AUTHOR=Nagy-Reis Mariana , Dickie Melanie , Sólymos Péter , Gilbert Sophie L. , DeMars Craig A. , Serrouya Robert , Boutin Stan TITLE=‘WildLift’: An Open-Source Tool to Guide Decisions for Wildlife Conservation JOURNAL=Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution VOLUME=8 YEAR=2020 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/ecology-and-evolution/articles/10.3389/fevo.2020.564508 DOI=10.3389/fevo.2020.564508 ISSN=2296-701X ABSTRACT=
A recurring challenge for resource managers and decision makers is quantifying the trade-offs associated with alternative recovery actions for threatened species. Structured decision-making approaches can help evaluate such complex problems by formalizing objectives and constraints into functions that quantify the benefits and costs associated with each action. Yet, many of the scientific tools necessary to implement structured decision making require extensive literature review and often involve complex algorithms that make them inaccessible to managers. To address these issues, we integrated available information and developed a decision-support tool that managers can readily use to compare costs and benefits associated with alternative recovery actions for threatened species. Our software can be used to quantitatively estimate and compare the costs and demographic benefits of recovery actions for an iconic threatened species, woodland caribou (