Collins et al., 2011. An integrated conceptual framework for long term social....pdf

8/10/2019 Collins et al., 2011. An integrated conceptual framework for long term social....pdf

1/9

Frontiersin

Ecologyand theEnvironment

An integrated conceptual framework forlong-term socialecological researchScott L Collins, Stephen R Carpenter, Scott M Swinton, Daniel E Orenstein, Daniel L Childers,Ted L Gragson, Nancy B Grimm, J Morgan Grove, Sharon L Harlan, Jason P Kaye, Alan K Knapp,Gary P Kofinas, John J Magnuson, William H McDowell, John M Melack, Laura A Ogden,G Philip Robertson, Melinda D Smith, and Ali C Whitmer

Front Ecol Environ 2010; doi:10.1890/100068

This article is citable (as shown above) and is released from embargo once it is posted to the

Frontiers e-View site (www.frontiersinecology.org).

The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org

Please note: This article was downloaded fromFrontiers e-View, a service that publishes fully editedand formatted manuscripts before they appear in print in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.Readers are strongly advised to check the final print version in case any changes have been made.

esaesa


2/9


Over the past 50 years, ecosystems have been altered byhumans more than at any other time in recorded his-tory (Vitousek et al. 1997; Chapin et al. 2010), and thosechanges have resulted in reciprocal effects on human well-being (MA 2005). Although health and wealth have, onaverage, improved, in part as a consequence of theseecosystem changes, the social and geographic distributionof benefits to human populations remains uneven.

Furthermore, such improvements are often limited by theinability of ecosystem services to keep pace with humandemand and unequal opportunity for different people toaccess these services (MA 2005). Learning how to managefeedbacks between ecosystems and humans is vital if we are

to move toward a more sustainable world, in which thehealth of ecosystems and human well-being are improvedand ecosystem services are distributed more equitably forcurrent and future generations. As ecological researchexpands from site-based science to regional and globalscales (Peters et al. 2008), the conceptual scope of ecologymust also expand to embrace not only other scientific dis-ciplines, but also the pervasive human dimensions of envi-

ronmental structure and change. Every ecosystem on Earthis influenced by human actions (Vitousek et al. 1997;Palmer et al. 2005), and the consensus view now holdsthat, for many of todays most pressing issues, the environ-ment is best understood and studied as a socialecologicalsystem (Liu et al. 2007).

As recognition of the importance of socialecologicalscience increases, new interdisciplinary linkages areevolving. Global research programs, such as theInternational GeosphereBiosphere Programme and theInternational Human Dimensions Programme on GlobalEnvironmental Change (Steffen et al. 2004; Carpenterand Folke 2006), have driven important advances.

Collaborations between physical scientists and biologistshave occurred with the advent of regional- and global-scale science, whereas in applied sciences, such as agron-omy and fisheries, collaborations between ecologists andsocial scientists are more recent. For example, studies onhow ecosystem services benefit society formed the core ofthe Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA 2005), thefirst interdisciplinary global assessment of Earths ecosys-tems conducted at the behest of world leaders. Many earlyadvances in socialecological research were driven bycoalitions of ecologists and economists (Goulder and

CONCEPTS ANDQUESTIONS

An integrated conceptual framework forlong-term socialecological researchScott L Collins1*, Stephen R Carpenter2, Scott M Swinton3, Daniel E Orenstein4, Daniel L Childers5,

Ted L Gragson6, Nancy B Grimm7, J Morgan Grove8, Sharon L Harlan9, Jason P Kaye10, Alan K Knapp11,Gary P Kofinas12, John J Magnuson2, William H McDowell13, John M Melack14, Laura A Ogden15,G Philip Robertson16, Melinda D Smith17, and Ali C Whitmer18

The global reach of human activities affects all natural ecosystems, so that the environment is best viewed as

a socialecological system. Consequently, a more integrative approach to environmental science, one that

bridges the biophysical and social domains, is sorely needed. Although models and frameworks for

socialecological systems exist, few are explicitly designed to guide a long-term interdisciplinary research

program. Here, we present an iterative framework, PressPulse Dynamics (PPD), that integrates the bio-

physical and social sciences through an understanding of how human behaviors affect press and pulse

dynamics and ecosystem processes. Such dynamics and processes, in turn, influence ecosystem services

thereby altering human behaviors and initiating feedbacks that impact the original dynamics and processes.

We believe that research guided by the PPD framework will lead to a more thorough understanding of

socialecological systems and generate the knowledge needed to address pervasive environmental problems.

