Adaptive Management Practices Research Articles

Governing Carbon Mitigation and Climate Change within Local Councils: A Case Study of Adelaide, South Australia

There is growing concern about climate change impacts on local government areas. In Australia, the federal carbon tax (from 1 July 2012) will also increase costs for local councils. This paper evaluates what carbon mitigation (i.e. energy, water, and waste management) actions have been implemented by metropolitan Adelaide councils (n=14) and why (or why not). A survey of environmental officers profiled carbon mitigation actions, emissions auditing, and motives for emissions reduction by Adelaide councils. The main reasons for adopting carbon actions were a climate change plan, climate leadership, and cost savings. Internal council governance of climate change actions was also evaluated. A climate governance framework based on adaptive management, communication, and reflective practice (Nursey-Bray 2010) was applied to assess climate mitigation by Adelaide councils.

Do hunters tell the truth? Evaluation of hunters' spring pair density estimates of the grey partridge Perdix perdix

Hunters' estimates of pair densities of the grey partridge Perdix perdix as derived from an annual questionnaire survey (‘Game Survey Lower Saxony’, WTE) were evaluated by comparison with detailed ground‐truthing censuses in 123 randomly chosen hunting districts representing 63,847 ha potential grey partridge habitat. Estimates and evaluation‐census‐densities were highly significantly correlated. The median of the hunters' estimate errors, disregarding the direction of the relative discrepancy, was 24.2%. Hunters underestimated the density per 100 ha potential habitat by 0.16 breeding pairs on average. The discrepancy increased with higher grey partridge densities and increasing size of the hunting district. The satisfactory agreement between the estimates of the hunters, in most cases local farmers, and the evaluation survey is explained by their comprehensive year‐round presence through their hunting, farming but also their leisure activities and their special interest in this charismatic bird combined with its site fidelity. We recommend the consultation of WTE data as a valuable source of basic information on distribution and abundance of grey partridges to identify spatial conservation priorities, to justify conservation initiatives and to adapt management practices.

America’s Rivers and the American Experiment1

Doyle, Martin W., 2012. America’s Rivers and the American Experiment. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(4): 820‐837. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2012.00652.xAbstract: America’s rivers are managed, over long periods of time, based on the most basic ideologies of the United States (U.S.) government. An essential notion of the U.S. government, and thus a necessity of river management, is governing as experiment. This leads to three necessary characteristics of river management: (1) adapting management practices based on experience and thus creating management and agency structures that are highly malleable and that can change directions, (2) overlapping of management roles and responsibilities between agencies which includes intentional redundancy and interagency competition, and (3) federalism — the devolution of responsibilities between national, state, and other unit governments (e.g., municipalities, counties). While these characteristics are often criticized as inefficient, in fact they have provided a surprisingly effective system for river management that has responded to the needs of society at different times and in different places. A key question for river and water resource managers is whether this particular system, so initially unappealing, is best able to meet the future needs of the U.S.

