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Integrated ecosystem assessments (IEAs) compile and use indicators, risk assessments, and other analyses to address regional policy needs at varying spatial scales. Although approaches to implementing IEAs are context-specific, challenges in data acquisition, management, processing, analysis, and communication are universal. By embracing open science, in which scientific data, methods, and products are made publicly accessible, along with the ever-expanding tools facilitating open science, IEA practitioners will be better equipped to address these challenges. Here, we provide a snapshot of the state of open science practices in IEAs ongoing across the United States. We show that open science has improved the flexibility, reproducibility, and efficiency of the scientific workflows within the IEA framework. Although the initial time investment necessary for developing open science workflows may appear daunting, we show that the subsequent returns provided by the efficient and transparent development of IEA products are worth the effort. By improving the implementation of IEAs, open science tools and principals have the potential to further Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) worldwide.
In the marine science community of practice, the concept of ecosystem-based management (EBM) is a management strategy that incorporates the entire ecosystem, including humans, into resource management decisions and is growing in its use to integrate and manage complex social and marine ecosystems. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Integrated Ecosystem Assessment (IEA) program uses a multidisciplinary framework to help advance EBM and to manage marine resources in an ecosystem context. NOAA has conducted integrated ecosystem assessment research for many years, however, 2020 was the 10-year anniversary of implementation of NOAA's formal IEA framework around the country. This Coastal Management Journal special issue discusses the ten-plus years of IEA experiences with perspectives about and successes in the development and implementation of the NOAA IEA approach. This volume on the NOAA IEA program comprises six manuscripts ranging in content from the history and origin of IEAs in NOAA, to the development and application of IEA components to advance the tenets of EBM in coastal and marine environments.
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