syntheses are embraced and applied in practice. Here we outline a number of key questions related to the use of environmental evidence that need to be explored in an effort to enhance evidence-based decision-making. There is an urgent need for research involving methods from social science, behavioural sciences, and public policy to understand the basis for patterns and trends in environmental evidence use (or misuse or ignorance). There is also a need for those who commission and produce evidence syntheses, as well as the end users of these syntheses to reflect on their experiences and share them with the broader evidence-based practice community to identify needs and opportunities for advancing the entire process of evidence-based practice. It is our hope that the ideas shared here will serve as a roadmap for additional scholarship that will collectively enhance evidence-based decision-making and ultimately benefit the environment and humanity.

Foresight science in conservation: Tools, barriers, and mainstreaming opportunities.

Foresight science is a systematic approach to generate future predictions for planning and management by drawing upon analytical and predictive tools to understand the past and present, while providing insights about the future. To illustrate the application of foresight science in conservation, we present three case studies: identification of emerging risks to conservation, conservation of at-risk species, and aid in the development of management strategies for multiple stressors. We highlight barriers to mainstreaming foresight science in conservation including knowledge accessibility/organization, communication across diverse stakeholders/decision makers, and organizational capacity. Finally, we investigate opportunities for mainstreaming foresight science including continued advocacy to showcase its application, incorporating emerging technologies (i.e., artificial intelligence) to increase capacity/decrease costs, and increasing education/training in foresight science via specialized courses and curricula for trainees and practicing professionals. We argue that failure to mainstream foresight science will hinder the ability to achieve future conservation objectives in the Anthropocene.

Species conservation in the era of genomic science.

The exponential increase in the availability of genomic data, derived from sequencing thousands of loci or whole genomes, provides exciting new insights into the diversity of life. However, it can also challenge established species concepts and existing management regimes derived from these concepts. Genomic data can help inform decisions about how to manage genetic diversity, but policies that protect identified taxonomic entities can generate conflicting recommendations that create challenges for practitioners. We outline three dimensions of management concern that arise when facing new and potentially conflicting interpretations of genomic data: defining conservation entities, deciding how to manage diversity, and evaluating the risks and benefits of management actions. We highlight the often-underappreciated role of values in influencing management choices made by individuals, scientists, practitioners, the public, and other stakeholders. Such values influence choices through mechanisms such as the Rashomon effect, whereby management decisions are complicated by conflicting perceptions of the causes and consequences of the conservation problem. To illustrate how this might operate, we offer a hypothetical example of this effect for the interpretation of genomic data and its implications for conservation management. Such value-based decisions can be challenged by the rigidity of existing management regimes, making it difficult to achieve the necessary flexibility to match the changing biological understanding. We finish by recommending that both conservation geneticists and practitioners reflect on their respective values, responsibilities, and roles in building a more robust system of species management. This includes embracing the inclusion of stakeholders in decision-making because, as in many cases, there are not objectively defensible right or wrong decisions.

Defining performance thresholds for effective management of biodiversity within protected areas.

Performance thresholds are an important tool for determining successful conservation outcomes. They provide an objective means of defining good ecological condition and have been endorsed as an essential part of best practice in protected area (PA) management within the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas Standard. With a growing number of PAs attaining Green List status globally, thresholds developed by PAs on the Green List present an excellent resource with which to identify the attributes of well-defined performance thresholds. We examined 349 thresholds associated with PAs on the Green List to determine whether they were specific and measurable (i.e., factors recognized as essential for setting well-defined targets). We assessed whether thresholds were defined quantitatively and whether definitions included ambiguous terms (e.g., stable numbers). We identified six different ways thresholds were expressed and found that many thresholds were expressed as management objectives, rather than ecological condition thresholds, although this trend improved over time. Approximately one-half of the performance thresholds lacked the necessary specificity to delineate successful outcomes. Our results enabled us to develop a checklist of information required to set robust performance thresholds. Recommendations include that thresholds should be quantitatively defined, including quantitative estimates of the limits of acceptable change (LAC) around the target condition. To ensure transparency, a rationale and associated evidence should be provided to support the threshold and the LAC. When accompanied by a rationale and quantitative estimate of the current condition of the value, unambiguously defined thresholds with a quantitative LAC provide an objective means of demonstrating that successful conservation outcomes have been achieved. These recommendations will help conservation managers apply the Green List Standard and improve the measurement of conservation outcomes more broadly.

