Reframing wildlife disease management problems with decision analysis

Margaret C. McEachran, Johanna A. Harvey, Riley O. Mummah, Molly C. Bletz, Claire S. Teitelbaum, Elias Rosenblatt, F. Javiera Rudolph, Fernando Arce, Shenglai Yin, Diann J. Prosser, Brittany A. Mosher, Jennifer M. Mullinax, Graziella V. DiRenzo, Jannelle Couret, Michael C. Runge, Evan H.Campbell Grant, Jonathan D. Cook

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Contemporary wildlife disease management is complex because managers need to respond to a wide range of stakeholders, multiple uncertainties, and difficult trade-offs that characterize the interconnected challenges of today. Despite general acknowledgment of these complexities, managing wildlife disease tends to be framed as a scientific problem, in which the major challenge is lack of knowledge. The complex and multifactorial process of decision-making is collapsed into a scientific endeavor to reduce uncertainty. As a result, contemporary decision-making may be oversimplified, rely on simple heuristics, and fail to account for the broader legal, social, and economic context in which the decisions are made. Concurrently, scientific research on wildlife disease may be distant from this decision context, resulting in information that may not be directly relevant to the pertinent management questions. We propose reframing wildlife disease management challenges as decision problems and addressing them with decision analytical tools to divide the complex problems into more cognitively manageable elements. In particular, structured decision-making has the potential to improve the quality, rigor, and transparency of decisions about wildlife disease in a variety of systems. Examples of management of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, white-nose syndrome, avian influenza, and chytridiomycosis illustrate the most common impediments to decision-making, including competing objectives, risks, prediction uncertainty, and limited resources.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere14284
JournalConservation Biology
Volume38
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2024

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Ecology
  • Nature and Landscape Conservation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Reframing wildlife disease management problems with decision analysis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this