Roux Dirk J, Kingsford Richard T, McCool Stephen F, McGeoch Melodie A, Foxcroft Llewellyn C
Scientific Services, South African National Parks, Private Bag X6531, George, 6530, South Africa,
Environ Manage. 2015 Jun;55(6):1232-45. doi: 10.1007/s00267-015-0473-5. Epub 2015 Apr 4.
Governments charge their conservation agencies to safeguard biodiversity through protected areas and threat mitigation. Increasingly, conservation management and policy need to be supported by rigorous evidence provided by science. As such, institutional arrangements should consider and enable effective scientific research and information dissemination. What role can in-house agency research play in responding to this challenge? We examined the research capabilities of three conservation agencies from Australia, South Africa, and United States. Seven indicators were used to characterize the reliability and relevance of agency research. We found similarities among agencies in their patterns of peer-reviewed publication, cultures of research collaboration, and tendencies to align research with organizational objectives. Among the many and diverse activities that constitute the role of a contemporary agency researcher, we emphasize two key research dimensions: reliability, achieved through peer-reviewed research output, and relevance, achieved through active stakeholder engagement. Amid increasingly challenging realities for conservation of ecosystems, agency science functions are vital to providing the evidence base required for effective management and policy development.
政府要求其保护机构通过保护区和缓解威胁来保护生物多样性。保护管理和政策越来越需要科学提供的严格证据的支持。因此，制度安排应考虑并促进有效的科学研究和信息传播。机构内部研究在应对这一挑战中能发挥什么作用？我们考察了来自澳大利亚、南非和美国的三个保护机构的研究能力。使用七个指标来描述机构研究的可靠性和相关性。我们发现各机构在同行评审出版物模式、研究合作文化以及使研究与组织目标保持一致的倾向方面存在相似之处。在构成当代机构研究人员角色的众多不同活动中，我们强调两个关键研究维度：通过同行评审研究成果实现的可靠性，以及通过积极与利益相关者互动实现的相关性。在生态系统保护面临越来越大挑战的现实中，机构科学职能对于提供有效管理和政策制定所需的证据基础至关重要。
