Author: Lance H. Gunderson Publisher: Island Press ISBN: 1610913132 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker.
Author: Publisher: Academic Press ISBN: 0080878857 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 4604
Book Description
The study of estuaries and coasts has seen enormous growth in recent years, since changes in these areas have a large effect on the food chain, as well as on the physics and chemistry of the ocean. As the coasts and river banks around the world become more densely populated, the pressure on these ecosystems intensifies, putting a new focus on environmental, socio-economic and policy issues. Written by a team of international expert scientists, under the guidance of Chief Editors Eric Wolanski and Donald McClusky, the Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, Ten Volume Set examines topics in depth, and aims to provide a comprehensive scientific resource for all professionals and students in the area of estuarine and coastal science Most up-to-date reference for system-based coastal and estuarine science and management, from the inland watershed to the ocean shelf Chief editors have assembled a world-class team of volume editors and contributing authors Approach focuses on the physical, biological, chemistry, ecosystem, human, ecological and economics processes, to show how to best use multidisciplinary science to ensure earth's sustainability Provides a comprehensive scientific resource for all professionals and students in the area of estuarine and coastal science Features up-to-date chapters covering a full range of topics
Author: Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 3642114059 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 272
Book Description
Sustainable and resilient critical infrastructure systems is an emerging paradigm in an evolving era of depleting assets in the midst of natural and man-made threats to provide a sustainable and high quality of life with optimized resources from social, economic, societal and environmental considerations. The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of civil and other interdependent infrastructure systems (electric power, energy, cyber-infrastructures, etc.) require inter- and multidisciplinary expertise required to engineer, monitor, and sustain these distributed large-scale complex adaptive infrastructure systems. This edited book is motivated by recent advances in simulation, modeling, sensing, communications/information, and intelligent and sustainable technologies that have resulted in the development of sophisticated methodologies and instruments to design, characterize, optimize, and evaluate critical infrastructure systems, their resilience, and their condition and the factors that cause their deterioration. Specific topics discussed in this book include, but are not limited to: optimal infrastructure investment allocation for sustainability, framework for manifestation of tacit critical infrastructure knowledge, interdependencies between energy and transportation systems for national long term planning, intelligent transportation infrastructure technologies, emergent research issues in infrastructure interdependence research, framework for assessing the resilience of infrastructure and economic systems, maintenance optimization for heterogeneous infrastructure systems, optimal emergency infrastructure inspection scheduling, and sustainable rehabilitation of deteriorated transportation infrastructure systems.
Author: Miguel Esteban Publisher: Springer ISBN: 3319329308 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
This book builds up on the experience and lessons learnt by academics at the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science, Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI) at the University of Tokyo. A number of scholars in the new field of sustainability science describe how field methods and exercises are carried out in this discipline, together with the theoretical basis for such exercises. Case studies of various countries around the world where these exercises are carried out are showcased, emphasizing the various socio-economic considerations and problems facing humanity and possible ways forward to build more sustainable and resilient societies. The final objective is to enrich the field of sustainability science by describing the novel aspects used in the field exercises carried out by practitioners of this cross-disciplinary field.
Author: Mary Jane Angelo Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317026179 Category : Law Languages : en Pages : 365
Book Description
Although concerns over the ecological impacts of pesticides gave rise to the environmental movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, since that time, pesticide use and its effects have been largely ignored by the law and by legal scholars. This book addresses this omission by providing a unique and serious treatment of the significance of pesticide issues in environmental law and takes an ecological perspective on the legal issues. Dealing with a wide range of questions relating to pests and pesticides, the book focuses primarily on agricultural pesticide use as the largest contaminator in the US. It also examines the legacy of past pesticide use and analyzes how recent developments in ecological science can inform the law and increase our understanding of ecology. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the book will be of interest to academics, lawyers, scientists and environmental and agricultural professionals.