Front Ecol Environ 2010; doi:10.1890/100068

1Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque,

NM *([email protected]); refer to WebPanel 1 for the re-

maining authors affiliations, in their entirety

In a nutshell:

There is growing recognition that the environment must beviewed and studied as a socialecological system

Various conceptual models have been proposed to character-ize socialecological systems, but new thinking is needed toguide long-term research that links humans with their envi-ronment

We describe a new model for integrated socialecologicalresearch, the key components of which include environmen-tal and social sciences, press and pulse interactions, andecosystem services

Application of this approach will bridge the social and nat-ural sciences and build a knowledge base that can be used tohelp solve current and future environmental challenges


3/9

A framework for socialecological research SL Collins et a

www.frontiersinecology.org The Ecological Society of Americ

Kennedy 1997; Berkes and Folke 1998; Berkes et al. 2003)seeking to understand how institutions and economiessolve common-property resource problems (Ostrom 1990;Dietz et al. 2003), and more recently by studies of resiliencyin regional socialecological systems (Gunderson andHolling 2002; Walker and Salt 2006). Liu et al. (2007) illus-trated the diversity of approaches that have been applied to

site-based socialecological research, while emphasizing theenormous gaps in interdisciplinary science that remain, andthe need for new theory that will better integrate concep-tual and empirical research across disciplines.

Although research in pure social and biophysical sci-ences must continue, new emphasis and approaches arealso needed to understand the dynamic processes that areunique to socialecological systems. Ecosystems are com-posed of numerous species across the trophic spectrum that interact at varying rates and at multiple scales, fromwhich the patterns and dynamics that we observe emerge(Levin 1999). Social systems also self-organize and exhibitscale dependencies, but humans within such systems pos-

sess capabilities that qualitatively change these dynamicsin important ways (Gibson et al. 2000; Westley et al. 2002).For example, people make forward-looking decisions (iethey act on expectations of the future), generate andrespond to abstract perceptions that shape their worlds andtheir expectations, create feedbacks that act on varioustime scales over multiple spatial extents, and develop tech-nologies with far-reaching consequences (Westley et al.2002). These consequences create complex dynamics andoften unexpected outcomes, which may have long-termeffects on socialecological systems (Liu et al. 2007).

We are now beginning to see some of the emergingtrends, dynamics, feedbacks, and surprises that are impor-

tant for human well-being, but we are a long way fromunderstanding or being able to manage them. A combina-tion of theory development and multiple researchapproaches (place-based, cross-scale, long-term, and com-parative) that harmonize diverse disciplinary perspectivesis needed to develop understanding and build the capacityto sustainably manage socialecological systems. Here, wepropose a new mechanistic framework to guide thisresearch, which integrates the internal and interactivedynamics of social and natural systems.

PressPulse Dynamics and ecosystem services:

an integrated, long-term, socialecological

research framework

As noted above, scientists have called repeatedly forgreater integration between the social and biophysicaldomains (eg Robertson et al. 2004; Palmer et al. 2005;Pickett et al. 2005; Farber et al. 2006; Haberl et al. 2006; Liuet al. 2007). Typically, these calls are accompanied by illus-trative case studies and provide general rationales for whysuch research is needed, yet rarely do they propose usefulroadmaps for implementing truly integrated, hypothesis-driven research in socialecological systems. There is

therefore a compelling need for a comprehensive conceptual framework that is based on highly relevant disciplnary research, but at the same time facilitates linkageamong disciplines over the time frames and spatial scales awhich socialecological systems operate and interact.

Understanding change is a fundamental challenge foenvironmental science. Socialecological systems ca

transform incrementally and at times predictably. Some othe most important routine changes (eg post-fire succession or housing prices) are reasonably well understood anare incorporated into management practices, yet theschanges are best understood primarily within the biophysical or social-system contexts. Other changes are large inmagnitude, are spatially extensive, and alter socialecological systems for long time periods; examples includthe loss of keystone species, land-use change drivers (suchas zoning practices and homestead policy), or thincreased demand for biofuels. Although large changemay account for most of the cumulative dynamicobserved, they are infrequent or pulsed in nature. As

consequence, observations of these pulsed events are fewindividual cases may be unique, and our ability to generalize or predict their impacts on socialecological systemremains severely limited. Understanding the drivers aninteractions between sudden events (pulse dynamicsand extensive, pervasive, and subtle change (pressdynamics) is therefore one of the most important challenges for socialecological science.

We propose that presspulse dynamics and ecosystemservices can form the critical linkage between social anbiophysical domains and serve as the foundation for longterm, integrated, socialecological research across scaleFigure 1 presents the basic components of a framework

known as the PressPulse Dynamics (PPD) frameworkto accomplish this goal. The PPD framework containfour core components: (1) press and pulse events, (2) biophysical template, (3) ecosystem services, and (4) social template. The biophysical and social domain(areas of study) represent traditional disciplinary researcparadigms that define processes within each domain. Thbiophysical template (eg geology, hydrology) constrainfundamental and well-documented relationships betweebiotic structure and ecosystem functioning, whereas thsocial template (eg legal regulation, social networksencloses a range of possible human outcomes and behaviors, and the dynamics between them.

