Using Systematic Review & Evidence Banking to Increase Uptake and Use of Aquatic Science in Decision-Making
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To support sound decision-making in environmental management, we need rigorous, defensible, and transparent synthesis of scientific evidence. Society for Freshwater Science members are leaders in applying science to decision-making, and yet many environmental decisions are still at risk of having to be made without a comprehensive, well-synthesized evidence base supporting them. In this presentation, we discuss two synergistic approaches that can help science inform decision-making, systematic review (structured, transparent literature synthesis), and evidence banking (centralized reporting of key ecological relationships). Our aim is to promote the use of these approaches within the aquatic science community. We propose that scientists can improve the use of science in decision-making by making their research more compatible with synthesis efforts by: (1) considering risk of bias when designing studies and reporting results; (2) reporting all relevant contextual information; (3) analyzing data using standard effect size approaches; and (4) banking both raw data and evidence of key relationships. Awareness of how primary research informs decisions can help broaden the impact of scientific research, making it more directly relevant to decision-making and more likely to contribute to the protection of aquatic ecosystems.