Application of Threshold Concepts in Natural Resource Decision Making

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Threshold Concepts: Implications for the Management of Natural Resources

   • Glenn R. Guntenspergen, John Gross

   Pages 1-7

3. Thresholds for Conservation and Management: Structured Decision Making as a Conceptual Framework

   • James D. Nichols, Mitchell J. Eaton, Julien Martin

   Pages 9-28

4. Identifying Objectives and Alternative Actions to Frame a Decision Problem

   • Michael C. Runge, Terry Walshe

   Pages 29-43

5. Optimization in Natural Resources Conservation

   • Byron K. Williams, James D. Nichols

   Pages 45-65

6. Application of Threshold Concepts to Ecological Management Problems: Occupancy of Golden Eagles in Denali National Park, Alaska

   • Mitchell J. Eaton, Julien Martin, James D. Nichols, Carol McIntyre, Maggie C. McCluskie, Joel A. Schmutz et al.

   Pages 67-86

7. Monitoring for Threshold-Dependent Decisions

   • David R. Smith, Craig D. Snyder, Nathaniel P. Hitt, Paul H. Geissler

   Pages 87-100

8. Applying Threshold Concepts to Conservation Management of Dryland Ecosystems: Case Studies on the Colorado Plateau

   • Matthew A. Bowker, Mark E. Miller, Steven L. Garman, Travis Belote

   Pages 101-130

9. Using Natural Range of Variation to Set Decision Thresholds: A Case Study for Great Plains Grasslands

   • Amy J. Symstad, Jayne L. Jonas

   Pages 131-156

10. Evaluating Bioassessment Designs and Decision Thresholds Using Simulation Techniques

    • Craig D. Snyder, Nathaniel P. Hitt, David R. Smith, Jonathan P. Daily

    Pages 157-197

11. Getting the Message Across: Using Ecological Integrity to Communicate with Resource Managers

    • Brian R. Mitchell, Geraldine L. Tierney, E. William Schweiger, Kathryn M. Miller, Don Faber-Langendoen, James B. Grace

    Pages 199-230

12. Use, Misuse, and Limitations of Threshold Indicator Taxa Analysis (TITAN) for Natural Resource Management

    • Ryan S. King, Matthew E. Baker

    Pages 231-254

13. Ecosystem Trajectories: A Statistical Approach to Analyze Changing Pressure-Response Relationships Over Time

    • Jacob Carstensen

    Pages 255-272

14. Detection of Harbingers of Catastrophic Regime Shifts in Drylands

    • Robert A. Washington-Allen, R. Douglas Ramsey, Thomas G. Van Niel, Neil E. West

    Pages 273-289

15. Ecological Thresholds for Salt Marsh Nekton and Vegetation Communities

    • Mary-Jane James-Pirri, Jeffrey L. Swanson, Charles T. Roman, Howard S. Ginsberg, James F. Heltshe

    Pages 291-319

16. Back Matter

    Pages 321-324

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Natural resource managers face a complex decision-making environment characterized by the potential occurrence of rapid and abrupt ecological change. These abrupt changes are poorly accommodated by traditional natural resource planning and decision-making processes. As recognition of threshold processes has increased, contemporary models of ecological systems have been modified to better represent a broader range of ecological system dynamics. Key conceptual advances associated with the ideas of non-linear responses, the existence of multiple ecological stable states and critical thresholds are more likely the rule than the exception in ecological systems. Once an ecological threshold is crossed, the ecosystem in question is not likely to return to its previous state. There are many examples and a general consensus that climatic disruptions will drive now stable systems across ecological thresholds.

This book provides professional resource managers with a broad general decision framework that illustrates the utility of including ecological threshold concepts in natural resource management. It gives an entry into the literature in this rapidly evolving concept, with descriptions and discussion of the promising statistical approaches for threshold detection and demonstrations of the utility of the threshold framework via a series of case studies.

• USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, USA

  Glenn R. Guntenspergen

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