ABSTRACT
Summary of key points:
Both science and policy have their own agendas and there is no necessity in the relationships between them.
The spectrum runs from perceptions of science-led to actually policy-led situations.
Science can have three meanings: internal, self-defining (scientific) ones, generalizations (for the subject); and external. It is this external, culturally defined significance which is crucial.
There are perceptions of linkage, interaction, flow, cycling, adjustment and reaction in ecosystems bur, beyond that, perception of translations of “ecological principles” into the management arena are seen as involving value judgements and preferences rather than any necessity.
Science has a great deal to contribute in the simpler, mechanical, verifiable systems, but in the #x201C;loose#x201D;, less tangible and unverifiable constructions like ecosystem and landscape, science is a foundation but it has little to offer in the sense that it can’t decide what views people will hold and how they will act.
