title: Efficient use of information in adaptive management with an application to managing recreation near golden eagle nesting sites.
abstract: It is generally the case that a significant degree of uncertainty exists concerning the behavior of ecological systems. Adaptive management has been developed to address such structural uncertainty, while recognizing that decisions must be made without full knowledge of how a system behaves. This paradigm attempts to use new information that develops during the course of management to learn how the system works. To date, however, adaptive management has used a very limited information set to characterize the learning that is possible. This paper uses an extension of the Partial Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) framework to expand the information set used to update belief in competing models. This feature can potentially increase the speed of learning through adaptive management, and lead to better management in the future. We apply this framework to a case study wherein interest lies in managing recreational restrictions around golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) nesting sites. The ultimate management objective is to maintain an abundant eagle population in Denali National Park while minimizing the regulatory burden on park visitors. In order to capture this objective, we developed a utility function that trades off expected breeding success with hiker access. Our work is relevant to the management of human activities in protected areas, but more generally demonstrates some of the benefits of POMDP in the context of adaptive management.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Fackler
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Ecology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Krishna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pacifici
authors.affiliation: Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, United States Geological Survey, Laurel, Maryland, United States of America; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Florida, United States of America.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: National Park Service, Fairbanks, Alaska, United States of America.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: McIntyre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020307:Eagles / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009425:Nesting Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
references.citation: Conserv Biol. 2011 Apr;25(2):316-23
references.pmid: 21342265
references.citation: J Environ Manage. 2014 Jan 15;133:27-36
references.pmid: 24355689