Unifying Research on Social–Ecological Resilience and Collapse Graeme S
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Multiple Stable States and Regime Shifts - Environmental Science - Oxford Bibliographies 3/30/18, 10:15 AM
Multiple Stable States and Regime Shifts - Environmental Science - Oxford Bibliographies 3/30/18, 10:15 AM Multiple Stable States and Regime Shifts James Heffernan, Xiaoli Dong, Anna Braswell LAST MODIFIED: 28 MARCH 2018 DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199363445-0095 Introduction Why do ecological systems (populations, communities, and ecosystems) change suddenly in response to seemingly gradual environmental change, or fail to recover from large disturbances? Why do ecological systems in seemingly similar settings exhibit markedly different ecological structure and patterns of change over time? The theory of multiple stable states in ecological systems provides one potential explanation for such observations. In ecological systems with multiple stable states (or equilibria), two or more configurations of an ecosystem are self-maintaining under a given set of conditions because of feedbacks among biota or between biota and the physical and chemical environment. The resulting multiple different states may occur as different types or compositions of vegetation or animal communities; as different densities, biomass, and spatial arrangement; and as distinct abiotic environments created by the distinct ecological communities. Alternative states are maintained by the combined effects of positive (or amplifying) feedbacks and negative (or stabilizing feedbacks). While stabilizing feedbacks reinforce each state, positive feedbacks are what allow two or more states to be stable. Thresholds between states arise from the interaction of these positive and negative feedbacks, and define the basins of attraction of the alternative states. These feedbacks and thresholds may operate over whole ecosystems or give rise to self-organized spatial structure. The combined effect of these feedbacks is also what gives rise to ecological resilience, which is the capacity of ecological systems to absorb environmental perturbations while maintaining their basic structure and function. -
Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio Associate VP for Conservation and Health Research Into the Critical Connections Between Human, Wildlife Health and Ecosystems
Red List of Ecosystems Carlos Zambrana-Torrelio Associate VP for Conservation and Health Research into the critical connections between human, wildlife health and ecosystems. • How human activities (land use change) could lead to disease emergence (Ebola, Zika, …) • Disease regulation as an ecosystem service: Estimate the economic impact of infectious diseases due to land use change Red List of Ecosystems: a quantitative framework to evaluate ecosystem condition Red List of Ecosystems Goal: develop a consistent global framework for monitoring the status of ecosystems and identifying those most at risk of biodiversity loss. • How great are the risks? • How soon are the changes likely to occur? Assessing risks to ecosystems 1989 2008 • Unlike species, ecosystems do not go extinct! • Cannot sustain its defining features: Characteristic native biota and Ecological processes that structure & sustain the system • Ecosystem collapse ~ species extinction - Analogous concepts • Ecosystem collapse affects capacity to deliver ecosystem Aral sea: collapsed ecosystem services Freshwater aquatic ephemeral steppe + hypersaline lakes Keith et al. (2013). Scientific foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems. PLoS ONE in press Supplementary material 14 TAPIA FOREST, MADAGASCAR contributed by Justin Moat & Steven Bachman, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew CLASSIFICATION National: Tapia Forest is recognised as a major vegetation type in the Atlas of vegetation of Madagascar (Rabehevitra and Rakotoarisoa 2007). IUCN Habitats Classification Scheme (Version 3.0): 1. Forest / 1.5 Subtropical/Tropical Dry Forest ECOSYSTEM DESCRIPTION Characteristic native biota A forest comprising an evergreen canopy of 10–12 m, with an understorey of ericoid shrubs. Lianas are frequent, but epiphytes are few. The herbaceous layer is dominated by grasses (Rabehevitra & Rakotoarisoa 2007). -
Technology Driven Inequality Leads to Poverty and Resource Depletion T ⁎ M