Trends in primary particulate matter emissions from Canadian agriculture

Particulate matter (PM) has long been recognized as an air pollutant due to its adverse health and environmental impacts. As emission of PM from agricultural operations is an emerging air quality issue, the Agricultural Particulate Matter Emissions Indicator (APMEI) has been developed to estimate the primary PM contribution to the atmosphere from agricultural operations on Census years and to assess the impact of practices adopted to mitigate these emissions at the soil landscape polygon scale as part of the agri-environmental indicator report series produced by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. In the APMEI, PM emissions from animal feeding operations, wind erosion, land preparation, crop harvest, fertilizer and chemical application, grain handling, and pollen were calculated and compared for the Census years of 1981–2006. In this study, we present the results for PM10 and PM2.5, which exclude chemical application and pollen sources as they only contribute to total suspended particles. In 2006, PM emissions from agricultural operations were estimated to be 652.6 kt for PM10 and 158.1 kt for PM2.5. PM emissions from wind erosion and land preparation account for most of PM emissions from agricultural operations in Canada, contributing 82% of PM10 and 76% of PM2.5 in 2006. Results from the APMEI show a strong reduction in PM emissions from agricultural operations between 1981 and 2006, with a decrease of 40% (442.8 kt) for PM10 and 47% (137.7 kt) for PM2.5. This emission reduction is mainly attributed to the adoption of conservation tillage and no-till practices and the reduction in the area of summerfallow land. Implications: Increasing sustainability in agriculture often means adapting management practices to have a beneficial impact on the environment while maintaining or increasing production and economic benefits. We developed an inventory of primary PM emissions from agriculture in Canada to better quantify the apportionment, spatial distribution, and trends for Census years 1981–2006. We found major reductions of 40% in PM10 and 47% in PM2.5 emissions over the 25-yr period as a co-benefit of increasing carbon sequestration in agricultural soils. Indeed, farmers adopted conservation tillage/no-till practices, increased usage of cover crops, and reduced summerfallow, in order to increase soil organic matter and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which also reduced primary PM emissions, although the agricultural production increased over the period. Supplemental Materials: Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association for primary PM emissions at the soil landscape polygon scale from Canadian agricultural sources in 2006 (adapted from Pattey et al., 2010) and for previous Census years between 1981 and 2001.

Payment for ecosystem services, sustained behavioural change, and adaptive management: peasant perspectives in the Colombian Andes

SUMMARYPayment for ecosystem services (PES) has been widely promoted as an effective and efficient model for conservation; however, few studies have empirically examined how the market-based approach interacts with farmer's decision-making processes and their abilities to sustain new conservation practices. This paper examines the sustainability of a PES silvopastoral programme in Colombia from peasant farmers’ perspectives. Programme participants were asked questions regarding their perceived ability to continue with the silvopastoral practices, the influence of the economic benefits and contracts on behavioural change, and the programme's impacts on self-determination, innovation and social learning; factors considered critical for sustained resource management. While the participants expressed a need for the PES programme practices, less than half stated that they would continue with the silvopastoral measures and only 13% understood that part of their contractual commitment was to conserve forests. Ten per cent of the participants considered themselves the principal decision-maker in the farm-level changes and only one participant had altered the prescribed practices, despite a common perception that some techniques were not suitable for the region. The results suggest a need to re-examine the degree to which the PES model in fact encourages adaptive management practices and sustained land-use behaviours in peasant communities.

Late twentieth century land-cover change in the basin and range ecoregions of the United States

As part of the US Geological Survey’s Land Cover Trends project, land-use/land-cover change estimates between 1973 and 2000 are presented for the basin and range ecoregions, including Northern, Central, Mojave, and Sonoran. Landsat data were employed to estimate and characterize land-cover change from 1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000 using a post-classification comparison. Overall, spatial change was 2.5% (17,830 km2). Change increased steadily between 1973 and 1986 but decreased slightly between 1992 and 2000. The grassland/shrubland class, frequently used for livestock grazing, constituted the majority of the study area and had a net decrease from an estimated 83.8% (587,024 km2) in 1973 to 82.6% (578,242 km2) in 2000. The most common land-use/land-cover conversions across the basin and range ecoregions were indicative of the changes associated with natural, nonmechanical disturbances (i.e., fire), and grassland/shrubland loss to development, agriculture, and mining. This comprehensive look at contemporary land-use/land-cover change provides critical insight into how the deserts of the United States have changed and can be used to inform adaptive management practices of public lands.

Implications of growth uncertainties associated with climate change for stand management

Climate change is expected to have substantial effects on many aspects of forest ecosystems, including timber production. Temperatures in northern Europe are expected to increase considerably, although there is substantial uncertainty about both the seasonal and average changes that will occur. In Scandinavia, production is predicted to increase across most of the area covered by boreal forest, since the growth of trees in the region is currently limited by temperature. Therefore, we have analyzed the importance of adapting management practices to future climate changes and considered possible ways to address associated stand management problems. For this purpose, we simulated climate scenarios with temperature increases ranging from 2.5 to 6.0°C over a 100-year period, and effects on typical Swedish stands with several species, then optimized their management with simulated annealing. The results indicate that the maximum considered temperature trend would raise the economic value of the stands by almost 5% more than the minimum trend. However, the importance of optimizing management plans in accordance with the correct temperature scenario appears to be limited. The plan optimized for the minimum temperature trend was only marginally inferior to the plan optimized for the maximum temperature trend in the maximum trend scenario, and vice versa. It also seemed adequate to use a deterministic formulation of the problem, and in cases where a stochastic climate change model generated more robust plans, the advantage could be attributed to model artifacts rather than climate change per se.

