A Taxonomy and Treatment of Uncertainty for Ecology and Conservation Biology
Abstract
Uncertainty is pervasive in ecology where the difficulties of dealing with sources of uncertainty are exacerbated by variation in the system itself. Attempts at classifying uncertainty in ecology have, for the most part, focused exclusively on epistemic uncertainty. In this paper we classify uncertainty into two main categories: epistemic uncertainty (uncertainty in determinate facts) and linguistic uncertainty (uncertainty in language). We provide a classification of sources of uncertainty under the two main categories and demonstrate how each impacts on applications in ecology and conservation biology. In particular, we demonstrate the importance of recognizing the effect of linguistic uncertainty, in addition to epistemic uncertainty, in ecological applications. The significance to ecology and conservation biology of developing a clear understanding of the various types of uncertainty, how they arise and how they might best be dealt with is highlighted. Finally, we discuss the various general strategies for dealing with each type of uncertainty and offer suggestions for treating compounding uncertainty from a range of sources.My notes
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Citations of this work
Philosophical issues in ecology: Recent trends and future directions.Mark Colyvan, William Grey, Paul E. Griffiths, Jay Odenbaugh, Stefan Linquist & Hugh P. Possingham - 2009 - Ecology and Society 14 (2).
Towards Best Practice Framing of Uncertainty in Scientific Publications: A Review of Water Resources Research Abstracts.Joseph Guillaume, Casey Helgeson, Sondoss Elsawah, Anthony Jakeman & Matti Kummu - 2017 - Water Resources Research 53 (8).
A Precautionary Approach to Genetically Modified Organisms: Challenges and Implications for Policy and Science. [REVIEW]Anne Ingeborg Myhr - 2010 - Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 23 (6):501-525.
Philosophical Issues in Ecology.James Justus - 2013 - In K. Kampourakis (ed.), Philosophy of Biology: A Companion for Educators. Springer. pp. 343–371.