Integrating biodiversity indicators and decision triggers into conservation management

Biodiversity indicators assessed against decision triggers or management thresholds can assist conservation practitioners in making difficult decisions about when to intervene in marine systems to address undesirable changes.... [ view full abstract ]

Biodiversity indicators assessed against decision triggers or management thresholds can assist conservation practitioners in making difficult decisions about when to intervene in marine systems to address undesirable changes. Biodiversity indicators should reflect management objective(s) set by a responsible management agency, that show a quantifiable and measurable relationship with a desired ecosystem state. Decision triggers can represent a point or zone in the status of an indicator, which shows when management intervention is required to address undesirable ecosystem changes. Decision triggers can be derived using expert judgement, statistical or multi-objective models; but all varieties of biodiversity indicators and decision triggers rely on an overarching process to guide robust indicator and trigger development. A process recommended to develop biodiversity indicators and decision triggers is structured decision-making. The development of biodiversity indicators and decision triggers following the steps of structured decision-making is illustrated using examples from marine protected areas in Victoria, Australia. These case studies illustrate the application of a decision triggers approach in data-rich and data-poor contexts, with single or multiple management objectives. The relevance of structured decision-making and the decision triggers approach will be discussed in relation to progressing evidence-based management of marine biodiversity beyond the public sector. Particularly in light of international biodiversity strategies, like the Convention for Biological Diversity, and the push to mainstream biodiversity in the private sector. This means that similar approaches can and should be developed to help integrate biodiversity into business decision-making.