Climate change adaptation and sustainable regional development: a case study for the Federal State of Brandenburg, Germany

Located in a relatively dry region and characterized by mainly sandy soils, the German Federal State of Brandenburg (surrounding the capital city of Berlin) is especially vulnerable to climate change impacts (e.g., summer droughts) and cascading effects on ecological systems (e.g., decreasing ground water tables, water stress, fire risk, productivity losses) with socioeconomic implications. Furthermore, a complex interplay of unemployment, rural exodus, and an aging population challenges this structurally weak region. We discuss adaptation measures that are either implemented or planned, as well as research into adaptation strategies to climate change for the sectors forestry, agriculture, and water management as well as in nature conservation in light of socioeconomic and ecological challenges and benefits. In doing so, we adopt a systemic view of Brandenburg where the sectors discussed are seen as subsystems embedded in a larger regional system. This at least partially holarchical approach enables the identification of conflicts between adaptation measures, but also of synergies among the sectors that pertain to successful adaptation to climate change. The insights gained ultimately highlight the need for cross-sectoral, adaptive management practices that jointly target a sustainable regional development.

A review on the evaluation research of protected marine areas in Mexico

Evaluation Research (ER) has its origins in the XVII century but emerges as a formal discipline in 1970. ER consists on the application of techniques used in social sciences to evaluate specific human activities. The ER design may be experimental, quasi experimental or non-experimental and must contain at least 10 basic points where the planning and evaluation are particularly important. In Mexico there have been efforts to evaluate the programs of social development since 1917. Currently, this task is performed by the National Council for Social Policy Evaluation and the assessment of all social programs is compulsory. Regarding to the administration of natural resources, ER is essential; however, papers published on the subject are scarce. In order to improve the management of the Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and to assess the level on which the goals and objectives has been reached (Adaptive Management) the ER is applied to evaluate the implementation of MPAs using different methodologies. In Mexico, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas is in chargeof the evaluation of the MPAs; however, the methods used have proven little effective and lack of technical capacity. In the MPAs to do such assessments it is necessary to reinforce the evaluation capacity within the administration of MPA supported by civil organizations and academy. Proper assessment of MPAs in Mexico will allow the practice of a true adaptive management, to meet the implementation objectives and, above all, a clear accountability to the society on the effectiveness of MPA as a tool to manage natural resources.

The restoration of vegetation cover in the semi-arid Iberian southeast

Semi-arid landscapes in the western Mediterranean have been used for millennia, resulting in large-scale transformations and widespread degradation. In some instances, these degraded environments have been unable to recover spontaneously, and ambitious restoration programs have been launched over the last decades to improve landscape conditions. Ecological restoration may speed up succession, promote more complex communities and increase their functionality. But uncertainty in the definition of restoration objectives, failure to identify most efficient practices and, particularly, socio-economic and cultural constrains may compromise future actions. Here, we review recent advances in the restoration of semi-arid vegetation cover in the Iberian southeast, discuss future challenges and suggest two key steps towards increasing the consistency and efficiency of restoration programs: emphasis on ecosystem services, and implementation of participative and adaptive management practices.

