Ecological Modeling The wildlife conservation discipline is facing a dilemma. On the one side, ecologists and decision makers are tasked with needing to facilitate, manage, and protect wildlife populations. One the other, they are faced with scarce data and limited resources. We provide guidance based on gathering and analyzing expert knowledge.
We quantify uncertainty within the context of species dynamics, habitat requirements, and competing stakeholders’ objectives and agendas. Simplifying the process of using management tools will increase the likelihood that it will be used. Here, I offer a procedural framework for model selection and I construct two OOBNs that vary in their scope according to their audience. Wildlife managers and owners advised that a detailed, user-friendly tool would best serve if it could
quantify the impact of specific management actions
We put forth step-by-step road maps so that researchers and decision makers may accurately utilize expert-knowledge in order to simulate management scenarios outcomes. Simulating such outcomes and identifying associated risks overhead expenses remains low and conservation outcomes are maximized.