Oral Presentation Freshwater Sciences 2023

Reconciling the multiple roles of monitoring to the adaptive management cycle (#381)

Xiaoyan Dai 1 , Angus Webb 1 , Avril Horne 1
  1. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Monitoring is a crucial aspect of environmental water management (Bonney, 2019; Field et al., 2007). An under-recognized challenge for effective and efficient monitoring design is the dual nature of monitoring in the large-scale environmental management program. On the one hand, monitoring aims to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions and the achievement of program objectives (Field et al., 2007; Stoffels et al., 2018). Meanwhile, these systems are complex, and a comprehensive understanding is critical to be confident when evaluating monitoring effectiveness (Bonney, 2019; Possingham et al., 2012; Bal et al., 2018). As such, monitoring needs to fill knowledge gaps regarding system understanding. The requirements across these differing roles of monitoring mean that some monitoring projects fail to translate their data into effective management (Horne et al., 2022; Chadès et al., 2008; Lindenmayer et al., 2012).

Here, we build on the traditional adaptive management framework and propose a dual loop framework that provides a clear division between the role of monitoring for (1) evaluating the success of an environmental management program, and (2) improving systems understanding for adaptive management; and allows the iterative adjustment of monitoring resources and management action.

Conceptualising the program in these dual loops and distinguishing different monitoring roles has implications for both monitoring being undertaken and the allocation of resources over the course of program. Firstly, the proposed framework addresses this distinction by demonstrating the hierarchy structure of objectives during the project design as they are of distinct sampling, temporal, and spatial scale (Hutto et al., 2013). Moreover, this framework foreshadows a shift over time where monitoring resources are gradually directed away from research-based questions as understanding improve, towards monitoring of fundamental environmental outcomes, as well as an overall reduction in investment. Therefore, this framework can assist in more effective and efficient monitoring design in environmental management projects.

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