Lack of natural control mechanisms increases wildlife–forestry conflict in managed temperate European forest systems

Across Europe, ungulate numbers have greatly increased over the past decades, leading to increasing concerns about the ecological and economical impacts and pleas for stronger population control. However, focussing on population control only ignores other underlying factors which may enhance the wildlife–forestry conflict. I reviewed factors which shape herbivore top-down effects in natural temperate forest systems aiming at understanding how these interactions are altered in managed forests. Carnivores are important in modifying ungulate–plant interactions. They can directly influence the numbers of ungulates, but this effect is dependent on productivity and predicted to be smallest in highly productive temperate forest. Indirectly, they modify herbivore top-down effects by creating a landscape of fear. Despite the abundance of knowledge from American systems, there is a lack of knowledge on how this process might work in European systems. Next to carnivores, abiotic conditions interact with herbivory by influencing forage quality and availability. Forest gaps lead to concentration of ungulates and their effects, due to increased forage supply. Abiotic conditions also influence the response of plants following herbivory, which can be tolerated by showing increased regrowth or resistance due to chemical or physical defence. In typical managed forest systems, carnivores and abiotic conditions which shape ungulate top-down effects in natural forests are altered or absent. Human hunting might replace the direct effects of carnivores, but does not replace their indirect effects. Forestry practices also have modified herbivore–plant interactions in several ways, creating a forest with lower ungulate carrying capacity and higher sensitivity for ungulate browsing. These changes logically increase the strength of herbivore top-down effects in managed forests and increase the wildlife–forestry conflict. To reduce this conflict, aiming only at reducing wildlife numbers is predicted to have little effects when they do not coincide with habitat ameliorations. Forestry practices may therefore greatly enhance the conflict that exists between wildlife and forestry but can also be an important tool to reduce this conflict by adapting management practices that allow more natural functioning of forests systems.

Value of adaptive water resources management in Northern California under climatic variability and change: Reservoir management

Summary This article aims to assess the value of adaptive reservoir management versus traditional operation practices in the context of climatic change for Northern California. The assessment uses adaptive decision model being developed for planning and operational management of the Northern California (central valley) water resources system ( HRC-GWRI, 2007 ), coupled with a dynamic downscaling and hydrologic modeling system described in Georgakakos et al. (this issue) . The assessment process compares the water system response in four simulated scenarios, pertaining to two management policies (traditional and adaptive) and two hydrologic data sets (one for the historical and a second for a future scenario). The assessments show that the current policy, which is tuned to the historical hydrologic regime, is unable to cope effectively with the more variable future climate. As a result, the water supply, energy, and environmental water uses cannot be effectively satisfied during future droughts, exposing the system to higher vulnerabilities and risks. By contrast, the adaptive policy maintains similar performance under both hydrologic scenarios, suggesting that adaptive management constitutes an effective mitigation measure to climate change.

Conservation and Adaptive Management of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)

Abstract: Worldwide specific agricultural systems and landscapes have been created, shaped and maintained by generations of farmers and herders based on diverse natural resources using locally adapted management practices. Building on local knowledge and experience these ingenious agricultural systems reflect the evolution of humankind, the diversity of its knowledge and its profound relationship with nature. These systems have resulted not only in outstanding landscapes maintenance and adaptation of globally significant agricultural biodiversity indigenous knowledge systems and resilient ecosystems, but above all, in the sustained provision of multiple goods and services, food and livelihood security and quality of life. However, many of these systems are facing severe threats from various sources including globalization. In 2002 FAO initiated an international partnership initiative: “conservation and adaptive management of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)”. The global GIAHS initi...

Marine Resource Management in the Hawaiian Archipelago: The Traditional Hawaiian System in Relation to the Western Approach

Over a period of many centuries the Polynesians who inhabited Hawai‘i developed a carefully regulated and sustainable “ahupua‘a” management system that integrated watershed, freshwater and nearshore marine resources based on the fundamental linkages between all ecosystems from the mountain tops to the sea. This traditional scheme employed adaptive management practices keyed to subtle changes in natural resources. Sophisticated social controls on resource utilization were an important component of the system. Over the past two centuries a “Western system” gradually replaced much of the traditional Hawaiian system. There are major differences between the two systems in the areas of management practices, management focus, knowledge base, dissemination of information, resource monitoring, legal authority, access rights, stewardship and enforcement. However, there is a recent shift toward incorporating elements of the traditional scheme using methods and terminology acceptable and appropriate to present day realities. This trend is exemplified by the management plan for the newly formed Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. This is one of the largest protected areas in the world and is being managed with a focus on Native Hawaiian cultural values in relation to conservation, ecological, historical, scientific, and educational resource protection.