Ecological Economics 160 (2019) 215–226 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ecological Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon Analysis Technology driven inequality leads to poverty and resource depletion T ⁎ M. Usman Mirzaa,b, , Andries Richterb, Egbert H. van Nesa, Marten Scheffera a Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Netherlands b Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group, Sub-department of Economics, Wageningen University, Netherlands ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Keywords: The rapid rise in inequality is often seen to go in-hand with resource overuse. Examples include water extraction Inequality in Pakistan, land degradation in Bangladesh, forest harvesting in Sub-Saharan Africa and industrial fishing in Technology Lake Victoria. While access to ecosystem services provided by common pool resources mitigates poverty, ex- Social-ecological systems clusive access to technology by wealthy individuals may fuel excessive resource extraction and deplete the Poverty trap resource, thus widening the wealth gap. We use a stylised social-ecological model, to illustrate how a positive Dynamic systems feedback between wealth and technology may fuel local inequality. The resulting rise in local inequality can lead Critical transitions to resource degradation and critical transitions such as ecological resource collapse and unexpected increase in poverty. Further, we find that societies may evolve towards a stable state of few wealthy and manypoorin- dividuals, where the distribution of wealth depends on how access to technology is distributed. Overall, our results illustrate how access to technology may be a mechanism that fuels resource degradation and conse- quently pushes most vulnerable members of society into a poverty trap. 1. Introduction at first and then drops as gains are distributed more evenly in developing economies, giving rise to an inverted U shaped curve (Kuznet, 1955). -
Resilience to Climate Change in Coastal Marine Ecosystems
MA05CH16-Leslie ARI 9 November 2012 14:39 Resilience to Climate Change in Coastal Marine Ecosystems 1,3 1,2, Joanna R. Bernhardt and Heather M. Leslie ∗ 1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and 2Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912; email: [email protected] 3Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Center, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada; email: [email protected] Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci. 2013. 5:371–92 Keywords First published online as a Review in Advance on recovery, resistance, diversity, interactions, adaptation July 30, 2012 by 70.167.19.146 on 01/03/13. For personal use only. The Annual Review of Marine Science is online at Abstract marine.annualreviews.org Ecological resilience to climate change is a combination of resistance to in- This article’s doi: creasingly frequent and severe disturbances, capacity for recovery and self- 10.1146/annurev-marine-121211-172411 organization, and ability to adapt to new conditions. Here, we focus on Annu. Rev. Marine. Sci. 2013.5:371-392. Downloaded from www.annualreviews.org Copyright c 2013 by Annual Reviews. ⃝ three broad categories of ecological properties that underlie resilience: di- All rights reserved versity, connectivity, and adaptive capacity. Diversity increases the variety ∗Corresponding author. of responses to disturbance and the likelihood that species can compensate for one another. Connectivity among species, populations, and ecosystems enhances capacity for recovery by providing sources of propagules, nutri- ents, and biological legacies. Adaptive capacity includes a combination of phenotypic plasticity, species range shifts, and microevolution. We discuss empirical evidence for how these ecological and evolutionary mechanisms contribute to the resilience of coastal marine ecosystems following climate change–related disturbances, and how resource managers can apply this in- formation to sustain these systems and the ecosystem services they provide. -
From Predator to Parasite: Private Property, Neoliberalism, and Ecological Disaster
From Predator to Parasite: Private Property, Neoliberalism, and Ecological Disaster Jenica M. Kramer John B. Hall ABSTRACT The institution of private property forms the basis for ecological disaster. The profit-seeking of the vested interests, in conjunction with their modes of valuing nature through the apparatuses of neoclassical economics and neoliberalism proceed to degrade and destroy life on Earth. We assert that the radical, or original institutional economics (OIE) of Thorstein Veblen, further advanced by William Dugger, have crucial insights to offer the interdisciplinary fields of political ecology and ecological economics which seek to address the underlying causes and emergent complications of the unfolding, interconnected, social, and ecological crises that define our age. This inquiry will attempt to address what, to us, appears to be either overlooked or underexplored in these research communities. Namely, that the usurpation of society’s surplus production, or, the accumulation of capital, is a parasite that sustains itself not only through the exploitation of human labor, but by exploiting