The interface between theory and practice in conservation biology, especially from the point of view of resource managers, has been somewhat neglected (Soulé 1986). Because we do not understand community and ecosystem structure and function well enough to make reliable predictions, uncertainty has inhibited scientists from providing concrete answers to managers. The availability of statistical and computational tools has been integral in the development of analytical methods critical to addressing the issue of uncertainty in conservation biology. Management tools such as population viability analysis (PVA), Bayesian statistics, and decision analysis have been developed to provide "objective" methods for making conservation decisions. These approaches have been key in the transformation of conservation biology from an idea to a discipline.