Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Scientists, Managers, And Assisted Colonization: Four Contrasting Perspectives Entangle Science And Policy, Mark W. Neff, Brendon Larson

Environmental Studies Faculty and Staff Publications

Assisted colonization is a contentious climate change adaptation strategy, but we have limited understanding of the bases of disagreement amongst scientists and far less has been done to understand the views of other stakeholders. To establish an initial empirical understanding of the terms of the debate, we conducted a Q method study of the views of scientists and resource managers, a key constituency because of their role in decision-making and implementation. We asked 24 forest managers in Ontario, Canada and 26 top-publishing ecologists and conservation biologists to evaluate their level of agreement with 33 statements about assisted colonization from the …