CBO Program Lead Katie Cramer collaborated with a large team of researchers on two recent publications focusing on how historical ecology can and should be integrated into conservation science and decision-making. The first article, a review titled "Global research priorities for historical ecology to inform conservation" and published in Endangered Species Research, illustrates how a structured decision-making process can integrate interdisciplinary knowledge to refine conservation priorities for: (1) methods and concepts, (2) knowledge co-production and community engagement, (3) policy and management, and (4) climate change impacts. They also emphasize the growing role of historical ecology in the field of conservation and call for more inclusive, data-integrated approaches to address ecological challenges in an era of rapid environmental change.
The second article, titled "Pathways for integrating historical information into fisheries decision-making" and published in Fish and Fisheries, showcases how historic and long-term ecological datasets--including not just biological and chemical data but also Traditional Ecological Knowledge, paleoecology records, and governmental assessments--should be considered for the assessments and estimates used for fisheries management. Using case studies, they demonstrate how incorporating various spatial and temporal scales can improve management decisions in our rapidly changing climate.