Discontinuities In Ecosystems And Other Complex Systems

Author : Craig R. Allen
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0231144458

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Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems by Craig R. Allen Pdf

Following the publication of C. S. Holling's seminal work on the relationship between animal body mass patterns and scale-specific landscape structure, ecologists began to explore the theoretical and applied consequences of discontinuities in ecosystems and other complex systems. Are ecosystems and their components continuously distributed and do they adhere to scaling laws, or are they discontinuous and more complex than early models would have us believe? The resulting propositions over the structure of complex systems sparked an ongoing debate regarding the mechanisms generating discontinuities and the statistical methods used for their detection. This volume takes the view that ecosystems and other complex systems are inherently discontinuous and that such fields as ecology, economics, and urban studies greatly benefit from this paradigm shift. Contributors present evidence of the ubiquity of discontinuous distributions in ecological and social systems and how their analysis provides insight into complex phenomena. The book is divided into three sections. The first focuses on background material and contrasting views concerning the discontinuous organization of complex systems. The second discusses discontinuous patterns detected in a number of different systems and methods for detecting them, and the third touches on the potential significance of discontinuities in complex systems. Science is still dominated by a focus on power laws, but the contributors to this volume are convinced power laws often mask the interesting dynamics of systems and that those dynamics are best revealed by investigating deviations from assumed power law distributions. In 2008, a grand conference on resilience was held in Stockholm, hosting 600 participants from around the world. There are now three big centers established with resilience, the most recent one being the Stockholm Resilience Center, with others in Australia (an international coral reef center), Arizona State University's new sustainability center focusing on anthropology, and Canada's emerging social sciences and resilience center. Activity continues to flourish in Alaska, South Africa, and the Untied Kingdom, and a new center is forming in Uruguay.

Author : Craig R. Allen,C. S. Holling
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2008-07-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780231516822

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Discontinuities in Ecosystems and Other Complex Systems by Craig R. Allen,C. S. Holling Pdf

Following the publication of C. S. Holling's seminal work on the relationship between animal body mass patterns and scale-specific landscape structure, ecologists began to explore the theoretical and applied consequences of discontinuities in ecosystems and other complex systems. Are ecosystems and their components continuously distributed and do they adhere to scaling laws, or are they discontinuous and more complex than early models would have us believe? The resulting propositions over the structure of complex systems sparked an ongoing debate regarding the mechanisms generating discontinuities and the statistical methods used for their detection. This volume takes the view that ecosystems and other complex systems are inherently discontinuous and that such fields as ecology, economics, and urban studies greatly benefit from this paradigm shift. Contributors present evidence of the ubiquity of discontinuous distributions in ecological and social systems and how their analysis provides insight into complex phenomena. The book is divided into three sections. The first focuses on background material and contrasting views concerning the discontinuous organization of complex systems. The second discusses discontinuous patterns detected in a number of different systems and methods for detecting them, and the third touches on the potential significance of discontinuities in complex systems. Science is still dominated by a focus on power laws, but the contributors to this volume are convinced power laws often mask the interesting dynamics of systems and that those dynamics are best revealed by investigating deviations from assumed power law distributions. In 2008, a grand conference on resilience was held in Stockholm, hosting 600 participants from around the world. There are now three big centers established with resilience, the most recent one being the Stockholm Resilience Center, with others in Australia (an international coral reef center), Arizona State University's new sustainability center focusing on anthropology, and Canada's emerging social sciences and resilience center. Activity continues to flourish in Alaska, South Africa, and the Untied Kingdom, and a new center is forming in Uruguay.

Author : Lance H. Gunderson,Craig Reece Allen,Ahjond Garmestani
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 341 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2022-04-21
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781642830903

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Applied Panarchy by Lance H. Gunderson,Craig Reece Allen,Ahjond Garmestani Pdf

After a decades-long economic slump, the city of Flint, Michigan, struggled to address chronic issues of toxic water supply, malnutrition, and food security gaps among its residents. A community-engaged research project proposed a resilience assessment that would use panarchy theory to move the city toward a more sustainable food system. Flint is one of many examples that demonstrates how panarchy theory is being applied to understand and influence change in complex human-natural systems. Applied Panarchy, the much-anticipated successor to Lance Gunderson and C.S. Holling’s seminal 2002 volume Panarchy, documents the extraordinary advances in interdisciplinary panarchy scholarship and applications over the past two decades. Panarchy theory has been applied to a broad range of fields, from economics to law to urban planning, changing the practice of environmental stewardship for the better in measurable, tangible ways. Panarchy describes the way systems—whether forests, electrical grids, agriculture, coastal surges, public health, or human economies and governance—are part of even larger systems that interact in unpredictable ways. Although humans desire resiliency and stability in our lives to help us understand the world and survive, nothing in nature is permanently stable. How can society anticipate and adjust to the changes we see around us? Where Panarchy proposed a framework to understand how these transformational cycles work and how we might influence them, Applied Panarchy takes the scholarship to the next level, demonstrating how these concepts have been modified and refined. The book shows how panarchy theory intersects with other disciplines, and how it directly influences natural resources management and environmental stewardship. Intended as a text for graduate courses in environmental sciences and related fields, Applied Panarchy picks up where Panarchy left off, inspiring new generations of scholars, researchers, and professionals to put its ideas to work in practical ways.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Academic Press
Page : 349 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2011-09-23
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780123864765

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The Role of Body Size in Multispecies Systems by Anonim Pdf

The general theme is being based around the ongoing European Science Foundation SIZEMIC Research Network, which has been running for several years. The network has focused on the role of body size in ecosystems and embraces a wide remit that spans all ecosystem types and a range of disciplines, from theoretical to applied ecology. Updates and informs the reader on the latest research findings Written by leading experts in the field Highlights areas for future investigation

Author : Lance H. Gunderson,Craig Reece Allen,C. S. Holling
Publisher : Island Press
Page : 496 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2012-07-16
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781610911337

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Foundations of Ecological Resilience by Lance H. Gunderson,Craig Reece Allen,C. S. Holling Pdf

Ecological resilience provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how complex systems adapt to and recover from localized disturbances like hurricanes, fires, pest outbreaks, and floods, as well as large-scale perturbations such as climate change. Ecologists have developed resilience theory over the past three decades in an effort to explain surprising and nonlinear dynamics of complex adaptive systems. Resilience theory is especially important to environmental scientists for its role in underpinning adaptive management approaches to ecosystem and resource management. Foundations of Ecological Resilience is a collection of the most important articles on the subject of ecological resilience—those writings that have defined and developed basic concepts in the field and help explain its importance and meaning for scientists and researchers. The book’s three sections cover articles that have shaped or defined the concepts and theories of resilience, including key papers that broke new conceptual ground and contributed novel ideas to the field; examples that demonstrate ecological resilience in a range of ecosystems; and articles that present practical methods for understanding and managing nonlinear ecosystem dynamics. Foundations of Ecological Resilience is an important contribution to our collective understanding of resilience and an invaluable resource for students and scholars in ecology, wildlife ecology, conservation biology, sustainability, environmental science, public policy, and related fields.

Author : James R. Skillen
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2015-10-23
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780700621279

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Federal Ecosystem Management by James R. Skillen Pdf

For the better part of the last century, "preservation" and "multi-use conservation" were the watchwords for managing federal lands and resources. But in the 1990s, amidst notable failures and overwhelming needs, policymakers, land managers, and environmental scholars were calling for a new paradigm: ecosystem management. Such an approach would integrate federal land and resource management across jurisdictional boundaries; it would protect biodiversity and economic development; and it would make federal management more collaborative and less hierarchical. That, at any rate, was the idea. Where the idea came from—why ecosystem management emerged as official policy in the 1990s—is half of the story that James Skillen tells in this timely book. The other half: Why, over the course of a mere decade, the policy fell out of favor? This closely focused history describes an old system of preservation and multi-use conservation ill equipped to cope with the new ecological, legal, and political realities confronting federal agencies. Ecosystem management, it was assumed, would not demand choices between substantive and procedural needs. Looming even larger in the push for the new approach was a shift of emphasis in both ecology and political science—from stability and predictability to dynamism and contingency. Ecosystem management offered more modest managerial goals informed by direct public participation as well as scientific expertise. But as Skillen shows, this purported balance proved to be the policy's undoing. Different interpretations presented conflicting emphases on scientific and democratic authority. By 2001, when both models had been tested, the Bush administration faulted federal ecosystem management for running "willy-nilly all over the west," and shelved the policy. In this book, Skillen gets at the truth behind these contrary interpretations and claims to clarify how federal ecosystem management worked—and didn't—and how many of the principles it embodied continue to influence federal land and resource management in the twenty-first century. How the policy's lessons apply to our politically and environmentally fraught moment is, finally, considerably clearer with this informed and thoughtful book in hand.

Author : Marina Alberti
Publisher : University of Washington Press
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2016-08-25
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9780295806600

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Cities That Think like Planets by Marina Alberti Pdf

As human activity and environmental change come to be increasingly recognized as intertwined phenomena on a rapidly urbanizing planet, the field of urban ecology has risen to offer useful ways of thinking about coupled human and natural systems. On the forefront of this discipline is Marina Alberti, whose innovative work offers a conceptual framework for uncovering fundamental laws that govern the complexity and resilience of cities, which she sees as key to understanding and responding to planetary change and the evolution of Earth. Bridging the fields of urban planning and ecology, Alberti describes a science of cities that work on a planetary scale and that links unpredictable dynamics to the potential for innovation. It is a science that considers interactions - at all scales - between people and built environments and between cities and their larger environments. Cities That Think like Planets advances strategies for planning a future that may look very different from the present, as rapid urbanization could tip the Earth toward abrupt and nonlinear change. Alberti's analyses of the various hybrid ecosystems, such as self-organization, heterogeneity, modularity, multiple equilibria, feedback, and transformation, may help humans participate in guiding the Earth away from inadvertent collapse and toward a new era of planetary co-evolution and resilience.

