The table below contrasts the conservation management approaches of adaptive and traditional linear management found in Noss and Cooperrider (1994).
Comparison of Adaptive Management andLinear Comprehensive Management |
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| Parameter | Linear comprehensive management | Adaptive management |
| Concern with ecosystem | Minimal concern with ecosystem due either to belief in human ability to manipulate or restore ecosystem or to lack of concern with ecosystem degradation
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Recognition of overriding value of ecosystem and necessity of conserving a properly functioning ecosystem for many reasons |
| Knowledge of ecosystem | Assumes that ecosystems, ecosystem processes, and effects of humans on them can be easily understood and predicted by traditional reductionist science | Recognizes that ecosystems and ecosystem processes are beyond human ability to understand except in the most rudimentary way and that effects of human actions on them are to a large extent unpredictable
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| Method of predicting effects of human actions | Emphasizes traditional reductionist science aided by modern high-tech tools such as computer models | Emphasizes using experience to learn incrementally, starting with small-scale experiments and slowly and cautiously gathering new knowledge
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| Risk | Assumes that human actions pose little threat to ecosystems or that such risks are not a concern | Emphasizes minimizing risk to ecosystem |
| Scale – spatial | Assumes that knowledge about ecosystems and effects of humans on them can be extrapolated across large regions; bases management on assumptions that effects are local | Recognizes that local ecosystems are unique and that extrapolating across large regions is risky; recognizes that all ecosystems are connected and that local actions can have major effects on other or larger regions up to the global level |
| Scale – temporal | Assumes that effects of human activities on ecosystems are generally short-term and reversible | Recognizes that effects of human activities may be long-term and/or have time lags before effects are observed |
| Learning/monitoring | Assumes that learning from management actions is not necessary; monitoring not necessary since outcomes are predictable | Recognizes that careful and systematic monitoring is essential in order to learn how to manage ecosystems sustainably |
Noss, R.F. and A.Y. Cooperrider. 1994. Saving nature’s legacy: protecting and restoring biodiversity. Defenders of Wildlife, Island Press. 416 pp.
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