A Conservation Manager’s Dilemma: Save more species with higher risk of management failure or fewer species with greater chance of success?

Conservation managers designing and implementing threatened species management actions, frequently face the same dilemma: should they invest in projects that result in certain gains, or invest in projects with greater expected net benefit but higher risk of failure? The answer lies in the managers' and decision-makers' willingness to accept uncertainty in the outcomes of management - their aversion to risk. We have a new publication in Conservation Biology that presents the first examination of the issue of manager’s risk aversion in relation to prioritisation of threatened species recovery projects.