F4. Integrating landscape science into development, conservation and natural resources planning

Samuel Cushman (United States Forest Service), sam.cushman@gmail.com

Zaneta Kaszta (University of Oxford)

Summary

Combining ecological modelling and analysis with policy and management decisions is deeply challenging. In this symposium we focus on welcoming methods, tools, models, and approaches to link management and science.

Description

Management, conservation, policy and scientific research are inextricably linked. However, in practice, there is typically a large gap between science and management, and decisions are often made with poor support from available scientific knowledge. In this symposium, we particularly focus on decision support and scenario optimization tools to combine projections of future landscape change, policy and management goals, species distribution models, connectivity models and population and genetic models. We present examples of landscape ecology and methods that are most applicable to management planning, including landscape pattern analysis, decision support and scenario optimization tools, and we present several examples of successful application of these tools to important conservation design and landscape management problems both in Europe and around the world.

Impact

Special issue in Landscape Ecology.