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

dc.contributor.author

Wilson, Robyn S

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Hardisty, David J

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Epanchin-Niell, Rebecca S

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Runge, Michael C

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Cottingham, Kathryn L

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Urban, Dean L

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Maguire, Lynn A

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Hastings, Alan

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Mumby, Peter J

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Peters, Debra PC

dc.coverage.spatial

United States

dc.date.accessioned

2017-08-04T17:41:09Z

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2017-08-04T17:41:09Z

dc.date.issued

2016-02

dc.description.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.

dc.identifier

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26390368

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1523-1739

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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/15183

dc.language

eng

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Wiley

dc.relation.ispartof

Conserv Biol

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10.1111/cobi.12632

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decision theory

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disminuciones temporales

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economics

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economía

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psicología

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psychology

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sistemas socio-ecológicos

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socioecological systems

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temporal lags

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teoría de decisión

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Conservation of Natural Resources

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Decision Making

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Environmental Policy

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Time Factors

dc.title

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

dc.type

Journal article

duke.contributor.orcid

Urban, Dean L|0000-0003-3472-582X

pubs.author-url

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26390368

pubs.begin-page

42

pubs.end-page

49

pubs.issue

1

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Duke

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Duke Science & Society

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Environmental Sciences and Policy

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Initiatives

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Institutes and Provost's Academic Units

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Nicholas School of the Environment

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

30

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