Conservation scientists, national governments, and international conservation groups seek to devise, and implement, governance strategies that mitigate human impact on the environment. However, few studies to date have systematically investigated the performance of different systems of governance in achieving successful conservation outcomes. Here, we use a newly-developed analytic framework to conduct analyses of a suite of case studies, linking different governance strategies to standardized scores for delivering ecosystem services, achieving sustainable use of natural resources, and conserving biodiversity, at both local and international levels. Our results: (
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) confirm the benefits of adaptive management; and (
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) reveal strong associations for the role of leadership. Our work provides a critical step toward implementing empirically justified governance strategies that are capable of improving the management of human-altered environments, with benefits for both biodiversity and people.
The 1996 'North Cape' oil spill along the Rhode Island coast led to the deaths of at least 2292 birds, resulting in an estimated 6275 bird-years lost (adjusted by expected longevity and productivity). We synthesize information on bird population dynamics to develop an appropriate restoration strategy. Marine birds (seaducks, loons, grebes) with natural recovery periods estimated to exceed 1 yr accounted for 87% of the total bird-years lost. Marine birds (gulls, cormorants, alcids, gannets) with recovery estimated to be less than a year accounted for 10% of injuries. Common loons Gavia immer and common eiders Somateria mollissima were selected as targets for restoration because of regional concern over their population status and the magnitude of lost bird-years. Three restoration options were evaluated for loons: nest site protection; nest site enhancement; and public education/outreach. Nest site enhancement opportunities were limited and benefits from public education/outreach efforts were uncertain. Nest site protection was preferred for both loons and eiders because nest site availability and/or quality currently limit(s) productivity. This option assumes that preventing future productivity loss compensates for productivity loss that resulted from the 'North Cape' oil spill. This assumption is supported by regional productivity estimates for the 2 target species, is consistent with scientific literature, and represents the consensus of expert opinions. Based on a series of scaling calculations, protection of 25 nest sites for a 100 yr period is expected to balance the loss of 2920 loon-years. Protection of 315 eider nest sites over a 100 yr period would replace 2605 bird-years lost (remaining marine bird injury). Calculations adjust future production credit through economic discounting of 3% yr
Deposition models, such as the Shoreline Deposition Model (SDM) used to quantify nearshore avian injuries resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, were developed to improve the estimates of nearshore avian mortality resulting from the release of oil into coastal and marine environments. Unlike earlier approaches to injury quantification, such as simple counts of carcasses on the shoreline, a modeling approach allows trustees to evaluate the precision of their estimate (i.e., to develop a confidence interval) and can inform decision-making and the likely utility of additional primary data collection activities through sensitivity analyses. In this paper, we rely on published literature, actual DWH data, and a deposition model simulation to evaluate how different model inputs and assumptions can affect the accuracy and precision of model results. We find that the precision of deposition models is strongly affected by the length of time between subsequent shoreline searches, the underlying magnitude of carcass deposition, carcass persistence probabilities, and carcass detection probabilities. In addition, the accuracy of deposition model results may be affected by natural fluctuations in deposition rates. Given these findings, we recommend that natural resource trustees include an evaluation of future model uncertainty as part of their initial data collection efforts. This will allow them to deploy resources in a way that maximizes the utility of future deposition model results. We also identify several factors that do not need to be assessed immediately following a spill event, thereby potentially freeing resources for more time critical data collection efforts.
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