The South Florida Restoration Science Forum provides an excellent opportunity
to highlight the synergism between science and management in
Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades (KOE) ecosystem and other
managed systems in south Florida. Focussed by peer review,
interdisciplinary planning and the need for management-relevant
information, science in the KOE ecosystem is refining conceptual
models with predictive and theoretical value. Regional restoration
such as that in South Florida tests ecological concepts as we
attempt to reassemble functional ecosystems in a human-dominated landscape
with uncertainty at multiple scales. The application of science to
decision-making in adaptive resource management also plays an important role by
clarifying the relative importance of facts and refining paradigms of
ecosystem function and structure.
This second day of the Forum (Tuesday, May 18) was devoted to case
studies examining
the linkage of science to resource management. Restoration decisions for
the Florida Everglades are being grounded on information from a diverse
suite of projects, highlighted by several speakers. Dr. Thomas Fontaine
summarized work on the effects of nutrients on wetland ecosystem structure and
function. This cutting-edge effort is providing information
at several spatial scales that is being applied directly to
management issues. Mr. John Vecchioli, P.G., reviewed the issues and
uncertainties in aquifer storage and retrieval, a technology being relied upon
heavily in plans to restore south Florida ecosystems. Dr. Leonard Berry
brings ideas from these and other presentations into focus is his
summary remarks on the second day of the Forum.
Management-oriented research has contributed to a large increase in the
rate of scientific publication on the KOE Ecosystem as it provides
information for use as basic science and in support of resource
management. To keep this momentum in the enormous task of
restoring south Florida, scientists must ask difficult questions on the
process of conducting and communicating science. Quality scientific
information, particularly when published in the peer-reviewed
literature, is vital to informed social choices in the
decision-making process. Is research being used for prudent
decision-making or is it being distorted and misused by special
interests? How can we do better as purveyors of technical
information for management decisions?
Research on these ecosystems should use state-of-the-art approaches
to time and space scales, and appropriate blends of monitoring,
experimentation and modeling to provide information for management. Is
our science scaled appropriately for decision-making or is it too little and
too limited? On a similar theme, experimental science often viewed
as impractical or academic, and yet cause and effect linkages are
vital to management directions. Are there examples of
hypothesis-driven studies that have been used effectively in
resource management?
Peer review and interagency cooperative planning have fostered relevant,
timely and objective science. What lessons can we learn from
our successes and setbacks in research planning and review?
Conflicting expert opinions on technical issues can lead to
distrust by decision-makers. How can we as scientists work more
effectively to resolve disputes before they reach non-scientists
and convey greater uncertainty than may actually exist? Is scientific
advocacy increasingly common? How can it be minimized?
Science - Management
