Beneath the Straw: In Defense of Participatory Adaptive Management J. M. Evans Æ A. C. Wilkie Æ J. Burkhardt Accepted: 4 November 2008 / Published online: 18 November 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract Our recentpaperadvocating adaptive management of invasive nonnative species (INS) in Kings Bay, Florida received detailed responses from both Daniel Sim- berloff,a prominent invasion biologist, and Mark Sagoff, a prominent critic of invasion biology.Simberloffoffersseveralsignificant lines of criticism that compeldetailed rebuttals, and, as such, most of this reply is dedicated to this purpose. Ultimately, w quite significant that Simberloff, despite his other stated objections to our paper, a agrees with our argument thatproposals for alternative management of established INS (i.e.,alternatives to minimization/eradication) should not be rejected on an a priori b We argue that more specific development and application of adaptive approaches INS management, whether in Kings Bay orotherappropriate case studies, would be facilitated if ecosystem managers and invasion biologists follow Simberloff’s lead o key point.While Sagofflargely shares (and,indeed,served asa primary source for developing) our general arguments that challenge common moral and scientific assump- tions associated with invasion biology, he does question our suggestion that partici adaptive management provides an appropriate framework for approaching environ problems in which science and politics are inherently entangled. We attempt to ans criticism through a brief sketch of what participatory adaptive management might for Kings Bay and how such an approach would differ from past management appro J. M. Evans (&) Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6455, USA e-mail: jevans75@ufl.edu A. C. Wilkie Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida – IFAS, PO Box 110960, Gainesville, FL 32611-0960, USA e-mail: acwilkie@ufl.edu J. Burkhardt Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida – IFAS, PO Box 110240, Gainesville, FL 32611-0240, USA e-mail: burk@ufl.edu 123 J Agric Environ Ethics (2009) 22:169–180 DOI 10.1007/s10806-008-9135-4