Integration of numerical modeling and Bayesian analysis for setting water quality criteria in Hamilton Harbour, Ontario, Canada

The credibility of the scientific methodology of mathematical models and their adequacy to form the basis of public policy decisions has frequently been challenged. We believe that the development of novel methods for rigorously assessing model uncertainty should be a top priority of the modeling community. In this regard, we introduce the Bayesian calibration of process-based models as a methodological advancement that warrants consideration in aquatic ecosystem research. This modeling framework combines the advantageous features of both mechanistic and statistical approaches, i.e., mechanistic understanding that remains within the bounds of data-based parameter estimation. Other advantages of the Bayesian approach are the ability to sequentially update “beliefs” as new knowledge is available, the consistency with the scientific process of progressive learning and the policy practice of adaptive management. In this study, the Bayesian calibration framework is used to guide the water quality criteria setting process in Hamilton Harbour, Ontario, Canada. First, we present the results of the Bayesian calibration exercise and examine the ability of the model to adequately reproduce the average observed patterns along with the major cause–effect relationships underlying the Harbour water quality conditions. We then address the following critical questions regarding the future response of the system: How possible is it to meet the objective of delisting the study system as an Area of Concern, if the nutrient loading reductions proposed by the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan are actually implemented? What additional remedial actions are needed to increase the likelihood of meeting the water quality targets? In this regard, the present modeling study undertakes an estimation of the critical nutrient loads in the Harbour based on acceptable exceedance frequencies and confidence of compliance levels with different water quality criteria, e.g., chlorophyll a, total phosphorus (TP). Our analysis suggests that the water quality goals for TP (17 μg L−1) and chlorophyll a concentrations (5–10 μg L−1) will likely be met, if the recommendation for phosphorus loading at the level of 142 kg day−1 is achieved. We also provide evidence that the anticipated structural shifts of the zooplankton community will determine the restoration rate of the Harbour. Finally, we pinpoint two critical aspects of the system dynamics that invite further investigation and will likely modulate the stability of the new trophic state, i.e., the coupling between the benthic and pelagic habitat and the relative importance of the allochthonous organic matter in sustaining the secondary production in the system.

Stewardship, learning, and memory in disaster resilience

In this contribution, we propose and explore the following hypothesis: civic ecology practices, including urban community forestry, community gardening, and other self‐organized forms of stewardship of green spaces in cities, are manifestations of how memories of the role of greening in healing can be instrumentalized through social learning to foster social–ecological system (SES) resilience following crisis and disaster. Further, we propose that civic ecology communities of practice within and across cities help to leverage these memories into effective practices, and that these communities of practice serve as urban iterations of the collaborative and adaptive management practices that play a role in SES resilience in more rural settings. We present two urban examples to build support for this hypothesis: the Living Memorials Project in post‐9/11 New York City, and community forestry in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. These cases demonstrate what we refer to as a memorialization mechanism that leads to feedbacks critical to SES resilience. The process begins immediately after a crisis, when a spontaneous and collective memorialization of lost ones through gardening and tree planting ensues, following which a community of practice emerges to act upon and apply these memories to social learning about greening practices. This in turn may lead to new kinds of learning, including about collective efficacy and ecosystem services production, through a kind of feedback between remembering, learning, and enhancing individual, social, and environmental well‐being. This process, in the case of greening in cities, may confer SES resilience, through contributing to both psychological–social resistance and resilience and ecosystem benefits.

