Integrating local social-ecological knowledge to prioritise invasive species management
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biodiversity, Conservation Biology, Ecosystem Science, Coupled Natural and Human Systems, Natural Resource Management
- Keywords
- local knowledge, prioritisation, community engagement, invasive species management, Vulpes vulpes, INFFER, islands, Felis catus, red fox, feral cat
- Copyright
- © 2018 Cáceres-Escobar et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2018. Integrating local social-ecological knowledge to prioritise invasive species management. PeerJ Preprints 6:e27113v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.27113v1
Abstract
There is a lot of uncertainty about how we pick the best invasive species management strategies to improve the environment, local economy, and human well-being, as invasive species management involves complex and multidimensional challenges. Invasive species management on inhabited islands is especially challenging, often due to perceived socio-political risks and unexpected technical difficulties. Failing to incorporate local knowledge and local perspectives in the early stages of planning can compromise the ability of decision-makers to achieve long-lasting conservation outcomes. Hence, including local knowledge and accounting for subjective stakeholder perceptions is essential for invasive species management, yet this often remains unaddressed. To address this gap, we present an application of invasive species management based on structured decision-making, and the resource allocation tool INFFER, on Minjerribah-North Stradbroke Island (Australia). We assessed the cost-effectiveness of six management scenarios, co-developed with local land managers and community groups, aimed at preserving the environmental and cultural significance of the island by eradicating European red foxes and feral cats. We further conducted a survey eliciting local stakeholders’ perspectives regarding the significance of the Island, their perception of the benefits of the proposed management scenarios, funding requirements, technical feasibility of implementation, and socio-political risk. We found that the best decisions when the budget is low are less cost-effective than when the budget is high. The best strategy focusses on control of European red fox on Minjerribah. However, our results also highlight the need for more research on feral cat management. This work demonstrates how to use a structured decision support tool, like INFFER, to assess contesting management strategies, this is particularly important when stakeholders’ perceptions regarding management outcomes are heterogeneous and uncertain.
Author Comment
This is a preprint submission to PeerJ Preprints.This research project was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of The University of Queensland, Australia (Approval number: 2016001001).
Supplemental Information
Supporting information
1.1. Appendix A – eSurvey
1.2. Appendix B – Species of interest: Threatened species, Culturally relevant species, and invasive species from Minjerribah
1.3. Appendix C – Detailed description of scenarios
1.4. Appendix D Cost estimates report
1.5. Appendix E – Detailed INFFER BCR analysis