In the PPD framework, unlike in other models, thdynamics of biophysical systems are driven by press anpulse events (Smith et al. 2009). Pulse events, such afloods (both natural and human regulated), are relativeldiscrete and rapidly alter species abundances and ecosystem functioning. Most ecosystems have a characteristinatural disturbance regime that includes the size, frequency, and intensity of pulse disturbances. The naturadisturbance regime in most ecosystems has been altered bhuman activities, including those related to species extinctions, as well as land-use change and management deci


4/9

SL Collins et al. A framework for socialecological research


sions (eg flood control). In contrast,press events, such as sea-level rise,eutrophication, or mean temperatureincreases, are sustained and chronic.Ecosystems are now subjected to avariety of environmental presses (egincreasing atmospheric carbon diox-

ide concentrations, nitrogen deposi-tion, global warming). Over time,presses, pulses, and pulsepress inter-actions alter species abundances andthe relationships between bioticstructure and ecosystem functioning(Smith et al. 2009), which ultimatelychange the quantity and quality ofessential services that humans gainfrom ecosystems.

Most research in the social scienceshas historically focused on social, eco-nomic, and political systems in isola-

tion from their biophysical surround-ings, or has considered the en-vironment as merely a backdrop for thefunctioning of social systems. The PPDframework overcomes this isolation byexplicitly articulating the reciprocalrelationship between the biophysicaland social templates through presspulse events and changes in the quan-tity or quality of selected ecosystem ser-vices. Though much attention has beengiven to the pattern, if not the process,of interaction between the social and

the biophysical systems that representthe extreme example of a human-dom-inated world ie urban and wildlandareas the PPD framework provides the means for a morenuanced understanding of socialecological systems acrossa continuum of developed to undeveloped lands. This hasimportant implications for socialecological science, giventhat the environmental changes of greatest consequencethat are expected in the coming decades will derive fromhuman migration and population growth on rural andquasi-rural lands (Brown et al. 2005). The connectivitybetween places and people across this continuum demandsthat scientists and managers, for example, understand

water as a natural hydrologic system that supports humanlife or fails to do so, depending on how the system isaltered and managed. Only with such an integrative under-standing will it be possible to address (and even resolve)the tradeoffs and social equities of differing needs, responsi-bilities, and activities required to sustain humans in theirbroader environment.

Together, the biophysical and social templates accom-modate core disciplinary research activities that feedinformation into a larger research framework. In essence,the model assumes a continuous cycle of human decision

making, which affects the biophysical template viachanges in (1) the intensity of press events and (2) the fre-quency, intensity, and scale of pulse events. Collectively,altered press and pulse events have quantifiable implica-tions for and impacts on ecosystem services, and changesin these services feed back to alter human behaviors andoutcomes (Figure 1).

Because they represent both quantifiable and qualitativebenefits that humans derive from ecosystems, ecosystemservices form the bridge between the biophysical and

social templates. Ecosystem services can be classified asprovisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting (MA2005). Provisioning ecosystem services that have markets(eg food, fiber, biofuel) have been studied extensivelyfrom the standpoint of enhancing supplies. The same istrue of certain cultural ecosystem services, notably recre-ational ones. But the regulating ecosystem services thatmaintain essential balance in terrestrial ecosystems aswell as the supporting ecosystem services that enableecosystems to supply other types of services that humansexperience directly are much less obvious to people,

Figure 1. The PPD framework provides the basis for long-term, integrated,socialecological research. The right-hand side represents the domain of traditionalecological research; the left-hand side represents human dimensions of environmentalchange; the two are linked by ecosystem services and by pulse and press eventsinfluenced or caused by human behavior (bottom and top, respectively). H1H6 referto integrating hypotheses that focus the long-term research agenda. Frameworkhypotheses: H1 long-term press disturbances and short-term pulse disturbancesinteract to alter ecosystem structure and function; H2 biotic structure is both a causeand a consequence of ecological fluxes of energy and matter; H3 altered ecosystemdynamics negatively affect most ecosystem services; H4 changes in vital ecosystemservices alter human outcomes; H5 changes in human outcomes, such as quality of lifeor perceptions, affect human behavior; H6 predictable and unpredictable human

behavioral responses influence the frequency, magnitude, or form of press and pulsedisturbance regimes across ecosystems.

External drivers

Climate, globalization

Pulses: fire, drought,storms, dust events,pulse nutrient inputs,fertilization

Presses: climate change,nutrient loading, sea-levelrise, increased humanresource consumption

Social template

Human behaviorPolicy,

markets,

reproduction andmigration

Human outcomesQuality of life,human health,

perception and value

H5

H6 H1

Biophysical template

Community structureSpecies turnover time,

trophic structure,microbial diversity

Ecosystem functionFlux, transport, storage,

transformation,stoichiometry, primary

productivity

H2

Ecosystem services

Regulating: nutrient filtration,nutrient retention, C sequestration,disease regulation, pest suppression

Provisioning: food, fiber, and fuel

Cultural: aesthetics and recreation

Supporting: primary production,nutrient cycling

H4 H3


5/9



and are therefore often ignored in decision-makingprocesses (Daily et al. 2009). Human behavioral decisions from the individual to the institutional levels affectecosystem processes that in turn determine the qualityand quantity of ecosystem services that influence humanwell-being. The concept of ecosystem services thereforeconstitutes the crucial link between natural capital andsocial capital in the PPD framework.

