Geology topics

Christopher Hoving

Publications and source records attributed to Christopher Hoving.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2025

Relationship-centered engagement bridges the divide between science and management, and enhances climate adaptation

The rapid pace of climate change demands changes in management practices. Despite abundant climate adaptation research, the implementation of climate adaptation can lag in the management space. In the present article, we argue that relationship-centered engagement—establishing and maintaining relationships among researchers and natural resource managers—is critical for bridging the research–management gap. We evaluated researcher–manager partnerships within the US Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center and identified three cultural shifts that institutions, funders, researchers, and managers could adopt to boost the odds of translating findings into action: acknowledging and supporting the central role of relationships in creating and implementing actionable science, lengthening funding timelines to better support establishing and maintaining relationships, and aligning institutional rewards to support relationship building. A renewed focus on relationships can lead to more diverse and effective partnerships that bridge knowledge to practice and hasten adaptation to climate change.

BioScience↗

USGS2023

Connecting research and practice to enhance the evolutionary potential of species under climate change

Resource managers have rarely accounted for evolutionary dynamics in the design or implementation of climate change adaptation strategies. We brought the research and management communities together to identify challenges and opportunities for applying evidence from evolutionary science to support on-the-ground actions intended to enhance species' evolutionary potential. We amalgamated input from natural-resource practitioners and interdisciplinary scientists to identify information needs, current knowledge that can fill those needs, and future avenues for research. Three focal areas that can guide engagement include: (1) recognizing when to act, (2) understanding the feasibility of assessing evolutionary potential, and (3) identifying best management practices. Although researchers commonly propose using molecular methods to estimate genetic diversity and gene flow as key indicators of evolutionary potential, we offer guidance on several additional attributes (and their proxies) that may also guide decision-making, particularly in the absence of genetic data. Finally, we outline existing decision-making frameworks that can help managers compare alternative strategies for supporting evolutionary potential, with the goal of increasing the effective use of evolutionary information, particularly for species of conservation concern. We caution, however, that arguing over nuance can generate confusion; instead, dedicating increased focus on a decision-relevant evidence base may better lend itself to climate adaptation actions.

Conservation Science and Practice↗

USGS2021

Applying assessments of adaptive capacity to inform natural-resource management in a changing climate

Adaptive capacity (AC)—the ability of a species to cope with or accommodate climate change—is a critical determinant of species vulnerability. Using information on species’ AC in conservation planning is key to ensuring successful outcomes. We identified connections between a list of species’ attributes (e.g., traits, population metrics, and behaviors) that were recently proposed for assessing species’ AC and management actions that may enhance AC for species at risk of extinction. Management actions were identified based on evidence from the literature, a review of actions used in other climate adaptation guidance, and our collective experience in diverse fields of global-change ecology and climate adaptation. Selected management actions support the general AC pathways of persist in place or shift in space, in response to contemporary climate change. Some actions, such as genetic manipulations, can be used to directly alter the ability of species to cope with climate change, whereas other actions can indirectly enhance AC by addressing ecological or anthropogenic constraints on the expression of a species’ innate abilities to adapt. Ours is the first synthesis of potential management actions directly linked to AC. Focusing on AC attributes helps improve understanding of how and why aspects of climate are affecting organisms, as well as the mechanisms by which management interventions affect a species’ AC and climate change vulnerability. Adaptive-capacity-informed climate adaptation is needed to build connections among the causes of vulnerability, AC, and proposed management actions that can facilitate AC and reduce vulnerability in support of evolving conservation paradigms.

Conservation Biology↗