TY - JOUR
T1 - Principles for managing marine ecosystems prone to tipping points
AU - Selkoe, Kimberly A.
AU - Blenckner, Thorsten
AU - Caldwell, Margaret R.
AU - Crowder, Larry B.
AU - Erickson, Ashley L.
AU - Essington, Timothy E.
AU - Estes, James A.
AU - Fujita, Rod M.
AU - Halpern, Benjamin S.
AU - Hunsicker, Mary E.
AU - Kappel, Carrie V.
AU - Kelly, Ryan P.
AU - Kittinger, John N.
AU - Levin, Phillip S.
AU - Lynham, John M.
AU - Mach, Megan E.
AU - Martone, Rebecca G.
AU - Mease, Lindley A.
AU - Salomon, Anne K.
AU - Samhouri, Jameal F.
AU - Scarborough, Courtney
AU - Stier, Adrian C.
AU - White, Crow
AU - Zedler, Joy
N1 - Funding Information:
The coauthors thank our colleagues in the Ocean Tipping Points Scientific Working Group, All Hands Meeting, and Expert Management Advisory Group who provided insights and critique of our ideas and framing: Cindy Boyko, Malia Chow, William Douros, Ernie Gladstone, Elia Herman, Martha Kongsgaard, Frazer McGilvray, Will Stelle, John Weber, Steve Weisberg, Phil Williams, Joy Zedler, John Lynham, and Bruno Nkuiya. We also thank Terry Chapin, Steve Carpenter, and two anonymous reviewers for critical feedback on this manuscript. Primary funding was provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, with additional support to K. A. Selkoe from National Science Foundation (BioOCE Award 1260169).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Copyright: © 2015 Selkoe et al.
PY - 2015/7/1
Y1 - 2015/7/1
N2 - As climatic changes and human uses intensify, resource managers and other decision makers are taking actions to either avoid or respond to ecosystem tipping points, or dramatic shifts in structure and function that are often costly and hard to reverse. Evidence indicates that explicitly addressing tipping points leads to improved management outcomes. Drawing on theory and examples from marine systems, we distill a set of seven principles to guide effective management in ecosystems with tipping points, derived from the best available science. These principles are based on observations that tipping points (1) are possible everywhere, (2) are associated with intense and/or multifaceted human use, (3) may be preceded by changes in early‐warning indicators, (4) may redistribute benefits among stakeholders, (5) affect the relative costs of action and inaction, (6) suggest biologically informed management targets, and (7) often require an adaptive response to monitoring. We suggest that early action to preserve system resilience is likely more practical, affordable, and effective than late action to halt or reverse a tipping point. We articulate a conceptual approach to management focused on linking management targets to thresholds, tracking early‐warning signals of ecosystem instability, and stepping up investment in monitoring and mitigation as the likelihood of dramatic ecosystem change increases. This approach can simplify and economize management by allowing decision makers to capitalize on the increasing value of precise information about threshold relationships when a system is closer to tipping or by ensuring that restoration effort is sufficient to tip a system into the desired regime.
AB - As climatic changes and human uses intensify, resource managers and other decision makers are taking actions to either avoid or respond to ecosystem tipping points, or dramatic shifts in structure and function that are often costly and hard to reverse. Evidence indicates that explicitly addressing tipping points leads to improved management outcomes. Drawing on theory and examples from marine systems, we distill a set of seven principles to guide effective management in ecosystems with tipping points, derived from the best available science. These principles are based on observations that tipping points (1) are possible everywhere, (2) are associated with intense and/or multifaceted human use, (3) may be preceded by changes in early‐warning indicators, (4) may redistribute benefits among stakeholders, (5) affect the relative costs of action and inaction, (6) suggest biologically informed management targets, and (7) often require an adaptive response to monitoring. We suggest that early action to preserve system resilience is likely more practical, affordable, and effective than late action to halt or reverse a tipping point. We articulate a conceptual approach to management focused on linking management targets to thresholds, tracking early‐warning signals of ecosystem instability, and stepping up investment in monitoring and mitigation as the likelihood of dramatic ecosystem change increases. This approach can simplify and economize management by allowing decision makers to capitalize on the increasing value of precise information about threshold relationships when a system is closer to tipping or by ensuring that restoration effort is sufficient to tip a system into the desired regime.
KW - critical transition
KW - ecosystem-based management
KW - marine spatial planning
KW - nonlinear relationships
KW - restoration ecology
KW - stakeholder engagement
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U2 - 10.1890/EHS14-0024.1
DO - 10.1890/EHS14-0024.1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84966358011
SN - 2096-4129
VL - 1
SP - 1
EP - 18
JO - Ecosystem Health and Sustainability
JF - Ecosystem Health and Sustainability
IS - 5
ER -