Eco Evidence: Using the scientific literature to inform evidence-based decision making in environmental management

Abstract

In the face of increasing human-induced pressures on natural environments, managers must balance the needs of environmental and human uses in a transparent and defensible manner. Sound decision making in environmental management relies on understanding causal relationships between environmental stressors and ecological responses. However, causal relations are difficult to demonstrate in natural environments because of the difficulty of performing experiments, natural variability, lack of replication, and the presence of confounding influences. Partly because of this, most environmental management decisions are made using expert opinion. Such decisions can lack transparency. Epidemiologists r..