Impact network analysis and the INA R package: Decision support for regional management interventions

Abstract

AbstractThe success of intervention projects in ecological systems depends not only on the quality of management technologies, but also patterns of adoption among land managers. Impact network analysis (INA) is a new framework for evaluating the likely success of regional interventions before, during, and after projects, for project implementers, policy makers, and funders. INA integrates across three key system components in a multilayer network analysis: (a) the quality of a management technology and the quality of research supporting it, (b) the socioeconomic networks through which managers learn about management technologies and decide whether to use them, and (c) the linked biophysical network for target species success or failure in the management landscape that results from managers’ decisions.The specific objectives of this paper are (1) to introduce the INA framework and INA R package, (2) to illustrate identification of key nodes for smart surveillance, for networks where the likelihood of invasive species entry into the biophysical network at a given node may be based on information available to the corresponding node in the socioeconomic network, (3) to illustrate application of the INA framework for evaluating the likely degree of success of a project in intervention ecology, before, during and after an intervention, and (4) to illustrate the use of INA for evaluating adaptation strategies under global change scenarios with pulse and press stressors, introducing ‘adaptation functions’ for sustainability and resilience.Examples of use of the INA package show one of the key outcomes of analyses: identifying when systems may be non-responsive to the system components that are readily changed through management decisions, to explore what additional adaptations may be necessary for intervention success.The broader goal for the development of impact network analysis and the INA package is to provide a common framework that integrates across intervention ecology, to enhance opportunities for lessons learned across systems and scientific disciplines, to support the development of a community of practice, and to create a general platform for analysis of sustainability, resilience, and economic viability in intervention ecology applications.