The PPD framework is hypothesis driven, iterative, andscalable, as illustrated by an example from metropolitan

Phoenix, Arizona. Over the past century, irrigated fields incentral Arizona have increasingly been lost to housingdevelopment (Redman and Foster 2008). Land conver-sion a press was a direct result of increased post-WorldWar II migration to the region, coincident with theinvention of air conditioning and the rise of the automo-bile. Flash flooding, a pulse disturbance common in thearid southwestern US, was incompatible with maintainingresidences that encroached on unregulated, ephemeralstreams such as Indian Bend Wash, which runs throughScottsdale, a suburb to the northeast of Phoenix. In thelate 1960s, loss of the floodplain buffer led to substantialproperty damage associated with a particularly severe

flood (Roach et al. 2008). Both municipal and federalauthorities proposed modifications to handle subsequentflooding, and these transformed the wash into a greenbelt a chain of small lakes connected by stream channels andsurrounded by parks and golf courses. The new ecosystemprovides flood modulation (Figure 2), recreational ameni-ties, and aesthetic values, and is supported by an alteredbiogeochemistry as compared with that of the pre-modifi-cation phase (Grimm et al. 2005). Low-flow periods mustbe maintained by means of imported water, a managementdecision that has further consequences for nutrient con-

centrations (Roach and Grimm 2009) and calead to algal blooms in the lakes, which are iturn treated with algicides by park managers.

The PPD framework incorporates and allowfor relevant disciplinary research on hypotheses (Figure 1), such as biotic structure is both cause and a consequence of ecological fluxes o

energy and matter. However, the more important features of the PPD framework are the crucial integrative hypotheses, such as changes iecosystem services feed back to alter humanoutcomes. Such hypotheses are designed tintegrate social and ecological drivers anfeedbacks. For example, hurricanes, as pulsevents, periodically reshape the social and ecological landscape of southern Florida. In 1992the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew spurresuburbanization considerably, which in turaltered the availability of key ecosystem services associated with agricultural and undevel

oped lands (Ogden et al. unpublished dataAnother example illustrates the role of alterepresspulse drivers; in the Yahara Lakes regio

of southern Wisconsin, non-point-source pollution historically has been a consistent press, as phosphorus-saturated soils slowly eroded and drove lake eutrophicationHowever, the economic shift toward confined animafeeding operations has led to large pulse manure runoevents, and such events are likely to increase as climatchange leads to more frequent severe storm events. Thshift from press- to pulse-driven dynamics will lead tnew conflicts and new policy issues for managing watequality, as well as floodwaters, in this region (Carpente

et al. 2006). These interdisciplinary linkages arise fromunderstanding the ecological importance of ecosystemservices, as well as how humans value and experiencthose services, which in turn conditions their actions anresponses to the environment. In sum, the PPD framework guides the development of falsifiable hypothesesnot only on how subsets of socialecological systeminteract over time, but also on how integratesocialecological systems respond, change, and adapt.

To be useful, a unifying framework must also be scalableto address hypotheses across relevant spatial and temporadomains. Indeed, the PPD framework itself could bviewed as a general testable hypothesis about how

socialecological systems behave within and across scaleand all of the hypotheses presented in Figure 1 can also baddressed locally, regionally, and globally. As an examplewe illustrate the regional application of this framework fothe study of socialecological systems in the Negev Deserin Israel (Panel 1).

Relationship to other frameworks

Several conceptual frameworks for socialecologicaintegration have emerged as this interdisciplinar

R

Hale

Figure 2. Indian Bend Wash, Scottsdale, Arizona, during a flood thatcovered a large portion of the greenway, which spread out over parks, golfcourses, and streets, but resulted in minimal damage. This design was one of

the first non-structural flood management systems in the US, created by localand federal government officials after damaging floods occurred in the 1960s.


6/9



Panel 1. Land-use change in Israels Negev Desert

In Israel, scientists associated with the local LongTerm Ecological Research (LTER) network areusing the PPD model to study the linkages andfeedbacks between large-scale land-use changes(residential development, forestry, anti-desertifica-tion management) and ecological impacts in thenorthern Negev Desert (Figure 3). While the

Israeli LTER network has a long history of ecologyand management research in the Negev (Shachaket al. 1998; Hoekstra and Shachak 1999), the socialcomponent is relatively new. Thus, the PPD modelhas been used to (1) organize previous and cur-rent research into a comprehensive and interdisci-plinary framework, (2) encourage an interdiscipli-nary approach to hypothesis formulation anddriven research, and (3) conceptualize the feed-backs between human behaviordecision makingand ecosystem change at multiple scales. The ulti-mate goal is to identify gaps in understanding andresearch needs.

The northern Negev Desert is a large and rela-tively sparsely populated region of an otherwise verydensely populated country. As such, in national-scaleland-use planning, it has a central role in future devel-opment, even though its status as a semiarid demo-graphic periphery has made it a relatively unpopulardestination for potential residents (Teschner et al.2010). Land-use managers have responded byincreasing the regions attractiveness to current andpotential residents through investment in economicopportunities (agriculture, industry, tourism) anddevelopment of recreational areas (forests, parks, andreservoirs). Because the region is a transition zonebetween the arid desert in the south and theMediterranean climate zone in the north, forestry isalso promoted as an anti-desertification strategy(Orlovsky 2008). An additional factor in land-usedecision making is the status of the indigenousBedouin population and its contentious relationshipwith the state on issues of settlement and grazing/cultivation rights (Yahel 2006; Abu-Saad 2008).

The fundamental relationships we are conceptualizing and analyzing via the PPD model are large-scale (kilometers) and small-scale (meters) land-usechanges, their impact on ecosystem structure and function, the resultant changes in ecosystem service provision, and the responses by the public and policy

makers (and so on in this cyclic relationship). The predominant changes are afforestation with high- and low-density plantings, increased land cultivation, andexpanding residential settlement. Unplanned cultivation and residential development also have important ecological and social implications. The most impor-tant pulses in this semiarid ecosystem are floods and droughts, soil erosion (accompanying floods), dust deposition, and human landscape modifications. Thepresses are primarily increased human activities, such as recreational use, landscape conversion by settlements, agriculture, forestry, and grazing (Figure 4). Thelandscape is viewed at various scales as a mosaic of patches with distinctive structures that control the flow of materials and energy across the landscape(Shachak et al. 1998), and changes in disturbance regimes alter the mosaic and thus the distribution of materials, energy, and ecosystem services (Figure 3).

Importantly, most of the shifts of ecosystem services in the northern Negev are considered by decision makers as desirable in terms of human quality oflife. Afforestation efforts lead to increased water infiltration and carbon sequestration (Grunzweig et al. 2003; Rotenberg and Yakir 2010), decreased erosionand airborne dust concentrations, as well as the creation of a network of recreational areas popular with local residents (Ginsberg 2000). On the other hand,the impact on biodiversity is mixed; plant diversity may increase (Boeken and Shachak 1994), for example, but abundance of local specialist species maydecrease (Shochat et al. 2001; Hawlena et al. 2010). The aesthetic impact is widely debated, as are the politicaldemographic implications vis--vis the NegevBedouin. Policies to increase residential opportunities are politically popular, though residential development, depending on the type, leads to potentially detri-mental impacts on ecosystem function and on biodiversity (Orenstein et al. 2009).

The PPD framework is assisting researchers and policy makers to conceptualize these multiple, concurrent, and often conflicting impacts and generatehypotheses regarding how changes in land-use policies will affect different ecosystem service flows. One such study is looking at the ecological implications at

the local and regional scale of low-density residential settlement in the Negev. Thisstudy considers the politicaldemographic drivers of such human settlement pat-terns (Orenstein and Hamburg 2009), the ecological implications, and the popularresponse to perceived changes in the provision of ecosystem services (Orenstein etal. 2009). Such relationships are investigated at the regional scale (eg northernNegev) with regard to impact on desert aesthetics and landscape fragmentation, andat the local scale (eg the wadi, an Arabic term for a dry riverbed or intermittentstream) on water flow, and rodent, insect, and shrub diversity.

External driversEconomic trends, security and

foreign relations, demographics,political climate, economic

trends

Pulses: dust events,

floods, drought, nutrientinput

Presses: increasedrecreational use,landscape conversion(settlement),agriculture, forestry, andgrazing

Social template

HumanbehaviorDemographic changes,

legal and illegal settlement,anti-desertification

measures, tourism, forestry,agriculture, grazing

Human outcomesLand-use policy (national

and regional), settlement type anddistribution, enforcement

mechanisms, demographicdistribution,quality of life

H5

H6 H1

Biophysical template

CommunitystructureSmall-scale patchiness

(shrubs, crusts),large-scale patchiness,

ecological gradient(ecotone)

Ecosystemfunction

Hydrological cycles(wadis, groundwater),

nutrient cycles, soil fluxes,biomass productivity

H2

Ecosystem services

Regulating: C sequestration,disease regulation, pest suppression

Provisioning: food and fiber

Cultural: biodiversity, rare species,open space, recreation, aesthetics

Supporting: primary production,nutrient cyclingH4 H3

Figure 3. Example of the PPD framework for socialecological research in the NegevDesert. Hypotheses are shown in the text box below the figure. H1 changes inlandscape characteristics influence ecosystem processes (eg water, soil) and landscapestructure (eg patchiness); H2 human residential patches (eg farms and neighborhoods)affect aboveground water flows at the landscape scale; H3 changes in resource flowsinfluence species diversity; H4 changes in species diversity affect land-use decision-making; H5 ecosystem services play a role in determining open space preservation

policy and biodiversity preservation policy in Israel; H6 different residential communitytypes (eg city, town, farm) create unique disturbance regimes on the landscape.

Figure 4.An olive grove surrounded by pine plantations north of BeerSheva, Israel. Land-use changes in the northern Negev Desert haveaugmented some ecosystem services, like carbon sequestration, food

production, water infiltration, and recreational opportunities, but impactson other services, such as aesthetics and habitat for biodiversity, are moreequivocal.DE

Orenstein


7/9


research paradigm has evolved, yet the purpose and gen-eral utility of these frameworks vary widely, suggestingthat they serve multiple goals. Several conceptual frame-works provide evidence for why such research is neededon topics such as environmental degradation, conserva-tion planning, and sustainability (eg Kremen and Ostfeld2005; Haberl et al. 2006), but they offer limited informa-tion on how to conduct an integrated research agenda.Indeed, some of these models are highly linear and pro-vide no clear mechanism for understanding key feedbacksbetween social and biophysical systems (Kremen andOstfeld 2005; Theobold et al. 2005). Other frameworksdescribe the necessary components of interactivesocialecological systems (Grimm et al. 2000), or focus ononly a subset of potential interactions, such as economicsand biodiversity (Fisher et al. 2009; Ohl et al. 2007).Often such models lack temporal dynamics or specifics onhow other components of socialecological systemsshould or could be integrated.

A popular research framework in European socialeco-

logical research is the Driving forcePressureStateImpactResponse model (eg Ohl et al. 2007). This generalmodel has similarities to the PPD framework, including keyfeedbacks, but it lacks an explicit focus on ecosystem ser-vices. The same is true of Redman et al.s (2004) socialeco-logical model, which highlights the areas where social andecological systems intersect without ecosystem services andpresspulse constructs (Ohl and Swinton 2010). By con-trast, quantifiable ecosystem services explicitly link socialand biophysical systems in the Millennium EcosystemAssessment (MA 2005) as well as in Daily et al. (2009). Butone key difference is that, like Redman et al. (2004), thePPD framework emphasizes that human behavior is partly

influenced by factors external to ecological feedbacks.Another major difference is the generalizable set ofhypotheses within the PPD framework that provide guid-ance for an integrated, long-term research agenda, as well asthe emphasis on presspulse drivers. Thus, unlike otherconceptualizations, the PPD framework is designed to begeneralizable, scalar, mechanistic, and hypothesis driven.

Conclusions

Testing the hypotheses embedded in the PPD framework,along with future refinement of the framework itself, willrely on theoretical, empirical, and methodological contri-

butions from a broad suite of biophysical and social sci-ences. Application of the framework will contribute sub-stantially to the development and testing of theorywithin these disciplines and, more importantly, will helpto build transdisciplinary knowledge of socialecologicalsystems. Indeed, many of the empirical and methodologi-cal building blocks needed to advance such transdiscipli-nary knowledge are rapidly emerging. Social scientists arerelying on progressively more biological constructs toexplain social variation and change (Briggs et al. 2006;Gragson and Grove 2006). Likewise, natural scientists are

using social constructs to understand biophysical variationover the long term (Walker et al. 2009). Social data arincreasingly spatially explicit (Irwin and Geoghega2001), which permits novel hypothesis testing and analysthat is spatially relevant, as well as multi-scaled. Moreoverecological research is now commonly conducted at sociallrelevant scales. Eventually, the use of spatial data may lea

to unifying theories that view phenomena as integratesocialecological systems and, with the inclusion of longterm data and analyses, this will move theory from threalm of correlations and associations to a deeper probinof both mechanism and pattern.

Biophysical and social scientists examine how systems arorganized and the roles played by internal versus externainfluences (Pickett et al. 2005). Moving environmental scence to a new level of research collaboration, synthesis, anintegration requires a shift from viewing humans as externadrivers of natural systems to viewing them as affected agentacting within socialecological systems (Grimm et al. 2000 agents that depend on ecosystem services across a range o

scales and feedback cycles. As the human population continues to grow, with attendant land-use, technological, aneconomic changes, it will place additional demands on vitaecosystem services (MA 2005). These demands will requirintegrated, long-term research that spans multiple disciplines and that will ultimately provide solutions for thenvironment and society. The PPD framework provides aexplicit roadmap to guide this research.

Acknowledgements

All authors contributed equally to the development othis conceptual framework. Support was provided b

National Science Foundation award DEB-0435546 to thLong Term Ecological Research Network.

ReferencesAbu-Saad I. 2008. Spatial transformation and indigenous resis

tance: the urbanization of the Palestinian Bedouin in southerIsrael.Am Behav Sci 51: 171354.

