Harmonizing science and management options to reduce risks of cyanobacteria blooms
Start Date
25-5-2022 3:00 PM
End Date
25-5-2022 3:15 PM
Abstract
Managing cyanobacteria blooms has become an increasingly complex venture, as lakes are changing at unprecedented rates and management targets established decades earlier are shifting. The nexus of complex management challenges and existing knowledge gaps invoke significant conflict in advising optimal bloom management strategies. Concerned communities are further disillusioned by unarticulated and often complicated scientific approaches from lake managers or scientists offering remedial measures from opposing fronts. While a universal system (i.e., one-size-fits-all management) fails to provide a management path forward due to the increased diversity of causal pathways and management options, we offer a method of triaged knowledge exchange. The bow-tie analysis and harmonizing scientific and managerial perspectives enable the design of a multi-barrier approach for localized strategies customizable to the stressors and the desired outcome. We then present harmonized management interventions that are flexible, agile, and informed by advances in scientific understanding to get ahead of the rise in cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. Cyanobacteria bloom management that continually adjusts/adapts in response to scientific advancements and employs a calculated assortment of interventions across the upstream-downstream continuum will be essential as society pushes forward in an era of bloom uncertainty.
Harmonizing science and management options to reduce risks of cyanobacteria blooms
Managing cyanobacteria blooms has become an increasingly complex venture, as lakes are changing at unprecedented rates and management targets established decades earlier are shifting. The nexus of complex management challenges and existing knowledge gaps invoke significant conflict in advising optimal bloom management strategies. Concerned communities are further disillusioned by unarticulated and often complicated scientific approaches from lake managers or scientists offering remedial measures from opposing fronts. While a universal system (i.e., one-size-fits-all management) fails to provide a management path forward due to the increased diversity of causal pathways and management options, we offer a method of triaged knowledge exchange. The bow-tie analysis and harmonizing scientific and managerial perspectives enable the design of a multi-barrier approach for localized strategies customizable to the stressors and the desired outcome. We then present harmonized management interventions that are flexible, agile, and informed by advances in scientific understanding to get ahead of the rise in cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms. Cyanobacteria bloom management that continually adjusts/adapts in response to scientific advancements and employs a calculated assortment of interventions across the upstream-downstream continuum will be essential as society pushes forward in an era of bloom uncertainty.