Editorial: Using Ecological Models to Support and Shape Environmental Policy Decisions

Shaping global environmental decisions using socio-ecological models.

One of the most ambitious ecological studies of the past few decades was the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), which examined the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. The MA developed global ecological scenarios as a process to inform policy options, despite enormous uncertainties. These scenarios were based on an interlocking suite of models that forecast the future. Foll...

Using ontologies to support and critique decisions

Supporting decision making in the working environment has long being pursued by practitioners across a variety of fields, ranging from sociology and operational research to cognitive and computer scientists. A number of computer-supported systems and various technologies have been used over the years, but as we move into more global and flexible organisational structures, new technologies and c...

Bayesian Environmental Policy Decisions: Two Case Studies

Statistical decision theory can be a valuable tool for policy-making decisions. In particular, environmental problems often benefit from the application of Bayesian and decision-theoretic techniques that address the uncertain nature of problems in the environmental and ecological sciences. This paper discusses aspects of implementing statistical decision-making tools in situations where uncerta...

Editorial: Decisions! Decisions!

complexities, is still poorly understood in many circles. We tell students that there is no free lunch, that if you want to use a screen to identify everyone, or almost everyone, who might have a given abnormality, then you will have to accept that you will falsely identify many individuals who later turn out to be normal. In the jargon of decision analysis theory, high hit rate means high fals...

Addressing key ecological questions to support policy-making in Brazil.