society and nature more broadly, resulting in the deterioration of life itself. We attest that the transformation of the obvious predator that pursues power through pecuniary gain into a parasite, undetected by its host, is realized in its most rapacious form in the global hegemonic system of neoliberal capitalism. JEL CLASSIFICATION CODES B520, N500, O440, Q560 KEYWORDS Ecological Economics, Environmentalism, Neoliberalism, Original Institutional Economics, Political Ecology This inquiry seeks to establish that the institution of private property forms the basis for ecological disaster. The profit-seeking of the vested interests, in conjunction with their modes of valuing nature through the apparatuses of neoclassical economics and neoliberalism proceed to degrade and destroy life on Earth. -
Ecological Consequences of Human Niche Construction: Examining Long-Term Anthropogenic Shaping of Global Species Distributions Nicole L
SPECIAL FEATURE: SPECIAL FEATURE: PERSPECTIVE PERSPECTIVE Ecological consequences of human niche construction: Examining long-term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions Nicole L. Boivina,b,1, Melinda A. Zederc,d, Dorian Q. Fuller (傅稻镰)e, Alison Crowtherf, Greger Larsong, Jon M. Erlandsonh, Tim Denhami, and Michael D. Petragliaa Edited by Richard G. Klein, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, and approved March 18, 2016 (received for review December 22, 2015) The exhibition of increasingly intensive and complex niche construction behaviors through time is a key feature of human evolution, culminating in the advanced capacity for ecosystem engineering exhibited by Homo sapiens. A crucial outcome of such behaviors has been the dramatic reshaping of the global bio- sphere, a transformation whose early origins are increasingly apparent from cumulative archaeological and paleoecological datasets. Such data suggest that, by the Late Pleistocene, humans had begun to engage in activities that have led to alterations in the distributions of a vast array of species across most, if not all, taxonomic groups. Changes to biodiversity have included extinctions, extirpations, and shifts in species composition, diversity, and community structure. We outline key examples of these changes, highlighting findings from the study of new datasets, like ancient DNA (aDNA), stable isotopes, and microfossils, as well as the application of new statistical and computational methods to datasets that have accumulated significantly in recent decades. We focus on four major phases that witnessed broad anthropogenic alterations to biodiversity—the Late Pleistocene global human expansion, the Neolithic spread of agricul- ture, the era of island colonization, and the emergence of early urbanized societies and commercial net- works. -
What Role for Community Greening and Civic Ecology in Cities?
Chapter 7 From risk to resilience: what role for community greening and civic ecology in cities? Keith G. Tidball and Marianne E. Krasny Introduction One of the greatest risks following a natural disaster or conflict in cities is the ensuing social chaos or breakdown of order. Failed cities, such as parts of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and Baghdad following war in Iraq, can be viewed as socio-ecological systems that, as a result of disaster or conflict coupled with lack of resilience, have “collapsed into a qualitatively different state that is controlled by a different set of processes” (Resilience Alliance 2006). Communities lacking resilience are at high risk of shifting into a qualitatively different, often undesirable state when disaster strikes. Restoring a community to its previous state can be complex, expensive, and sometimes even impossible. Thus, developing tools, strategies, and policies to build resilience before disaster strikes is essential. The Resilience Alliance has led the way in developing a broadly interdisciplinary research agenda that integrates the ecological and social sciences , along with complex systems thinking to help understand the conditions that create resilience in socio-ecological systems. Through consideration of diverse forms of knowledge, participatory approaches, and adaptive management, in addition to systems thinking, the Resilience Alliance integrates multiple social learning ‘strands’ (Dyball et al. 2007). Although the resilience work has not focused on cities, its approach is consistent with a call by the Urban Security group at the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory for “an approach (to studying urban ecosystems) that integrates physical processes, economic and social factors, and nonlinear feedback across a broad range of scales and disparate process phenomena” (Urban Security 1999). -
The Inflated Significance of Neutral Genetic Diversity in Conservation Genetics PERSPECTIVE Jo~Ao C
PERSPECTIVE The inflated significance of neutral genetic diversity in conservation genetics PERSPECTIVE Jo~ao C. Teixeiraa,b,1 and Christian D. Hubera,1 Edited by Andrew G. Clark, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and approved December 30, 2020 (received for review July 22, 2020) The current rate of species extinction is rapidly approaching unprecedented highs, and life on Earth presently faces a sixth mass extinction event driven by anthropogenic activity, climate change, and ecological collapse. The field of conservation genetics aims at preserving species by using their levels of genetic diversity, usually measured as neutral genome-wide diversity, as a barometer for evaluating pop- ulation health and extinction risk. A fundamental assumption is that higher levels of genetic diversity lead to an increase in fitness and long-term survival of a species. Here, we argue against the perceived impor- tance of neutral genetic diversity for the conservation of wild populations and species. We demonstrate that no simple general relationship exists between neutral genetic diversity and the risk of species extinc- tion. Instead, a better understanding of the properties of functional genetic diversity, demographic his- tory, and ecological relationships is necessary for developing and implementing effective conservation genetic strategies. conservation genetics | adaptive potential | inbreeding depression | genetic load | species extinction Are Species with Little Genetic Diversity Moreover, low genetic diversity is related to reduced Endangered? individual life span and health, along with a depleted Climate change caused by human activity is currently capacity for population growth (9). In contrast, high responsible for widespread ecological disruption and levels of genetic diversity are often seen as key to habitat destruction, with an ensuing unprecedented promoting population survival and guaranteeing the rate of species loss known as the Anthropocene Mass adaptive potential of natural populations in the face of Extinction (1–4). -
Developing a Standardized Definition of Ecosystem Collapse for Risk Assessment
Developing a standardized definition of ecosystem collapse for risk assessment Citation: Bland, Lucie M., Rowland, Jessica A., Regan, Tracey J., Keith, David A., Murray, Nicholas J., Lester, Rebecca E., Linn, Matt., Rodríguez, Jon Paul. and Nicholson, Emily 2018, Developing a standardized definition of ecosystem collapse for risk assessment, Frontiers in ecology and the environment, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 29-36. DOI: http://www.dx.doi.org/10.1002/fee.1747 ©2018, The Ecological Society of America Downloaded from DRO: http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30106000 DRO Deakin Research Online, Deakin University’s Research Repository Deakin University CRICOS Provider Code: 00113B REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS Developing a standardized definition of 29 ecosystem collapse for risk assessment Lucie M Bland1,2*, Jessica A Rowland1, Tracey J Regan2,3, David A Keith4,5,6, Nicholas J Murray4, Rebecca E Lester7, Matt Linn1, Jon Paul Rodríguez8,9,10, and Emily Nicholson1 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Ecosystems is a powerful tool for classifying threatened ecosystems, informing ecosystem management, and assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse (that is, the endpoint of ecosystem degradation). These risk assessments require explicit definitions of ecosystem collapse, which are currently challenging to implement. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we systematically review evidence for ecosystem collapses reported in two contrasting biomes – marine pelagic ecosystems and terrestrial forests. Most studies define states of ecosystem collapse quantitatively, but few studies adequately describe initial ecosystem states or ecological transitions leading to collapse. On the basis of our review, we offer four recommendations for defining ecosystem collapse in risk assessments: (1) qualitatively defining initial and collapsed states, (2) describing collapse and recovery transitions, (3) identify- ing and selecting indicators of collapse, and (4) setting quantitative collapse thresholds. -
ECOSYSTEM INSIDER the Ecosystem Insider Brings You News from the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management
