Effectiveness of best practice management guides for improving invasive species management: a review

Best practice management (BPM) guides are a key component of invasive species extension in Australia, and are becoming a more important way of reaching land managers with comprehensive invasive species management strategies. However, little is known about the quantifiable benefits of these guides as a stand-alone extension approach, or in comparison with other approaches. We therefore reviewed the existing literature to determine when this form of extension was appropriate, what determines the success or failure of BPM guides in facilitating best practice invasive species management, how effective they had been in the Australian context, and what methods were available to evaluate BPM guide effectiveness. BPM guides are most appropriately used in support of other forms of extension and enforcement of invasive species regulations; as a cost-effective alternative to more labour-intensive extension techniques; or in bringing together disparate information in a single comprehensive source for land managers and extension practitioners. They appear to be most appropriately distributed at mid- and late-stages of the invasion curve. Limited quantitative evidence of the effectiveness of BPM guides for invasive species in Australia is available, although there is a consensus that these materials are popular among target audiences, despite a range of studies having shown face-to-face extension to be more effective. Unfortunately, many factors make successful evaluation of a BPM guide difficult, such that extension professionals are less likely to consider the possibility of evaluation. However, we argue that extension professionals need to consider evaluation of written BPM guides, where time and funding makes this possible. Ideally this will involve formative evaluation to improve the content and messages of the guide, as well as summative evaluation to determine its effectiveness among the target audience and for the target species. We also suggest a range of economic evaluation possibilities that warrant further exploration and trial.