When to stop managing or surveying cryptic threatened species.

ABSTRACT: Threatened species become increasingly difficult to detect as their populations decline. Managers of such cryptic threatened species face several dilemmas: if they are not sure the species is present, should they continue to manage for that species or invest the limited resources in surveying? We find optimal solutions to this problem using a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process and rules of thumb derived from an analytical approximation. We discover that managing a protected area for a cryptic threatened species can be optimal even if we are not sure the species is present. The more threatened and valuable the species is, relative to the costs of management, the more likely we are to manage this species without determining its continued persistence by using surveys. If a species r

SUBMITTER: Chades I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2544557 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature