Document Detail


Managing ecological thresholds in coupled environmental-human systems.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  21502517     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Many ecosystems appear subject to regime shifts--abrupt changes from one state to another after crossing a threshold or tipping point. Thresholds and their associated stability landscapes are determined within a coupled socioeconomic-ecological system (SES) where human choices, including those of managers, are feedback responses. Prior work has made one of two assumptions about managers: that they face no institutional constraints, in which case the SES may be managed to be fairly robust to shocks and tipping points are of little importance, or that managers are rigidly constrained with no flexibility to adapt, in which case the inferred thresholds may poorly reflect actual managerial flexibility. We model a multidimensional SES to investigate how alternative institutions affect SES stability landscapes and alter tipping points. With institutionally dependent human feedbacks, the stability landscape depends on institutional arrangements. Strong institutions that account for feedback responses create the possibility for desirable states of the world and can cause undesirable states to cease to exist. Intermediate institutions interact with ecological relationships to determine the existence and nature of tipping points. Finally, weak institutions can eliminate tipping points so that only undesirable states of the world remain.
Authors:
Richard D Horan; Eli P Fenichel; Kevin L S Drury; David M Lodge
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2011-04-18
Journal Detail:
Title:  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America     Volume:  108     ISSN:  1091-6490     ISO Abbreviation:  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.     Publication Date:  2011 May 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-05-04     Completed Date:  2011-07-15     Revised Date:  2011-07-28    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7505876     Medline TA:  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  7333-8     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1039, USA. horan@msu.edu
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Animals
Astacoidea / physiology
Bass / physiology
Conservation of Natural Resources / methods*
Ecology / methods*
Ecosystem*
Environment*
Fisheries / methods
Humans
Models, Theoretical*
Public Policy*
Socioeconomic Factors
Comments/Corrections

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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