Organising evidence for environmental management decisions: a ‘4S’ hierarchy  Lynn V. Dicks, Jessica C. Walsh, William J. Sutherland  Trends in Ecology & Evolution  Volume 29, Issue 11, Pages 607-613 (November 2014) DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.004 Copyright © 2014 The Authors Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 A schematic showing how scientific information could feed into environmental decisions. The triangle on the left is a simplification of the ‘4S’ or ‘5S’ hierarchy proposed by Haynes [22,24] in which summaries integrate evidence from studies and systematic reviews, and are used as the basis for information flowing into decision support systems. In this scheme, environmental decisions are based on the best-available evidence, combined with the expertise and local knowledge of the practitioner or policymaker (described by the ‘Experience’ box). Broken lines illustrate bypass routes currently taken to inform environmental decisions (see main text for details). Trends in Ecology & Evolution 2014 29, 607-613DOI: (10.1016/j.tree.2014.09.004) Copyright © 2014 The Authors Terms and Conditions