214 Monitoring Threatened Species and Ecological Communities
value of monitoring programs. For example, monitoring of Leadbeater’s possum in
Victoria has had a clear impact on forest policy by identifying the forest types and
structures that must be maintained throughout the landscape to support viable
populations (Lindenmayer et al. 2013b). However, in many cases the link between
what is learned from monitoring and the inf luence it has on management for
species persistence is unclear and difficult to quantify. Unless the benefits of
monitoring can be estimated and then demonstrated in terms of improved
management and reduced extinction risk, it is difficult to argue for significant
expenditure on monitoring.
Sometimes we know so little about the causes of species decline that it stalls
decisions on which threats to manage or which management actions to implement.
A powerful but seldom-used approach to determining what information will be
most useful in supporting threatened species management is the ‘expected value of
perfect information’ analysis, first proposed by Holling (1978) (see also Moore and
Runge 2012; Maxwell et al. 2015; Box 16.2). Value of information analysis seeks to
quantify the benefits to a species (e.g. increased abundance or decreased extinction
risk) arising from new knowledge that improves decision making (e.g. Box 16.2).
Raising awareness and engaging people
A commonly stated aim of monitoring programs, especially citizen science
monitoring, is to raise awareness or engage the public in the plight of a threatened
species. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that people involved in
citizen science are more likely to participate in conservation policy activities, such
as making submissions to public decision or planning processes (McKinley et al.
2017). However, quantifying benefits transferred to a threatened species through
increased public engagement is extremely challenging, and there currently exists
little quantitative evidence for actual change in human behaviour after
involvement in monitoring (Crall et al. 2011), though some examples exist (Funder
2000s (Niles et al. 2009). A study by McGowan et al. (2015) calculated the optimal
harvest strategy for horseshoe crabs to maximise both crab harvest and bird
abundance, based on data and models of the relationship between horseshoe crab
abundance and red knot survival and fecundity. Their study concluded that a
population-dependent harvesting policy, based on regular monitoring of horseshoe
crab and red knot abundance, could provide a means to enhance red knot
migratory success while allowing local crab industries to persist (Fig. 16.1). This
population status-based approach to determining the annual harvest quotas for
horseshoe crabs has been adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries
Commission that regulates fisheries quotas in the Delaware Bay (McGowan et al.
2015).