A concept in adaptive ecosystem management—An engineering perspective

Uncertainty how ecosystems will behave and look like in the future has been increasing. Several concepts, such as sustainable, adaptive, or risk-based management, were proposed to cope with uncertain, incomplete knowledge, and with changing environmental conditions. However, there is a lack of agreement what those concepts mean and how they differ from traditional forest management approaches. The paper aims at (1) exploring general systems theory, control theory, and risk management theory for general principles that may be guiding the future development of ecosystem management, and that (2) developing a concept in adaptive ecosystem management that may act as a shared mental model for both scholars and practitioners.