Renewable Resources Associates, Oakton, VA, United States of America.
Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Gainesville, FL, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Jun 29;13(6):e0199326. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199326. eCollection 2018.
Few if any natural resource systems are completely understood and fully observed. Instead, there almost always is uncertainty about the way a system works and its status at any given time, which can limit effective management. A natural approach to uncertainty is to allocate time and effort to the collection of additional data, on the reasonable assumption that more information will facilitate better understanding and lead to better management. But the collection of more data, either through observation or investigation, requires time and effort that often can be put to other conservation activities. An important question is whether the use of limited resources to improve understanding is justified by the resulting potential for improved management. In this paper we address directly a change in value from new information collected through investigation. We frame the value of information in terms of learning through the management process itself, as well as learning through investigations that are external to the management process but add to our base of understanding. We provide a conceptual framework and metrics for this issue, and illustrate them with examples involving Florida scrub-jays (Aphelocoma coerulescens).
几乎没有任何自然资源系统是完全被理解和全面观测到的。相反，几乎总是存在关于系统工作方式及其在任何给定时间的状态的不确定性，这可能会限制有效的管理。处理不确定性的一种自然方法是投入时间和精力来收集更多的数据，合理的假设是更多的信息将有助于更好地理解，并导致更好的管理。但是，无论是通过观察还是调查，收集更多的数据都需要时间和精力，而这些时间和精力通常可以用于其他保护活动。一个重要的问题是，利用有限的资源来提高认识是否有理由通过提高管理的潜力来证明这是合理的。在本文中，我们直接解决了通过调查收集新信息所带来的价值变化问题。我们从管理过程本身的学习以及从管理过程之外的调查中学习的角度来阐述信息的价值，这些调查增加了我们的理解基础。我们为这个问题提供了一个概念框架和指标，并通过涉及佛罗里达灌丛鸦（Aphelocoma coerulescens）的例子来说明它们。