Author: Katharine Farrell Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1136281711 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 345
Book Description
This is a book about the work of scientists in the era of the Anthropocene: where human beings appear to have become a driving force in the evolution of the planet. It is a diverse collection of empirical, methodological and theoretical chapters concerned with the practice of interdisciplinary social-ecological systems research. The aim of the contributors is to give the reader an appreciation for the range and complexity of the challenges faced by researchers, research institutions and wider communities trying to make sense of the causes and consequences of the this new era of global environmental change. The tragedy of the Anthropocene, of the large scale anthropogenic habitat destruction and planet-wide impacts of anthropogenic climate change, is not that science has failed humanity but rather that it has served humanity all too well, making possible in just a few hundred years volumes and scales of human activity far exceeding anything ever seen before. Coming to terms with that success was the aim of the 1969 Alpbach Symposium, from which this book draws its name, where contributors including Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig von Bertalanffy, asked themselves: what theory, practices and standards are required to move beyond reductionism? Like those from 1969, the answers presented in this collection are hugely diverse, ranging from PhD students concerned with research methods and institutional obstacles, to mid-career scholars presenting their innovative ‘beyond-reductionism’ research methods, to emeritus professors looking back over what has been achieved in the past 30 years and suggesting where things might go from here. All the contributors begin from the premise that the challenges of the Anthropocene can only be successfully met if interdisciplinary research effectively brings together social and natural sciences, the humanities, stakeholders and decision makers. They conclude, in unison, that both the institutional and the methodological foundations needed to do this work are still sorely lacking. While this may seem a dismal position, the book is full of success stories, such as: the integrative approach of MuSIASEM (Multi-Scale Integrative Assessment of Social-Ecological Metabolism) developed by Mario Giampietro’s group in Barcelona, Spain; the alternative perspectives of what Ariel Salleh calls the ‘meta-industrial’ discourse in Ecofeminism; or the innovative trans-departmental status of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden. Putting both the theoretical and methodological challenges of moving beyond reductionism on the table for discussion, this text aims to help a growing community of passionate thinkers and actors better understand themselves and their work.
Author: Elżbieta Bukalska Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing ISBN: 1837536546 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 329
Book Description
Trying to explain the sources of Poland’s economic success and decouple it from simple stylized facts on economic convergence anchored in the neoclassical growth models, the chapters show how the Polish economy rapidly moved away from the communist economic system, which had ended up in an economic collapse.
Author: Rik Leemans Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1461457556 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 311
Book Description
Earth is home to an estimated 8 million animal species, 600,000 fungi, 300,000 plants, and an undetermined number of microbial species. Of these animal, fungal, and plant species, an estimated 75% have yet to be identified. Moreover, the interactions between these species and their physical environment are known to an even lesser degree. At the same time, the earth’s biota faces the prospect of climate change, which may manifest slowly or extremely rapidly, as well as a human population set to grow by two billion by 2045 from the current seven billion. Given these major ecological changes, we cannot wait for a complete biota data set before assessing, planning, and acting to preserve the ecological balance of the earth. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the scientific and engineering basis of the systems ecology of the earth in 15 detailed, peer-reviewed entries written for a broad audience of undergraduate and graduate students as well as practicing professionals in government, academia, and industry. The methodology presented aims at identifying key interactions and environmental effects, and enabling a systems-level understanding even with our present state of factual knowledge.
Author: J. Barkley Rosser Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 1441988289 Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 325
Book Description
Drawing on the middle chapters from the first edition of J. Barkley Rosser's seminal work, From Catastrophe to Chaos, this book presents an unusual perspective on economics and economic analysis. Current economic theory largely depends upon assuming that the world is fundamentally continuous. However, an increasing amount of economic research has been done using approaches that allow for discontinuities such as catastrophe theory, chaos theory, synergetics, and fractal geometry. The spread of such approaches across a variety of disciplines of thought has constituted a virtual intellectual revolution in recent years. This book reviews the applications of these approaches in various subdisciplines of economics and draws upon past economic thinkers to develop an integrated view of economics as a whole from the perspective of inherent discontinuity.
Author: Clemens Sedmak Publisher: BRILL ISBN: 9004342451 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 261
Book Description
The experience of displacement is shared by people who work internationally. The capacity to be displaced is a necessary strength and skill for people working across cultures, particularly for missionaries. In order to deal with the stressful nature of displacement people need to be resilient, resilience makes people flourish in adverse circumstances. This volume presents a specific type of resilience, namely “resilience nourished by inner sources.” Cultivating inner resilience draws on all the facets of a person’s interior life: thoughts and memories, hopes and desires, beliefs and convictions, concerns and emotions. The notion of inner strength and resilience from within is developed using many examples from missionaries and development workers as well as case studies from all over the world.
Author: Lance H. Gunderson
Author: 
Author: Kasthurirangan Gopalakrishnan
Author: Miguel Esteban
Author: Mary Jane Angelo
Author: Katharine Farrell
Author: Elżbieta Bukalska
Author: Rik Leemans
Author: J. Barkley Rosser
Author: Clemens Sedmak