Definición de Umbrales de Desempeño para el Manejo Efectivo de la Biodiversidad dentro de Áreas protegidas Resumen Los umbrales de desempeño son una herramienta importante para determinar resultados de conservación exitosos. Proporcionan un medio objetivo para definir condición ecológica buena y han sido aprobados por la Estándar de la Lista Verde de Áreas Protegidas y Conservadas de la IUCN como una parte esencial de las buenas prácticas en el manejo de áreas protegidas (AP). A medida que incrementa globalmente el número de AP que obtienen estatus de Lista Verde, los umbrales desarrollados por las AP en la Lista Verde presentan un recurso excelente para identificar los atributos de umbrales de desempeño bien definidos. Examinamos 349 umbrales asociados con AP en la Lista Verde para determinar si eran específicos y medibles (i.e., factores reconocidos como esenciales para fijar metas bien definidas). Evaluamos si los umbrales fueron definidos cuantitativamente y si las definiciones incluían términos ambiguos (e. g., números estables). Identificamos 6 diferentes maneras en que los umbrales fueron expresados y encontramos que muchos umbrales eran expresados como objetivos de manejo, en vez de umbrales de condiciones ecológicas, aunque esta tendencia mejoró con el tiempo. Aproximadamente la mitad de los umbrales de desempeño carecieron de la especificidad necesaria para delinear resultados exitosos. Nuestros resultados nos permitieron desarrollar una lista de verificación de la información requerida para fijar umbrales de desempeño robustos. Las recomendaciones incluyen que los umbrales deben ser definidos cuantitativamente, incluyendo estimaciones cuantitativas de los límites de cambio aceptable (LCA) alrededor de la condición objetivo. Para asegurar transparencia, se debe proporcionar evidencia racional y cuantitativa para sustentar el umbral y el LAC. Estando acompañados por una estimación racional y cuantitativa de la condición actual del valor, los umbrales definidos sin ambigüedades con un LAC cuantitativo proporcionan un medio objetivo para demostrar que se han obtenido resultados de conservación exitosos. Estas recomendaciones auxiliarán a los gestores de conservación a aplicar el Estándar de la Lista Verde y mejorar los resultados de conservación más ampliamente.

Cooperative breeding and the emergence of multilevel societies in birds.

Multilevel societies (MLSs), where social levels are hierarchically nested within each other, are considered one of the most complex forms of animal societies. Although thought to mainly occurs in mammals, it is suggested that MLSs could be under-detected in birds. Here, we propose that the emergence of MLSs could be common in cooperatively breeding birds, as both systems are favoured by similar ecological and social drivers. We first investigate this proposition by systematically comparing evidence for multilevel social structure in cooperative and non-cooperative birds in Australia and New Zealand, a global hotspot for cooperative breeding. We then analyse non-breeding social networks of cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) to reveal their structured multilevel society, with three hierarchical social levels that are stable across years. Our results confirm recent predictions that MLSs are likely to be widespread in birds and suggest that these societies could be particularly common in cooperatively breeding birds.

Lessons from other disciplines for setting management thresholds for biodiversity conservation.

Successful, state-dependent management, in which the goal of management is to maintain a system in a desired state, involves defining the boundaries between different states. Once these boundaries have been defined, managers require a strategic action plan with thresholds that initiate management interventions to either maintain or return the system to a desired state. This approach to management is widely used across diverse industries from agriculture, to medicine, to information technology, but it has only been adopted in conservation management relatively recently. Conservation practitioners have expressed a willingness to integrate this structured approach in their management systems, but they have also voiced concerns, including lack of a robust process for doing so. Given the widespread use of state-dependent management in other fields, we conducted an extensive review of the literature on threshold-based management to gain insight into how and where it is applied and identify potential lessons for conservation management. We identified 22 industries using 75 different methods for setting management thresholds in 843 studies. Methods spanned six broad approaches, including expert driven, statistical, predictive, optimization, experimental, and artificial intelligence methods. The objectives of each of these studies influenced the approaches used, including the methods for setting thresholds and selecting actions, and the number of thresholds set. The role of value judgments in setting thresholds was clear; studies across all industries frequently involved experts in setting thresholds, often accompanied by computational tools to simulate the consequences of proposed thresholds under different conditions. Of the 30 conservation studies examined, two-thirds used expert-driven methods, consistent with prior evidence that experience-based information often drives conservation management decisions. The methods we identified from other disciplines could help conservation decision makers set thresholds for management interventions in different contexts, linking monitoring to management actions and ensuring that conservation interventions are timely and effective.