Regionalization of Runoff Variability of Alberta, Canada, by Wavelet, Independent Component, Empirical Orthogonal Function, and Geographical Information System Analyses

Statistical methods of wavelet, independent component analysis (ICA), and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis were used together with geographical information systems (GIS) to regionalize runoff variability, establish baseline predisturbance hydrologic regimes, and account for runoff heterogeneity across Alberta, Canada as part of an effort to develop future adaptive forest management practices for Alberta. Both ICA and EOF identified three hydrologic clusters from 59 stations of catchment runoff data. However, ICA identified hydrologic clusters that agree better with the five ecoregions of Alberta than that of EOF. These are the Rocky Mountains and foothills, where runoff was characterized by a fairly consistent temporal variability and dominated by a strong annual cycle, southern Alberta/central Alberta, where temporal heterogeneity and a weak annual cycle dominated the runoff variability, and in southwestern Alberta, where the runoff variability was characterized by annual, 4–7, and 11-year cycles. Apparently stagnation moraine dominate hydrologic responses of most catchments in the grasslands and part of the boreal forests of western, central, and eastern Alberta. Empirical equations developed showed that stagnation moraine explained 64% of the runoff variability of selected catchments and that runoff was significantly diminished when stagnation moraines covered at least 74% of the catchment area. The identification of three spatially heterogeneous hydrologic clusters in Alberta, a province that is defined by four spatially homogeneous precipitation regimes indicates the necessity to develop forest management practices that will be suitable to manage Alberta’s forests.

System of systems approach to policy development for global food security

A formal policy development framework, based on a system of systems (SoS) approach, is synthesized to systematically address, in an integrative and adaptive fashion, major global challenges, such as the current food and financial crises, and their interactions with other key natural, societal, and technological systems. A SoS approach seeks to respect the different value systems of multiple participants, to harness complexity through effective integration, and to engage the world of uncertainty and unpredictability with an adaptive response. Faced with the present global challenges, what is needed are strategic and operational methods which lead to ethical policies, enhance integrative and adaptive management practices, and are able to direct conflict resolution in a positive direction. Policy makers need tools to model and analyze complex systems which they are trying to responsibly govern, taking into account values and risks to design and evaluate different policies. A preliminary investigation into the global food system is undertaken to understand the SoS and to provide insights on how to carry out policy development using the proposed framework.

Cross-Border Organisations as an Adaptive Water Management Response to Climate Change: The Case of the Guadiana River Basin

In this paper we analyse the role played by cross-border organisations in the Guadiana river basin in Iberia, and the extent to which new emerging institutional arrangements carry on adaptive management practice as a response to mounting climate change risks in the river basin. Particular attention is paid to the new transboundary agencies, as promoted by the EU INTERREG programmes, and their potential for mainstreaming climate change considerations into Guadiana river basin development strategies. Results indicate that the penetration of climate change concerns into regional development policies requires a better integration of different policies and improved connectivity and coordination between multiple actors operating across sectors, and at different spatial scales. We argue that the emergence of new transboundary agencies capable of performing these bridging functions is a vital ingredient for building climate adaptive capacity in these cross-border regions.

Adaptive Management of Stream Channel Maintenance at Bridge Crossings in the Northern Tier Region, Pennsylvania1

Abstract: An adaptive management framework is applied to the problem of identifying mitigation measures for sediment deposition near bridge crossings in small streams in the Northern Tier region of northern Pennsylvania. The presence of the rigid bridge infrastructure introduces a challenge for applying adaptive management practices, because the integrity of the bridge structure itself has to be maintained regardless of the mitigation practices used in the stream channel near the bridge. In an effort to overcome the unacceptable risk that field‐scale adaptive management experiments present to rigid bridge infrastructure, an adaptive management approach for laboratory‐scale experimentation of mitigation methods at bridge crossings in the Northern Tier region is presented as a way to decrease the level of uncertainty about channel response to mitigation measures and increase the rate of learning about the effectiveness of these measures. Four cycles of adaptive management experiments are discussed to demonstrate that this approach results in fast and efficient learning about channel response to mitigation methods for the given conditions. The value of monitoring and of assessment of monitored data in the overall efficiency of the adaptive management approach is highlighted. Assessment of what was learned in the adaptive management experiment cycles presented here leads to new directions to continually improve management policies and practices in stream channels at bridge crossings in the Northern Tier region. The adaptive management process, rather than continuing with a normally risk‐averse management approach, results in opportunities for learning new information about a system’s response.