Using Systematic Reviews to Support Environmental Decisions: Nutrients and Diatoms in Streams
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Systematic review is one approach to develop a comprehensive, well-synthesized evidence base to
support environmental decisions. Systematic review is a structured and highly documented process for
gathering and synthesizing evidence from existing studies, to form conclusions that are supported by the
available evidence. Given its rigor and transparency, systematic review can be useful in informing
decisions that may be controversial or subject to legal challenges. It is also useful for identifying
knowledge gaps and addressing questions with inconsistent findings in the literature. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development is currently conducting
systematic reviews on human health and environmental questions (e.g., effects of a chemical on human
health, effects of nutrient pollution on stream ecosystems). Through these reviews, we have learned
several lessons for future improvement. First, client communication throughout the process is needed.
Systematic reviews are time and resource intensive, so ensuring that the end result will address the
client’s need is critical. Decisions with shorter timelines (or sparser evidence bases in the
published literature) may be better addressed using fit-for-purpose assessment methods, rather than
systematic review. Evidence banking and technologies such as machine-learning and literature-screening
software can improve efficiency of the systematic review process. Finally, it is important to consider
how to disseminate systematic review results in ways that are most useful to multiple end users (e.g.,
decision-makers, other researchers).