Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorAlbert, Simon
dc.contributor.authorLove, Mark
dc.contributor.authorBrewer, Tom D
dc.date.accessioned2021-11-26T04:28:26Z
dc.date.available2021-11-26T04:28:26Z
dc.date.issued2013
dc.identifier.issn0030-8870en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.2984/67.3.8en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/410401
dc.description.abstractNumerous studies have explored the “shifting baseline syndrome” (SBS), which suggests that individual perceptions of environmental health are formed by comparing the environment to a “baseline” from the past. Understanding social perceptions of environmental conditions, especially where they differ from ecological assessments, can help guide environmental management efforts. In this study we compared ecological assessments of coral reef health with perceptions of reef health from surveyed residents in five villages in Solomon Islands and Fiji. Comparative analysis suggests that respondents from Solomon Islands perceived their reefs as being degraded, yet based on ecological measurements actually had healthier reefs, while in Fiji fewer people perceived their reefs to be declining in health, yet ecological measurement showed them to be more degraded than Solomon Islands reefs. We found no evidence of baselines “shifting” relative to respondent age in this instance and suggest that these differential baselines and the inverse relationship between local perceptions and ecological measurements may be a result of: (1) differences in the rate of environmental change experienced at local scales; and (2) may also be related to differences in respondent perceptions of “quality of life” at each site. If the success of conservation approaches such as marine protected areas (MPAs) are dependent on local social consensus that natural resources are diminished or degraded, then tracking broader social indicators like “quality of life” and “rates of change” (real and perceived) alongside ecological assessments of environmental health may prove beneficial to conservation practitioners.en_US
dc.languageEnglishen_US
dc.publisherUNIV HAWAII PRESSen_US
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom409en_US
dc.relation.ispartofpageto424en_US
dc.relation.ispartofissue3en_US
dc.relation.ispartofjournalPacific Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofvolume67en_US
dc.subject.keywordsScience & Technologyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsLife Sciences & Biomedicineen_US
dc.subject.keywordsMarine & Freshwater Biologyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsZoologyen_US
dc.subject.keywordsbase-line syndrormeen_US
dc.titleContrasts in social and ecological assessments of coral reef health in Melanesiaen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationAlbert, S; Love, M; Brewer, TD, Contrasts in social and ecological assessments of coral reef health in Melanesia, Pacific Science, 2013, 67 (3), pp. 409-424en_US
dc.date.updated2021-11-25T00:15:16Z
gro.rights.copyright© 2013 University of Hawai'i Press. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.en_US
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorLove, Mark W.


Files in this item

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

  • Journal articles
    Contains articles published by Griffith authors in scholarly journals.

Show simple item record