Resolving challenges to interdisciplinary research should be context specific

Challenges to Interdisciplinary Research in Ecosystem-Based Management

LEILA SIEVANEN, LISA M. CAMPBELL, HEATHER M. LESLIE

Conservation Biology, Volume 26, Issue 2, pages 315–323, April 2012

There are many votaries for integration of natural and social sciences to inform conservation efforts. But the progress in this direction has been tardy.

The researchers here examined the views of 63 scientists and practitioners involved in marine management in Mexico's Gulf of California, the central California coast, and the western Pacific on the challenges associated with integrating social science into research efforts that support ecosystem-based management (EBM) in marine systems. They used a semi-structured interview format.

Questions focused on how EBM was developed for these sites and how contextual factors affected its development and outcomes. Many of imponderables linked with interdisciplinary research were present in the EBM projects that the researchers put under their scanner. The researchers say a number of contextual elements affected how mandates to include social science were interpreted and implemented as well as how easily challenges could be addressed. They say a common challenge is that conservation organizations are often dominated by natural scientists, but for some projects it was easier to address this imbalance than for others. They also found that the management and institutional histories that came before EBM in specific cases were important features of local context. There cannot be a one shot solution that fits all contexts. Challenges differ among cases.  The researchers affirm that resolving challenges to interdisciplinary research should be context specific.