Toward a Preemptive Ecology for Rapid, Global, and Increasingly Irreversible Environmental Change: A Discussion Paper with Implications for Research and Management in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta

People have extensively modified the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta since the 1850s. Rapid change is not new, but the nature of rapid change that is beginning to be experienced has new qualities. The Delta Independent Science Board, working in conjunction with the Delta Science Program and the Delta Plan Interagency Implementation Committee, is assessing the adequacy of environmental and ecological research in the Delta, how well that research is addressing emerging challenges, and how it might be improved. This paper is a part of that process. Each member of the Delta Independent Science Board has contributed to this document, but there is not a consensus among the members around the full content of this paper. This paper is written to inform and stimulate discussion around controversial yet important issues.