摘要
Background Large-river decision-makers are charged with maintaining diverse ecosystem services through unprec-edented social-ecological transformations as climate change and other global stressors intensify.The interconnected,dendritic habitats of rivers,which often demarcate jurisdictional boundaries,generate complex management chal-lenges.Here,we explore how the Resist–Accept–Direct(RAD)framework may enhance large-river management by promoting coordinated and deliberate responses to social-ecological trajectories of change.The RAD frame-work identifies the full decision space of potential management approaches,wherein managers may resist change to maintain historical conditions,accept change toward different conditions,or direct change to a specified future with novel conditions.In the Upper Mississippi River System,managers are facing social-ecological transformations from more frequent and extreme high-water events.We illustrate how RAD-informed basin-,reach-,and site-scale decisions could:(1)provide cross-spatial scale framing;(2)open the entire decision space of potential management approaches;and(3)enhance coordinated inter-jurisdictional management in response to the trajectory of the Upper Mississippi River hydrograph.Results The RAD framework helps identify plausible long-term trajectories in different reaches(or subbasins)of the river and how the associated social-ecological transformations could be managed by altering site-scale conditions.Strategic reach-scale objectives may reprioritize how,where,and when site conditions could be altered to contribute to the basin goal,given the basin’s plausible trajectories of change(e.g.,by coordinating action across sites to alter habitat connectivity,diversity,and redundancy in the river mosaic).Conclusions When faced with long-term systemic transformations(e.g.,>50 years),the RAD framework helps explicitly consider whether or when the basin vision or goals may no longer be achievable,and direct options may open yet unconsidered potential for the basin.Embedding the RAD framework in hierarchical decision-making clarifies that the selection of actions in space and time should be derived from basin-wide goals and reach-scale objectives to ensure that site-scale actions contribute effectively to the larger river habitat mosaic.Embedding the RAD framework in large-river decisions can provide the necessary conduit to link flexibility and innovation at the site scale with stability at larger scales for adaptive governance of changing social-ecological systems.
基金
NKW and KLB were funded as part of the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers’Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program,Long Term Resource Monitoring(LTRM)element
LTRM is a cooperative effort between the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers,U.S.Geological Survey,U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service,and the states of Illinois,Iowa,Minnesota,Missouri,and Wisconsin
GGS was funded by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Federal Aid in Sportfish Restoration program and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
BMM was funded under Assistance Agreement No 839401101 awarded by the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency(EPA)to the University of Wisconsin Aquatic Sciences Center
This document has not been formally reviewed by EPA
The views expressed in this document are those of the listed authors and do not necessarily reflect those of EPA
EPA does not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication
Any use of trade,firm,or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S.Government
The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the author(s)and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service.
