Jessica C. WalshMonash University (Australia) · School of Biological Sciences, Clayton
Jessica C. Walsh
PhD Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, UK
About
72
Publications
16,069
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Introduction
Jessica Walsh currently works at the School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, researching in conservation ecology, policy and management.
Additional affiliations
June 2019 - present
Position
- Lecturer
Description
- I research conservation of threatened species and ecosystems. I focus on evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of management actions.
October 2018 - December 2018
July 2015 - August 2016
Education
October 2011 - May 2015
Publications
Publications (72)
Consulting the best available evidence is key to successful conservation decision-making. While much scientific evidence on conservation continues to be published in non-English languages, a poor understanding of how non-English languages science contributes to conservation decision-making is causing global assessments and studies to practically ig...
Around the world, woodlands have been cleared for agricultural production and their bird communities are in decline. To reverse these declines and foster bird community resilience, government agencies, non-government organizations, and private landholders have implemented restoration actions, commonly including grazing exclusion and replanting. The...
Successful, state‐dependent management, where the goal of management is to maintain a system within a desired state, involves defining the boundaries between different states. Once these boundaries have been defined, managers require a strategic action plan, with thresholds that will initiate management interventions to either maintain or return th...
Peatlands support unique biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services, such as regulating climate and providing freshwater and food. However, land-use change, resource extraction and changing climates are threatening peatlands globally. Restoring degraded peatlands requires re-establishing the key features that drive these ecosystems – the...
1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners and managers need
to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence-based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis.
2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we
are failing to prepare our students to make an...
1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners and managers need to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence‐based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis. 2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we are failing to prepare our students to make an...
Current investment in conservation is insufficient to adequately protect and recover all ecosystems and species. The challenge of allocating limited funds is acute for Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. in Canada, which lack a strategic approach to ensure that resources are spent on actions most likely to cost‐effectively recover diminished populatio...
Conservation Research, Policy and Practice - edited by William J. Sutherland April 2020
Pacific salmon influence temperate terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems through the dispersal of marine-derived nutrients and ecosystem engineering of stream beds when spawning. They also support large fisheries, particularly along the west coast of North America. We provide a comprehensive synthesis of relationships between the densities of Pacif...
Cambridge Core - Ecology and Conservation - Conservation Research, Policy and Practice - edited by William J. Sutherland
Current investment in conservation is insufficient to adequately protect and recover all ecosystems and species. The challenge of allocating limited funds is acute for Pacific salmon ( Oncorhynchus spp.) in Canada, which lack a strategic approach to ensure that resources are spent on actions that would cost-effectively recover diminished population...
Proponents of development projects (e.g., new roads, mines, dams) are frequently required to assess and manage their impacts on threatened biodiversity. Here, we propose that the environmental legislation and standards that mandate such assessments are failing those threatened species and ecological communities listed as vulnerable. Using a case st...
Over the last decade, there has been an increased focus (and pressure) in conservation practice globally towards evidence-based or evidence-informed decision making. Despite calls for increased use of scientific evidence, it often remains aspirational for many conservation organizations. Contributing to this is the lack of guidance on how to identi...
Background: Habitat is the foundation for healthy and productive fisheries. For fish that require substrate for spawning , lack of appropriate spawning substrate is inherently limiting and a lack of access to suitable spawning habitat will lead to population collapse. To ensure management resources are being allocated wisely and conservation target...
Eastern Australia’s temperate woodlands have been significantly cleared, with 80% of their former extent already gone, and the classically Australian woodland bird community that is inseparably bound with them disintegrating. This project will identify the most cost-effective actions for restoring the woodland bird community by harnessing and synth...
Mawdsley et al. (2018) respond disapprovingly to our 2018 review of 667 wildlife management systems across Canada and the United States, which found that many of these systems lacked the scientific hallmarks of clear objectives, evidence, transparency, and independent review. Although we strongly agree with several of Mawdsley et al.’s points about...
Many of the world's fisheries are unassessed, with little information about population status or risk of overfishing. Unassessed fisheries are particularly predominant in developing countries and in small‐scale fisheries, where they are important for food security. Several catch‐only methods based on time series of fishery catch and commonly availa...
Resource management agencies commonly defend controversial policy by claiming adherence to science-based approaches. For example, proponents and practitioners of the “North American Model of Wildlife Conservation,” which guides hunting policy across much of the United States and Canada, assert that science plays a central role in shaping policy. Ho...
Fishery managers must often reconcile conflicting estimates of population status and trend. Superensemble models, commonly used in climate and weather forecasting, may provide an effective solution. This approach uses predictions from multiple models as covariates in an additional “superensemble” model fitted to known data. We evaluated the potenti...