Berkes F, Colding J, and Folke C. 2003. Navigating socialecologcal systems: building resilience for complexity and changeCambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Berkes F and Folke C. 1998. Linking social and ecological systemmanagement practices and social mechanisms for buildinresilience. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Boeken B and Shachak M. 1994. Desert plant communities ihuman-made patches implications for management. Ec

Appl 4: 70216.Briggs JM, Spielmann KA, Schaafsma H, et al. 2006. Why ecolog

needs archaeologists and archaeology needs ecologists. FronEcol Environ 4: 18088.

Brown DG, Johnson KM, Loveland TR, and Theobald DM. 2005Rural land-use trends in the conterminous United State19502000. Ecol Appl 15: 185163.

Chapin III FS, Carpenter SR, Kofinas GP, et al. 2010. Ecosystemstewardship: sustainability strategies for a rapidly changinplanet. Trends Ecol Evol 25: 24149.

Carpenter SR and Folke C. 2006. Ecology for transformationTrends Ecol Evol 21: 30915.

Carpenter SR, Lathrop RC, Nowak P, et al. 2006. The ongoin



8/9


experiment: restoration of Lake Mendota and its watershed. In:Magnuson JJ, Kratz TK, and Benson BJ (Eds). Long-termdynamics of lakes in the landscape. London, UK: OxfordUniversity Press.

Daily GC, Polasky S, Goldstein J, et al. 2009. Ecosystem services indecision making: time to deliver. Front Ecol Environ 7: 2128.

Dietz T, Ostrom E, and Stern PC. 2003. The struggle to govern thecommons. Science 302: 190711.

Farber S, Costanza R, Childers DL, et al. 2006. Linking ecology andeconomics for ecosystem management. BioScience 56: 12133.

Fisher B, Turner K, Zylstra M, et al. 2009. Ecosystem services andeconomic theory: integration for policy-relevant research. EcolAppl 18: 205067.

Gibson CC, Ostrom E, and Ahn TK. 2000. The concept of scaleand the human dimensions of global change: a survey. EcolEcon 32: 21739.

Ginsberg P. 2000. Afforestation in Israel: a source of social goodsand services.J Forest 98: 3236.

Goulder LH and Kennedy D. 1997. Valuing ecosystem services:philosophical bases and empirical methods. In: Daily GC (Ed).Natures services. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Gragson TL and Grove JM. 2006. Social science in the context ofthe Long-term Ecological Research Program. Soc Natur Resour19: 93100.

Grimm NB, Grove JM, Pickett STA, and Redman CL. 2000.Integrated approaches to long-term studies of urban ecologicalsystems. BioScience 50: 57184.

Grimm NB, Sheibley RW, Crenshaw CW, et al. 2005. Nutrientretention and transformation in urban streams.J N Am BentholSoc 24: 62642.

Grunzweig JM, Lin T, Rotenberg E, et al. 2003. Carbon sequestra-tion in arid-land forest. Glob Change Biol 9: 79199.

Gunderson LH and Holling CS (Eds). 2002. Panarchy: under-standing transformations in human and natural systems.Washington, DC: Island Press.

Haberl H, Winiwarter V, Andersson K, et al. 2006. From LTER toLTSER: conceptualizing the socio-economic dimension oflong-term socio-ecological research. Ecol Soc 11: 13. www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art13/. Viewed 3 Sep 2010.

Hawlena D, Saltz D, Abramsky Z, and Bouskila A. 2010. Ecological

trap for desert lizards caused by anthropogenic changes in habitatstructure that favor predator activity. Conserv Biol 24: 80309.

Hoekstra TW and Shachak M (Eds). 1999. Arid lands manage-ment: toward ecological sustainability. Urbana, IL: Universityof Illinois Press.

Irwin EG and Geoghegan J. 2001. Theory, data, methods: develop-ing spatially explicit economic models of land use change. AgrEcosyst Environ 85: 723.

Kremen C and Ostfeld RS. 2005. A call to ecologists: measuring,analyzing, and managing ecosystem services. Front Ecol Environ3: 54048.

Levin SA. 1999. Fragile dominion: complexity and the commons.Reading, MA: Perseus Books.

Liu J, Dietz T, Carpenter SR, et al. 2007. Complexity of coupledhuman and natural systems. Science 317: 151316.

MA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment). 2005. Ecosystems and

human well-being: synthesis. Washington, DC: Island Press.Ohl C, Krauze K, and Grunbuhel C. 2007. Towards an understand-

ing of long-term ecosystem dynamics by merging socio-eco-nomic and environmental research. Criteria for long-termsocio-ecological research sites selection. Ecol Econ 63: 38391.

Ohl C and Swinton SM. 2010. Integrating social sciences intolong-term ecosystem research. In: Mller F, Baessler C, FrenzelM, et al. (Eds). Long-term ecosystem research: between theoryand application. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.

Orenstein DE, Groner E, Lihod O, et al. 2009. The ecological/envi-ronmental impact of homesteads in the central Negev.

Jerusalem, Israel: Israel Ministry for Environmental Protection.Orenstein DE and Hamburg SP. 2009. To populate or preserve?

Evolving politicaldemographic and environmental paradigmsin Israeli land-use policy. Land Use Policy 26: 9841000.

