Bridging the Gap Between Conservation Paleobiology and Resource Management: Recognizing the Past is the Key to the Future

A persistent challenge for conservation paleobiologists is communication of information on past environmental changes to resource managers in a way that allows them to apply these data to current restoration efforts. USGS scientists have learned a few lessons over 25 years of conducting applied paleoecology research in collaboration with the Greater Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (GEER) project. The first step is to engage resource managers in conversations prior to beginning research. What are their goals and information needs? Participation in GEER with teams of scientists and decision-makers working together to develop measures of success for Everglades restoration allowed us to overcome this first hurdle. Our initial research showed changes in salinity and freshwater influx over time, but how to use this information was not immediately apparent to management, so continued communication was critical. Through participation in meetings and presentation of our preliminary findings, the management team provided feedback that led us to develop a modern analog-based method to estimate past salinity, which was then used to adjust system-wide hydrologic models to reflect past conditions. Recently, we realized another management information gap — a set of indicator species for nearshore estuarine zones to monitor the effectiveness of upstream changes in flow. Again, by working with managers to determine needs, we combined distribution data of mollusk species in nearshore cores with our modern analog dataset to develop a suite of indicator species. These are a few examples of positive impacts from our long-term collaboration. We believe the key to advancing the use of conservation paleobiologic research in resource management is to communicate frequently and often, listen closely to management, discuss how paleo data can be applied, and be persistent. It is essential that we bridge these gaps because the past is our window to anticipating and planning for future change.