Forward to a friend | View in browser ECOSYSTEM INSIDER The Ecosystem Insider brings you news from the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management June 2018 - Edition 2 Dear IUCN CEM member, Follow us for more news and updates We are pleased to bring you the Second issue of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) Newsletter for 2018 CEM HIGHLIGHT Technical Expert Meeting on Adaptation 2018 The technical examination process on adaptation (TEP-A) was established at COP 21 as part of the enhanced action prior to 2020 in the decision adopting the Paris Agreement. The TEP-A seeks to identify concrete opportunities for strengthening resilience, reducing vulnerabilities, and increasing the understanding and implementation of adaptation actions. During its May meeting in Bonn, Angela Andrade participated in Session #1 Adaptation Planning for Vulnerable Ecosystems where two issues led the discussion: 1) What are the barriers to more widespread adoption of ecosystem-based adaptation at the national level? How can these barriers be overcome? Does ecosystem-based adaptation contribute to increasing the resilience of vulnerable communities and groups? To learn more about the Technical Expert Meeting, visit their page. To learn more about this event, please visit the Earth Negotiation Bulletin. CEM was present in the 3rd EbA Knowledge Day celebrated as a UNFCCC SB48 Side Event. The 3rd EbA Knowledge Day was organized by GIZ and IUCN under the Friends of EbA (FEBA) network in the framework of UNFCCC SBSTA 48 with the aim to enhance knowledge on strategies and partnerships for upscaling EbA at policy and implementation level especially in the context of NDC implementation, public finance and key sector strategies such as agriculture/food security, water, forestry and fisheries. -
Combating Ecosystem Collapse from the Tropics to the Antarctic
Received: 13 October 2020 | Revised: 12 January 2021 | Accepted: 20 January 2021 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15539 OPINION Combating ecosystem collapse from the tropics to the Antarctic Dana M. Bergstrom1,2 | Barbara C. Wienecke1 | John van den Hoff1 | Lesley Hughes3 | David B. Lindenmayer4 | Tracy D. Ainsworth5 | Christopher M. Baker6,7,8 | Lucie Bland9 | David M. J. S. Bowman10 | Shaun T. Brooks11 | Josep G. Canadell12 | Andrew J. Constable13 | Katherine A. Dafforn3 | Michael H. Depledge14 | Catherine R. Dickson15 | Norman C. Duke16 | Kate J. Helmstedt17 | Andrés Holz18 | Craig R. Johnson11 | Melodie A. McGeoch15 | Jessica Melbourne- Thomas13,19 | Rachel Morgain4 | Emily Nicholson20 | Suzanne M. Prober21 | Ben Raymond1,11 | Euan G. Ritchie20 | Sharon A. Robinson2,22 | Katinka X. Ruthrof23,24 | Samantha A. Setterfield25 | Carla M. Sgrò15 | Jonathan S. Stark1 | Toby Travers11 | Rowan Trebilco13,19 | Delphi F. L. Ward11 | Glenda M. Wardle26 | Kristen J. Williams27 | Phillip J. Zylstra22,28 | Justine D. Shaw29 1Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Kingston, Tas., Australia 2Global Challenges Program, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia 3Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia 4Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia 5School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, Australia 6School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic., Australia -
Exploring Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems Through Comparative Studies and Theory Development: Introduction to the Special Issue
Copyright © 2006 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance. Walker, B. H., J. M. Anderies, A. P. Kinzig, and P. Ryan. 2006. Exploring resilience in social-ecological systems through comparative studies and theory development: introduction to the special issue. Ecology and Society 11(1): 12. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art12/ Guest Editorial, part of a Special Feature on Exploring Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems Exploring Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems Through Comparative Studies and Theory Development: Introduction to the Special Issue Brian H. Walker 1, John M. Anderies 2, Ann P. Kinzig 2, and Paul Ryan 1 ABSTRACT. This special issue of Ecology and Society on exploring resilience in social-ecological systems draws together insights from comparisons of 15 case studies conducted during two Resilience Alliance workshops in 2003 and 2004. As such, it represents our current understanding of resilience theory and the issues encountered in our attempts to apply it. Key Words: resilience; theory; resilience application; resilience synthesis; resilience case studies INTRODUCTION SPECIAL ISSUE The concept of resilience in ecological systems was This Special Issue on Exploring Resilience in introduced by C. S. (Buzz) Holling (1973), who Social-Ecological Systems continues the expansion published a classic paper in the Annual Review of and application of theories and ideas about Ecology and Systematics on the relationship resilience in interlinked systems of people and between resilience and stability. His purpose was to ecosystems, with expansions into some areas of describe models of change in the structure and social science. Similar ideas appear to have had a function of ecological systems.