Incorporating experiments into management to facilitate rapid learning about climate change adaptation

Abstract

Conservation agencies worldwide are adapting their management plans to climate change. Dozens of climate change adaptation strategies have been proposed in the literature, and practitioners are already implementing many of these strategies. However, very few strategies have been tested empirically to determine if and when they will be effective. Hence, conservation agencies could be investing significant resources in strategies that fail to produce the desired results or cause harmful unintended consequences. Rigorous tests of climate change adaptation strategies are likely lacking because of a tradeoff between the time and resources necessary to implement these tests, and the urgent need for action. Here, we suggest that management actions should be designed as experiments to test climate change adaptation strategies without delaying action. Specifically, we suggest that practitioners employ multiple climate change adaptation strategies simultaneously following the tenets of experimental design. Using this experimental approach will not only provide the evidence necessary to support future actions, it also has many other benefits, including: (1) increasing resilience of the managed system through the portfolio effect, (2) providing tests of our knowledge in climate change biology, (3) helping practitioners and funders overcome the fear of failure, (4) resolving stakeholder conflicts, and (5) providing opportunities for highly effective science and management communication. We provide two case studies to demonstrate how ecological restorations can be designed as experiments to test commonly proposed climate change adaptation strategies. We conclude by suggesting creative ways to implement and fund experimental approaches through co-production of research and unconventional funding strategies.