Lecciones de Otras Disciplinas para Establecer Umbrales de Gestión para la Conservación de la Biodiversidad Resumen Una gestión exitosa dependiente del estado, en la que el objetivo del manejo es mantener un sistema en un estado deseado, involucra la definición de los límites entre estados diferentes. Una vez que se definen estos límites, los gestores requieren un plan de acción estratégico con umbrales que inicien las intervenciones de gestión, ya sea para mantener o regresar al sistema a un estado deseado. Este enfoque de la gestión se usa extensamente en diversas industrias, desde la agricultura y la medicina hasta la tecnología de la información, pero sólo ha sido adoptada recientemente dentro de la gestión de la conservación. Quienes practican la conservación han expresado el deseo de integrar este enfoque estructurado a sus sistemas de gestión, pero también han expresado sus preocupaciones al respecto, como la falta de procesos sólidos para lograr esta integración. Debido al uso extenso de la gestión dependiente del estado en otras áreas, realizamos una revisión detallada de la literatura sobre la gestión basada en umbrales para obtener información sobre cómo y dónde se aplica y para identificar los aprendizajes potenciales para la gestión de la conservación. Identificamos 22 industrias que usan 75 métodos diferentes para establecer los umbrales de gestión en 843 estudios. Los métodos abarcaron seis enfoques generales: el impulsado por expertos, el estadístico, el predictivo, el de optimización, el experimental y el artificial. Los objetivos de cada uno de estos estudios influyeron sobre los enfoques utilizados, incluidos los métodos para establecer los umbrales y seleccionar las acciones, así como el número de umbrales establecidos. Fue evidente el papel que jugaron los juicios de valor en el establecimiento de los umbrales; estudios de todas las industrias involucraron con frecuencia a expertos en el establecimiento de los umbrales, con frecuencia acompañados de herramientas computacionales para simular las consecuencias de los umbrales propuestos bajo diferentes condiciones. De los 30 estudios de conservación analizados, dos tercios usaron métodos impulsados por expertos, acorde con la evidencia previa de que la información basada en la experiencia orienta con frecuencia las decisiones de gestión de la conservación. Los métodos que identificamos a partir de otras disciplinas podrían ayudar a los órganos decisorios de la conservación a establecer umbrales para las intervenciones de gestión en diferentes contextos, vinculando las acciones de gestión con las de monitoreo y asegurándose de que las intervenciones de conservación sean oportunas y efectivas. Lecciones de Otras Disciplinas para Establecer Umbrales de Gestión para la Conservación de la Biodiversidad.

Maintaining landholder satisfaction and management of private protected areas established under conservation agreements.

Permanent protection of biodiversity on private lands is achieved through various mechanisms around the world. In Australia, conservation covenants are widely used to dedicate private lands to biodiversity conservation. The permanency of covenants necessitates similarly long-term commitment by landholders to meet and maintain the conservation obligations under the covenant. To better understand the effectiveness of conservation covenants as a tool for on-going environmental stewardship, we examined the relationship between landholders' initial motivations to covenant, their current perspectives on covenants and their management practices. We compared two groups of covenantors, those who initiated a covenant (original signees) and those who acquired a property with a covenant already in place (successive owners). We found the motivations and views of original signees and successive owners were similar overall, showing strong pro-environmental perspectives, and the majority of landholders were continuing to undertake management activities for the benefit of biodiversity. A small portion of respondents were dissatisfied with the covenant mechanism or covenant provider. This group tended to include successive owners and landholders who covenanted for regulatory reasons or financial incentives. Fewer dissatisfied landholders were actively managing the covenanted land compared to those who were satisfied. Considering the impending increase in successive owners as aging covenantors transfer ownership of their properties, the growing potential for covenants required under regulatory arrangements, and decreasing support within covenanting programs, this study identifies a risk that the satisfaction of landholders may decrease over time. Recognizing and addressing the challenges faced by landholders can bolster the commitment to covenant obligations and the longevity of covenants as a mechanism for positive conservation outcomes.