The exploitation status of marine fisheries stocks worldwide is of critical importance for food security, ecosystem conservation, and fishery sustainability. Applying a suite of data-limited methods to global catch data, combined through an ensemble modeling approach, we provide quantitative estimates of exploitation status for 785 fish stocks. Fif...
Protected areas are a crucial tool for halting the loss of biodiversity. Yet, the management of protected areas is under resourced, impacting the ability to achieve effective conservation actions. Effective management depends on the application of the best available knowledge, which can include both scientific evidence and the local knowledge of on...
Frequency of use of information sources and evidence categories by Brazilian managers of protected areas.
(PDF)
Details of model selection for evidence based decision making scores as a function of several potential predictors.
(PDF)
Questionnaire submitted to managers of Brazilian protected areas.
(PDF)
Importance of sources of information reported by Brazilian managers of protected areas.
The dataset does not contain any data that could be used to identify any human participants in this study and importance of sources is coded as in Table 2.
(CSV)
Dataset used for modelling evidence based decision making scores as a function of several potential predictors.
The dataset does not contain any data that could be used to identify any human participants in this study.
(CSV)
Distribution of Brazilian protected areas.
(PDF)
Frequency of use of sources of information reported by Brazilian managers of protected areas.
The dataset does not contain any data that could be used to identify any human participants in this study and frequency of use of sources is coded as in Table 2.
(CSV)
Accessibility of sources of information reported by Brazilian managers of protected areas.
The dataset does not contain any data that could be used to identify any human participants in this study and accessibility of sources is coded as in Table 2.
(CSV)
Accessibility and importance of evidence categories reported by Brazilian managers of protected areas.
(PDF)
Number and size of Brazilian protected areas and questionnaire response rates.
(PDF)
Factors that may influence managers of Brazilian protected areas in the search for relevant information for management related actions.
(PDF)
Reliability of scientific findings is important, especially if they directly impact decision making, such as in environmental management. In the 1990s, assessments of reliability in the medical field resulted in the development of evidence-based practice. Ten years later, evidence-based practice was translated into conservation, but so far no guide...
Reliability of scientific findings is important, especially if they directly impact decision making, such as in environmental management. In the 1990s, assessments of reliability in the medical field resulted in the development of evidence-based practice. Ten years later, evidence-based practice was translated into conservation, but so far no guide...
Making decisions informed by the best-available science is an objective for many organisations managing the environment or natural resources. Yet, available science is still not widely used in environmental policy and practice. We describe a ‘4S’ hierarchy for organising relevant science to inform decisions. This hierarchy has already revolutionise...
Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential for new knowledge to be gained from future Antarctic science is substantial. Therefore, the international Antarctic community came together to ‘scan the hor...
A major justification of environmental management research is that it helps practitioners, yet previous studies show it is rarely used to inform their decisions. We tested whether conservation practitioners focusing on bird management were willing to use a synopsis of relevant scientific literature to inform their management decisions. This allowed...
Mahlon C. Kennicutt II, Steven L. Chown and colleagues outline the most pressing questions in southern polar research, and call for greater collaboration and environmental protection in the region.
Effective conservation requires a step change in the way practitioners can contribute to science and can have access to research outputs. The journal Conservation Evidence was established in 2004 to help practitioners surmount several obstacles they face when attempting to document the effects of their conservation actions scientifically. It is eas...
Aim Exotic species pose one of the most significant threats to biodiversity, especially on islands. The impacts of exotic species vary in severity among islands, yet little is known about what makes some islands more susceptible than others. Here we determine which characteristics of an island influence how severely exotic species affect its native...
Decisions regarding the implementation of conservation management actions
should be based on the effectiveness of past investments. However, because of
limited evaluation of existing data, actions may be prescribed without evidence of
producing a beneficial conservation outcome. We analysed empirical data, collected
over 23 years across southern Au...
Read the Feature Paper: Commentaries on this Feature Paper: ;
Many countries rely on formal legislation to protect and plan for the recovery of threatened species. Even though the listing procedures in threatened species legislation are designed to be consistent for all species there is usually a bias in implementing the laws towards charismatic fauna and flora, which leads to uneven allocation of conservatio...
Projects
Project (1)
Australian woodland birds are declining. Several conservation interventions, such as habitat restoration, artificial nest boxes and landowner agreements, have been implemented to recover these species. This project aims to collate the existing evidence and data about the effectiveness of these management actions, and develop an adaptive management program to fill in knowledge gaps.
