linking science and management
Ecologists have generally failed to conduct experiments relevant to managers (Underwood 1995), and managerial agencies often resist criticisms of performance or suggestions for improvement (Longood and Simmel 1972;Ward and Kassebaum 1972; Underwood 1995). In addition,management agencies often desire immediate answers to management questions, while most ecologists recognize that long-term studies are required to address many questions. These factors have contributed to poorly developed, and sometimes adversarial, relationships between managers and scientists. To address this problem, scientists should be proactive, rather than reactive, with respect to resource management issues, and managers should be familiar with scientific principles. These
ideas are developed in further detail in Chapter 5.