Supporting the adaptive capacity of species through more effective knowledge exchange with conservation practitioners.

There is an imperative for conservation practitioners to help biodiversity adapt to accelerating environmental change. Evolutionary biologists are well-positioned to inform the development of evidence-based management strategies that support the adaptive capacity of species and ecosystems. Conservation practitioners increasingly accept that management practices must accommodate rapid environmental change, but harbour concerns about how to apply recommended changes to their management contexts. Given the interest from both conservation practitioners and evolutionary biologists in adjusting management practices, we believe there is an opportunity to accelerate the required changes by promoting closer collaboration between these two groups. We highlight how evolutionary biologists can harness lessons from other disciplines about how to foster effective knowledge exchange to make a substantive contribution to the development of effective conservation practices. These lessons include the following: (1) recognizing why practitioners do and do not use scientific evidence; (2) building an evidence base that will influence management decisions; (3) translating theory into a format that conservation practitioners can use to inform management practices; and (4) developing strategies for effective knowledge exchange. Although efforts will be required on both sides, we believe there are rewards for both practitioners and evolutionary biologists, not least of which is fostering practices to help support the long-term persistence of species.

Assessing the current state of ecological connectivity in a large marine protected area system.

The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a critical step in ensuring the continued persistence of marine biodiversity. Although the area protected in MPAs is growing, the movement of individuals (or larvae) among MPAs, termed connectivity, has only recently been included as an objective of many MPAs. As such, assessing connectivity is often neglected or oversimplified in the planning process. For promoting population persistence, it is important to ensure that protected areas in a system are functionally connected through dispersal or adult movement. We devised a multi-species model of larval dispersal for the Australian marine environment to evaluate how much local scale connectivity is protected in MPAs and determine whether the extensive system of MPAs truly functions as a network. We focused on non-migratory species with simplified larval behaviors (i.e., passive larval dispersal) (e.g., no explicit vertical migration) as an illustration. Of all the MPAs analyzed (approximately 2.7 million km2 ), outside the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef, <50% of MPAs (46-80% of total MPA area depending on the species considered) were functionally connected. Our results suggest that Australia's MPA system cannot be referred to as a single network, but rather a collection of numerous smaller networks delineated by natural breaks in the connectivity of reef habitat. Depending on the dispersal capacity of the taxa of interest, there may be between 25 and 47 individual ecological networks distributed across the Australian marine environment. The need to first assess the underlying natural connectivity of a study system prior to implementing new MPAs represents a key research priority for strategically enlarging MPA networks. Our findings highlight the benefits of integrating multi-species connectivity into conservation planning to identify opportunities to better incorporate connectivity into the design of MPA systems and thus to increase their capacity to support long-term, sustainable biodiversity outcomes.

Valoración del Estado Actual de la Conectividad Ecológica en un Sistema Extenso de Áreas Marinas Protegidas Resumen La creación de áreas marinas protegidas (AMP) es un paso muy importante para asegurar la persistencia de la biodiversidad marina. Aunque el área protegida dentro de las AMP está creciendo, el movimiento de individuos (o larvas) entre las AMP, denominado conectividad, sólo ha sido incluido recientemente como un objetivo para muchas AMP. Por lo anterior es normal que con frecuencia se ignora la evaluación de la conectividad o se sobresimplifica durante el proceso de planeación. Para promover la persistencia poblacional es importante asegurar que las áreas protegidas en un sistema estén conectadas funcionalmente por medio de la dispersión o el movimiento de individuos adultos. Diseñamos un modelo multiespecie de la dispersión larval para el ambiente marino australiano y así evaluar cuán protegida está la conectividad a escala local en las AMP y determinar si el sistema extensivo de AMP realmente funciona como una red. Nuestro diseño se enfocó en especies no migratorias con comportamientos larvales simplificados (es decir, dispersión larval pasiva) (p. ej.: sin migración vertical explícita) como un ejemplo. De todas las AMP analizadas (aproximadamente 2.7 millones de km2 ), fuera de la Gran Barrera de Arrecifes y el Arrecife Ningaloo, <50% de las AMP (46-80% del área total de la MPA dependiendo de la especie considerada) estaba conectado funcionalmente. Nuestros resultados sugieren que el sistema de AMP australiano no puede ser considerado como una sola red sino más bien como una colección de numerosas redes más pequeñas delineadas por interrupciones naturales en la conectividad del hábitat arrecifal. De acuerdo con la capacidad de dispersión del taxón de interés, puede haber entre 25 y 47 redes ecológicas individuales distribuidas a lo largo del ambiente marino australiano. La necesidad de primero evaluar la conectividad natural subyacente de un sistema de estudio previo a la implementación de nuevas AMP representa una prioridad de investigación clave para aumentar estratégicamente las redes de AMP. Nuestros resultados resaltan los beneficios de la integración de la conectividad multiespecie dentro de la planeación de la conservación para identificar las oportunidades que mejor incorporen la conectividad en el diseño de los sistemas de AMP y así incrementar su capacidad para soportar resultados sustentables de biodiversidad a largo plazo.

The uncertain future of protected lands and waters.

Protected areas are intended to safeguard biodiversity in perpetuity, yet evidence suggests that widespread legal changes undermine protected area durability and efficacy. We documented these legal changes-protected area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) events-in the United States and Amazonian countries and compiled available data globally. Governments of the United States and Amazonian countries enacted 269 and 440 PADDD events, respectively. Between 1892 and 2018, 73 countries enacted 3749 PADDD events, removing 519,857 square kilometers from protection and tempering regulations in an additional 1,659,972 square kilometers; 78% of events were enacted since 2000. Most PADDD events (62%) are associated with industrial-scale resource extraction and development, suggesting that PADDD may compromise biodiversity conservation objectives. Strategic policy responses are needed to address PADDD and sustain effective protected areas.

The case for embedding researchers in conservation agencies.

Although protected areas represent a pivotal response to escalating anthropogenic threats, they face many pressures, inside and outside their boundaries. Amid these challenges, effective conservation is guided by evidence-based decision making supported by dynamic processes of learning and knowledge exchange. Although different models promote knowledge exchange, embedding research scientists within conservation agencies is best suited to supporting evidence-based conservation. Based on available literature and our experiences on several continents, we considered the benefits, challenges, and opportunities associated with embedding research scientists within conservation agencies and the research required to better understand the effectiveness of the embedding model for evidence-based conservation. Embedded researchers provide long-term commitment to building social capital among academic and nonacademic stakeholders; act as skilled gatekeepers who increase 2-way flow of knowledge between scientists and managers; attract, coordinate, and support management-relevant external research projects; drive the design and maintenance of long-term monitoring; and align their research with information needs. Notwithstanding the many benefits, research capacity of conservation agencies is declining worldwide. A significant challenge is that the values, structures, functions, and effectiveness of the embedding model of knowledge exchange remain poorly evaluated and documented. Also, embedded researchers have to balance their desire for creativity and flexibility with the standardization and quality control required by their public sector agencies; may be perceived as not credible because they are not truly independent of their agency; and have to couple scientific productivity with skills for transdisciplinary research, social facilitation, and stakeholder engagement. Systematic research on embedding and other models of knowledge exchange, across different world contexts, is required to better understand the benefits, costs, and institutional arrangements associated with different models.

