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A typology of time-scale mismatches and behavioral interventions to diagnose and solve conservation problems.

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Date
2016-02
Authors
Wilson, Robyn S
Hardisty, David J
Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca S
Runge, Michael C
Cottingham, Kathryn L
Urban, Dean L
Maguire, Lynn A
Hastings, Alan
Mumby, Peter J
Peters, Debra PC
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Abstract
Ecological systems often operate on time scales significantly longer or shorter than the time scales typical of human decision making, which causes substantial difficulty for conservation and management in socioecological systems. For example, invasive species may move faster than humans can diagnose problems and initiate solutions, and climate systems may exhibit long-term inertia and short-term fluctuations that obscure learning about the efficacy of management efforts in many ecological systems. We adopted a management-decision framework that distinguishes decision makers within public institutions from individual actors within the social system, calls attention to the ways socioecological systems respond to decision makers' actions, and notes institutional learning that accrues from observing these responses. We used this framework, along with insights from bedeviling conservation problems, to create a typology that identifies problematic time-scale mismatches occurring between individual decision makers in public institutions and between individual actors in the social or ecological system. We also considered solutions that involve modifying human perception and behavior at the individual level as a means of resolving these problematic mismatches. The potential solutions are derived from the behavioral economics and psychology literature on temporal challenges in decision making, such as the human tendency to discount future outcomes at irrationally high rates. These solutions range from framing environmental decisions to enhance the salience of long-term consequences, to using structured decision processes that make time scales of actions and consequences more explicit, to structural solutions aimed at altering the consequences of short-sighted behavior to make it less appealing. Additional application of these tools and long-term evaluation measures that assess not just behavioral changes but also associated changes in ecological systems are needed.
Type
Journal article
Subject
decision theory
disminuciones temporales
economics
economía
psicología
psychology
sistemas socio-ecológicos
socioecological systems
temporal lags
teoría de decisión
Conservation of Natural Resources
Decision Making
Environmental Policy
Time Factors
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15183
Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1111/cobi.12632
Publication Info
Wilson, Robyn S; Hardisty, David J; Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca S; Runge, Michael C; Cottingham, Kathryn L; Urban, Dean L; ... Peters, Debra PC (2016). A typology of time-scale mismatches and behavioral interventions to diagnose and solve conservation problems. Conserv Biol, 30(1). pp. 42-49. 10.1111/cobi.12632. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15183.
This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Scholars@Duke

Maguire

Lynn A. Maguire

Professor of the Practice Emeritus
Dr. Maguire's current research uses a combination of methods from decision analysis, environmental conflict resolution and social psychology to study environmental decision making. She focuses on collaborative decision processes where values important to the general public and stakeholders must be combined with technical analysis to determine management strategies. Her recent applications of decision analysis include the management of rare species, invasive species, and wildfire risk. Dr. Maguir
Urban

Dean L. Urban

Professor of Environmental Sciences and Policy
My interest in landscape ecology focuses on the agents and implications of pattern in forested landscapes. Increasingly, my research is in what has been termed "theoretical applied ecology," developing new analytic approaches to applications of immediate practical concern such as conservation planning. A hallmark of my Lab is the integration of field studies, spatial analysis, and simulation modeling in extrapolating our fine-scale empirical understanding of environmental issues to the
Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.
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