Author : marina Alberti
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 374 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2007-12-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780387755106

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Advances in Urban Ecology by marina Alberti Pdf

This groundbreaking work is an attempt at providing a conceptual framework to synthesize urban and ecological dynamics into a common framework. The greatest challenge for urban ecologists in the next few decades is to understand the role humans play in urban ecosystems. The development of an integrated urban ecological approach is crucial to advance ecological research and to help planners and managers solve complex urban environmental issues. This book is a major step forward.

Author : Emilio Jose Garcia,Brenda Vale
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 212 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-27
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781317242970

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Unravelling Sustainability and Resilience in the Built Environment by Emilio Jose Garcia,Brenda Vale Pdf

In this timely book, Emilio Jose Garcia and Brenda Vale explore what sustainability and resilience might mean when applied to the built environment. Conceived as a primer for students and professionals, it defines what the terms sustainability and resilience mean and how they are related to each other and to the design of the built environment. After discussion of the origins of the terms, these definitions are then compared and applied to case studies, including Whitehill and Bordon, UK, Tianjin Eco-city, China, and San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, which highlight the principles of both concepts. Essentially, the authors champion the case that sustainability in the built environment would benefit from a proper understanding of resilience.

Author : R. Cavallo,S. Komossa,N. Marzot
Publisher : IOS Press
Page : 1072 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2014-04-25
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781614993667

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New Urban Configurations by R. Cavallo,S. Komossa,N. Marzot Pdf

Urban areas have been caught up in a turbulent process of transformation over the past 50 years and changes have been rapid, with issues such as mobility, nature, water management, energy use and public space featuring prominently._x000D_ In each Olympic year since 1988, the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology has held an international conference focusing on the connection between research and design, exploring the field of tension between science, technology and art._x000D_ This book presents the proceedings of the latest in this series of conferences: New Urban Configurations, held in Delft, the Netherlands, in October 2012 in collaboration with the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and the International Seminar on Urban Form (ISUF). This edition of the conference discussed the role and critical potential of the architectural project in the transformation process of cities and territories that leads to new urban configurations._x000D_ The publication contains all 140 accepted papers and a selection of the keynote lectures presented at the conference. The papers have been grouped into five main themes: innovation in building typology; infrastructure and the city; complex urban projects; green spaces, and delta urbanism. Four of these major topics are further divided into several subtopics._x000D_ This book will be of interest to everyone involved in designing, building, thinking about as well as managing the urban landscape and territory.

Author : John A. Bissonette,Ilse Storch
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 2007-08-08
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780387454474

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Temporal Dimensions of Landscape Ecology by John A. Bissonette,Ilse Storch Pdf

In this book, the authors discuss the effects that temporal changes in resources have on animal populations. The chapters address the idea of current as well as historical temporal influences on resource availability, quality, and distribution. The authors draw attention to the neglected temporal issues so important to understanding species and community responses. International contributions enable worldwide application of the theories.

Author : Alf Hornborg,Carole L Crumley
Publisher : Left Coast Press
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781598741018

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The World System and the Earth System by Alf Hornborg,Carole L Crumley Pdf

Contributors from a wide spectrum of disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology, geography, ecology, palaeo-science, geology, sociology, and history discuss the complex ways in which human culture, economy, and demographics interact with ecology and climate change.

Author : Ecological Society of America. Meeting
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Ecology
ISBN : STANFORD:36105132965562

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Official Meeting Program by Ecological Society of America. Meeting Pdf

Author : Fred B. Samson,Fritz L. Knopf
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 470 pages
File Size : 40,8 Mb
Release : 2013-12-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781461240181

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Ecosystem Management by Fred B. Samson,Fritz L. Knopf Pdf

Ecosystem management has emerged in the past several years as the new paradigm for managing public and private land. It combines the principles of ecosystem-level ecology with the policy requirements of resource and public land management. This collection of selected readings will serve as an introduction to the concepts of biological diversity, ecological process, biotic integrity, and ecological sustainability that underlie ecosystem management.

Author : Jeanne C. Chambers,Craig R. Allen,Samuel A. Cushman
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2020-07-17
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9782889638673

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Operationalizing the Concepts of Resilience and Resistance for Managing Ecosystems and Species at Risk by Jeanne C. Chambers,Craig R. Allen,Samuel A. Cushman Pdf