El Caso para la Incorporación de Investigadores en las Agencias de Conservación Resumen Aunque las áreas protegidas representan una respuesta crucial a las crecientes amenazas antropogénicas, estas enfrentan muchas presiones dentro y fuera de sus fronteras. En medio de estos desafíos, la conservación efectiva se guía por la toma de decisiones con base en evidencias respaldada por los procesos dinámicos de aprendizaje e intercambio de conocimiento. Mientras que diferentes modelos promueven el intercambio de conocimiento, la incorporación de investigadores científicos en las agencias de conservación es más adecuada para respaldar la conservación basada en evidencias. Con base en la literatura disponible y en nuestras experiencias en varios continentes consideramos los beneficios, desafíos y oportunidades asociadas con la incorporación de investigadores científicos en las agencias de conservación y la investigación requerida para entender de mejor manera la efectividad del modelo de incorporación para la conservación basada en evidencias. Los investigadores incorporados proporcionan un compromiso a largo plazo con la construcción de un capital social entre los accionistas académicos y no académicos; fungen como guardianes habilidosos que incrementan el flujo de dos vías de conocimiento entre los científicos y los administradores; atraen, coordinan y apoyan los proyectos de investigación externos relevantes para el manejo; llevan el diseño y el mantenimiento del monitoreo a largo plazo; y alinean su investigación con las necesidades de información. A pesar de los beneficios, la capacidad de investigación de las agencias de conservación está declinando a nivel mundial. Un desafío significativo es que los valores, estructuras, funciones y efectividad del modelo de incorporación del intercambio de conocimiento permanecen pobremente evaluados y documentados. Además, los investigadores incorporados tienen que balancear su deseo por ser creativos y flexibles con la estandarización y el control de calidad requeridos por sus agencias del sector público; pueden ser percibidos como no creíbles porque no son realmente independientes de su agencia; y tienen que emparejar la productividad científica con las habilidades de investigación transdisciplinaria, facilitación social y participación de los accionistas. Se requiere de la investigación sistemática sobre la incorporación y otros modelos de intercambio de conocimiento en diferentes contextos globales para entender de mejor manera los beneficios, costos y arreglos institucionales asociados con diferentes modelos.

Conservation practitioners' understanding of how to manage evolutionary processes.

Both academics and practitioners consider a lack of knowledge about evolutionary theory to be a general barrier to effectively managing genetic diversity. However, it is challenging to judge practitioners' level of understanding and how this influences their management decisions. Knowledge built through experience may be difficult for practitioners to articulate, but could nonetheless result in appropriate management strategies. To date, researchers have assessed only the explicit (formal) knowledge practitioners have of evolutionary concepts. To explore practitioners' understanding of evolutionary concepts, it is necessary to consider how they might apply explicit and implicit knowledge to their management decisions. Using an online survey, we asked Australian practitioners to respond to 2 common management scenarios in which there is strong evidence that managing genetic diversity can improve outcomes: managing small, isolated populations and sourcing seeds for restoration projects. In describing their approach to these scenarios, practitioners demonstrated a stronger understanding of the effective management of genetic diversity than the definitions of the relevant concepts. However, their management of genetic diversity within small populations was closer to best practice than for restoration projects. Moreover, the risks practitioners described in implementing best practice management were more likely to affect their approach to restoration than translocation projects. These findings provide evidence that strategies to build the capacity of practitioners to manage genetic diversity should focus on realistic management scenarios. Given that practitioners recognize the importance of adapting their practices and the strong evidence for the benefits of actively managing genetic diversity, there is hope that better engagement by evolutionary biologists with practitioners could facilitate significant shifts toward evolutionarily enlightened management.

