Adaptive Management as an Effective Strategy: Interdisciplinary Perceptions for Natural Resources Management.
Adaptive management is a well-established approach to managing natural resources, but there is little evidence demonstrating effectiveness of adaptive management over traditional management techniques. Peer-reviewed literature attempts to draw conclusions about adaptive management effectiveness using social perceptions, but those studies are largely restricted to employees of US federal organizations. To gain a more comprehensive insight into perceived adaptive management effectiveness, this study aimed to broaden the suite of disciplines, professional affiliations, and geographic backgrounds represented by both practitioners and scholars. A questionnaire contained a series of questions concerning factors that lead to or inhibit effective management, followed by another set of questions focused on adaptive management. Using a continuum representing strategies of both adaptive management and traditional management, respondents selected those strategies that they perceived as being effective. Overall, characteristics (i.e., strategies, stakeholders, and barriers) identified by respondents as contributing to effective management closely aligned with adaptive management. Responses were correlated to the type of adaptive management experience rather than an individual's discipline, occupational, or regional affiliation. In particular, perceptions of characteristics contributing to adaptive management effectiveness varied between respondents who identified as adaptive management scholars (i.e., no implementation experience) and adaptive management practitioners. Together, these results supported two concepts that make adaptive management effective: practitioners emphasized adaptive management's value as a long-term approach and scholars noted the importance of stakeholder involvement. Even so, more communication between practitioners and scholars regarding adaptive management effectiveness could promote interdisciplinary learning and problem solving for improved resources management.
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA. lindsay.dreiss@uconn.edu.
Lindsay M
LM
Dreiss
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Jan-Michael
JM
Hessenauer
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Lucas R
LR
Nathan
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Kelly M
KM
O'Connor
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Marjorie R
MR
Liberati
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Danielle P
DP
Kloster
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Janet R
JR
Barclay
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Jason C
JC
Vokoun
Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of Connecticut, 1376 Storrs Road, Unit 4087, Storrs, CT, 06269-4087, USA.
Anita T
AT
Morzillo
D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D017753:Ecosystem; D006077:Government Agencies; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007858:Learning; D000067936:Natural Resources; D016134:Organizational Policy; D011050:Policy Making; D011340:Problem Solving; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
Adaptive management; Barriers; Effective; Interdisciplinary; Perceptions; Stakeholders