Orlovsky N. 2008. Israeli experience in prevention of processes ofdesertification. In: Behnke R (Ed). The socio-economic causesand consequences of desertification in central Asia. Dordrecht,Netherlands: Springer.

Ostrom E. 1990. Governing the commons: the evolution of institu-tions for collective action. Cambridge, UK: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Palmer MA, Bernhardt E, Chornesky E, et al. 2005. Ecology for the21st century: an action plan. Front Ecol Environ 3: 411.

Peters DPC, Groffman PM, Nadelhoffer NK, et al. 2008. Living inan increasingly connected world: a framework for continental-scale environmental science. Front Ecol Environ 6: 22937.

Pickett STA, Cadenasso ML, and Grove JM. 2005. Biocomplexityin coupled naturalhuman systems: a multidimensional frame-work. Ecosystems 8: 22532.

Redman CL and Foster DR. 2008. Agrarian landscapes in transi-tion: comparisons of long-term ecological and cultural change.London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Redman CL, Grove JM, and Kuby LH. 2004. Integrating social sci-ence into the long-term ecological research (LTER) network:

social dimensions of ecological change and ecological dimen-sions of social change. Ecosystems 7: 16171.Roach WJ and Grimm NB. 2009. Nutrient variation in an urban

lake chain and its consequences for phytoplankton production.J Environ Qual 38: 142940.

Roach WJ, Heffernan JB, Grimm NB, et al. 2008. Unintended con-sequences of urbanization for aquatic ecosystems: a case studyfrom the Arizona desert. BioScience 58: 71527.

Robertson GP, Broome JC, Chornesky EA, et al. 2004. Rethinkingthe vision for environmental research in US agriculture.BioScience 54: 6165.

Rotenberg E and Yakir D. 2010. Contribution of semi-arid foreststo the climate system. Science 327: 45154.

Shachak M, Sachs M, and Moshe I. 1998. Ecosystem managementof desertified shrublands in Israel. Ecosystems 1: 47583.

Shochat E, Abramsky Z, and Pinshow B. 2001. Breeding bird

species diversity in the Negev: effects of scrub fragmentation byplanted forests.J Appl Ecol 38: 113547.

Smith MD, Knapp AK, and Collins SL. 2009. A framework forassessing ecosystem dynamics in response to chronic resourcealterations induced by global change. Ecology 90: 327989.

Steffen W, Sanderson A, Jger J, et al. 2004. Global change and theEarth system: a planet under pressure. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.

Teschner NA, Garb Y, and Tal A. 2010. The environment in suc-cessive regional development plans for Israels periphery.International Planning Studies 15: 7997.

Theobold DM, Spies T, Kline J, et al. 2005. Ecological support forrural land-use planning. Ecol Appl 15: 190614.

Vitousek PM, Mooney HA, Lubchenko J, et al. 1997. Human dom-ination of Earths ecosystems. Science 277: 49499.

Walker BH and Salt DA. 2006. Resilience thinking. Washington,

DC: Island Press.Walker JS, Grimm NB, Briggs JM, et al. 2009. Effects of urbaniza-

tion on plant species diversity in central Arizona. Front EcolEnviron 7: 46570.

Westley F, Carpenter SR, Brock WA, et al. 2002. Why systems ofpeople and nature are not just social and ecological systems. In:Gunderson LH and Holling CS (Eds). Panarchy: understand-ing transformations in human and natural systems.Washington, DC: Island Press.

Yahel H. 2006. Land disputes between the Negev Bedouin andIsrael. Israel Studies 11: 122.



9/9


SL Collins et al. Supplemental information

WebPanel 1. Author affiliations

Scott L Collins1*, Stephen R Carpenter2, Scott M Swinton3, Daniel E Orenstein4, Daniel L Childers5,Ted L Gragson6, Nancy B Grimm7, J Morgan Grove8, Sharon L Harlan9, Jason P Kaye10, Alan K Knapp11,Gary P Kofinas12, John J Magnuson2, William H McDowell13, John M Melack14, Laura A Ogden15,G Philip Robertson16, Melinda D Smith17, and Ali C Whitmer18

1Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM *([email protected]); 2Center for Limnology,

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; 3Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics, Michigan State University, East

Lansing, MI; 4Center for Urban and Regional Studies, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel; 5School of

Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; 6Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA; 7School of

Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; 8US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, Baltimore, MD; 9School of

Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ; 10Department of Crop and Soil Science, Pennsylvania

State University, University Park, PA; 11Department of Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University,

Ft Collins, CO; 12Department of Resources Management, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK; 13Department of Natural Resources

and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH; 14Bren School of Environmental Science and Management,

University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA; 15Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies, Florida International

University, Miami, FL; 16Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, MI; 17Department of Ecology and

Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT; 18Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Collins et al., 2011. An integrated conceptual framework for long term social....pdf

Documents

Transcript of Collins et al., 2011. An integrated conceptual framework for long term social....pdf