Entendimiento de los Practicantes de la Conservación sobre Cómo Manejar los Procesos Evolutivos Resumen Tanto los académicos como los practicantes consideran que una falta de conocimiento sobre la teoría evolutiva es una barrera general para el manejo efectivo de la diversidad genética. Sin embargo, es complicado juzgar el nivel de entendimiento de los practicantes y cómo éste influye sobre sus decisiones de manejo. El conocimiento construido por medio de la experiencia puede ser difícil de articular para los practicantes, pero de igual manera podría resultar en estrategias adecuadas de manejo. A la fecha, los investigadores han evaluado solamente el conocimiento explícito (formal) que tienen los practicantes sobre los conceptos evolutivos. Para explorar el entendimiento que tienen los practicantes sobre los conceptos evolutivos es necesario considerar cómo podrían aplicar conocimientos explícitos e implícitos a sus decisiones de manejo. Por medio de una encuesta en línea, le pedimos a practicantes australianos que respondieran a dos escenarios comunes de manejo en los cuales hay fuertes evidencias de que el manejo de la diversidad genética puede mejorar los resultados: el manejo de poblaciones pequeñas y aisladas, y la obtención de semillas para proyectos de restauración. Cuando describieron sus métodos para estos escenarios, los practicantes demostraron tener un entendimiento más completo del manejo efectivo de la diversidad genética que de las definiciones de los conceptos relevantes. Sin embargo, su manejo de la diversidad genética dentro de poblaciones pequeñas estuvo más cerca de la mejor práctica que para los proyectos de restauración. Además, los riesgos que los practicantes describieron en la implementación del manejo de la mejor práctica tuvieron una mayor probabilidad de afectar a sus estrategias de restauración que a las de reubicación. Estos resultados proporcionan evidencia de que las estrategias para construir la capacidad de los practicantes para manejar la diversidad genética deben enfocarse en escenarios realistas de manejo. Ya que los practicantes reconocen la importancia de adaptar sus prácticas y reconocen la sólida evidencia para los beneficios del manejo activo de la diversidad genética, hay esperanzas de que una mejor colaboración entre los practicantes y los biólogos evolutivos pudiera facilitar cambios significativos hacia un manejo informado evolutivamente.

Using social-network research to improve outcomes in natural resource management.

The conservation and management of natural resources operates in social-ecological systems in which resource users are embedded in social and environmental contexts that influence their management decisions. Characterizing social networks of resource users can be used to inform understanding of social influences on decision making, and social network analysis (SNA) has emerged as a useful technique to explore these relationships. We synthesized how SNA has been used in 85 studies of natural resource management. We considered how social networks and social processes (e.g., interactions between individuals) influence each other and in turn influence social outcomes (e.g., decisions or actions) that affect environmental outcomes (e.g., improved condition). Descriptive methods were used in 58% of the studies to characterize social processes, and 42% of the studies compared multiple networks or multiple points in time to assess social or environmental outcomes. In 4 studies, authors assessed network interventions intended to affect social processes or environmental outcomes. The heterogeneity in case studies, methods, and analyses preclude general lessons. Thus, to structure and further learning about the role of social networks in achieving environmental outcomes, we created a typology that deconstructs social processes, social outcomes, and environmental outcomes into themes and options of social and ecological measures within each. We suggest shifts in research foci toward intervention studies to aid in understanding causality and inform the design of conservation initiatives. There is a need to develop clearer justification and guidance around the proliferation of network measures. The use of SNA in natural resource management is expanding rapidly; thus, now is the time for the conservation community to build a more rigorous evidence base to demonstrate the extent to which social networks can play a role in achieving desired social and environmental outcomes.

Understanding managers' and scientists' perspectives on opportunities to achieve more evolutionarily enlightened management in conservation.

Despite wide acceptance that conservation could benefit from greater attention to principles and processes from evolutionary biology, little attention has been given to quantifying the degree to which relevant evolutionary concepts are being integrated into management practices. There has also been increasing discussion of the potential reasons for a lack of evolutionarily enlightened management, but no attempts to understand the challenges from the perspective of those making management decisions. In this study, we asked conservation managers and scientists for their views on the importance of a range of key evolutionary concepts, the degree to which these concepts are being integrated into management, and what would need to change to support better integration into management practices. We found that while managers recognize the importance of a wide range of evolutionary concepts for conservation outcomes, they acknowledge these concepts are rarely incorporated into management. Managers and scientists were in strong agreement about the range of barriers that need to be overcome, with a lack of knowledge reported as the most important barrier to better integration of evolutionary biology into conservation decision-making. Although managers tended to be more focused on the need for more training in evolutionary biology, scientists reported greater engagement between managers and evolutionary biologists as most important to achieve the necessary change. Nevertheless, the challenges appear to be multifaceted, and several are outside the control of managers, suggesting solutions will need to be multidimensional.

Towards quantitative condition assessment of biodiversity outcomes: Insights from Australian marine protected areas.

Protected area management effectiveness (PAME) evaluation is increasingly undertaken to evaluate governance, assess conservation outcomes and inform evidence-based management of protected areas (PAs). Within PAME, quantitative approaches to assess biodiversity outcomes are now emerging, where biological monitoring data are directly assessed against quantitative (numerically defined) condition categories (termed quantitative condition assessments). However, more commonly qualitative condition assessments are employed in PAME, which use descriptive condition categories and are evaluated largely with expert judgement that can be subject to a range of biases, such as linguistic uncertainty and overconfidence. Despite the benefits of increased transparency and repeatability of evaluations, quantitative condition assessments are rarely used in PAME. To understand why, we interviewed practitioners from all Australian marine protected area (MPA) networks, which have access to long-term biological monitoring data and are developing or conducting PAME evaluations. Our research revealed that there is a desire within management agencies to implement quantitative condition assessment of biodiversity outcomes in Australian MPAs. However, practitioners report many challenges in transitioning from undertaking qualitative to quantitative condition assessments of biodiversity outcomes, which are hampering progress. Challenges include a lack of agency capacity (staff numbers and money), knowledge gaps, and diminishing public and political support for PAs. We point to opportunities to target strategies that will assist agencies overcome these challenges, including new decision support tools, approaches to better finance conservation efforts, and to promote more management relevant science. While a single solution is unlikely to achieve full evidence-based conservation, we suggest ways for agencies to target strategies and advance PAME evaluations toward best practice.

Strengthening governance for intertidal ecosystems requires a consistent definition of boundaries between land and sea.

The protection of intertidal ecosystems is complex because they straddle both marine and terrestrial realms. This leads to inconsistent characterisation as marine and/or terrestrial systems, or neither. Vegetated intertidal ecosystems are especially complex to classify because they can have an unclear border with terrestrial vegetation, causing confusion around taxonomy (e.g., mangrove-like plants). This confusion and inconsistency in classification can impact these systems through poor governance and incomplete protection. Using Australian mangrove ecosystems as a case study, we explore the complexity of how land and sea boundaries are defined among jurisdictions and different types of legislation, and how these correspond to ecosystem boundaries. We demonstrate that capturing vegetated intertidal ecosystems under native vegetation laws and prioritizing the mitigation of threats with a terrestrial origin offers the greatest protection to these systems. We also show the impact of inconsistent boundaries on the inclusion of intertidal ecosystems within protected areas. The evidence presented here highlights problems within the Australian context, but most of these issues are also challenges for the management of intertidal ecosystems around the world. Our study demonstrates the urgent need for a global review of legislation governing the boundaries of land and sea to determine whether the suggestions we offer may provide global solutions to ensuring these critical systems do not fall through the cracks in ecosystem protection and management.

Quantifying the extent of protected-area downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement in Australia.

The use of total area protected as the predominant indicator of progress in building protected area (PA) networks is receiving growing criticism. Documenting the full dynamics of PA networks, both in terms of the gains and losses in protection, provides a much more informative approach to tracking progress. To this end, documentation of PA downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD) has increased. Studies of PADDD events generally fail to place these losses in the context of gains in protection; therefore, they omit important elements of PA network dynamics. To address this limitation, we used a spatially explicit approach to identify every parcel of land added to and excised from the Australian terrestrial PA network and PAs that had their level of protection changed over 17 years (1997-2014). By quantifying changes in the spatial configuration of the PA network with time-series data (spatial layers for nine separate time steps), ours is the first assessment of the dynamics (increases and decreases in area and level of protection) of a PA network and the first comprehensive assessment of PADDD in a developed country. We found that the Australian network was highly dynamic; there were 5233 changes in area or level of protection over 17 years. Against a background of enormous increases in area protected, we identified over 1500 PADDD events, which affected over one-third of the network, which were largely the result of widespread downgrading of protection. We believe our approach provides a mechanism for robust tracking of trends in the world's PAs through the use of data from the World Database on Protected Areas. However, this will require greater transparency and improved data standards in reporting changes to PAs.