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Catastrophic thresholds: a synthesis of concepts, perspectives, and applications
Citation
Briske, DD and Washington-Allen, RA and Johnson, CR and Lockwood, JA and Lockwood, DR and Stringham, TK and Shugart, HH, Catastrophic thresholds: a synthesis of concepts, perspectives, and applications, Ecology and Society, 15, (3) EJ ISSN 1708-3087 (2010) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2010 by the author(s). Published here under license by the Resilience Alliance
Official URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss3/art37/
DOI: doi:10.5751/ES-03681-150337
Abstract
Research reported in this feature identifies a convergence of interpretations regarding the
threshold dynamics of complex ecological systems. This convergence has arisen from a diverse set of
investigations addressing rangeland ecosystem dynamics, disease transmission, and fluctuations in the
populations of insect pests. Effective application of the threshold concept to ecosystem management will
require development of more robust linkages between non-equilibrium theory and protocols to identify
triggers that initiate threshold conditions, feedback loops that establish system resilience, and developmental
trajectories and attributes of potential alternative stable states. Successful implementation of these theory/
application linkages has the potential to underpin an operational framework of resilience-based ecosystem
management that is founded upon the identification of structural indicators that are correlated with
vulnerability or proximity to thresholds, rather than threshold identification per se. Several investigations
indicate that thresholds are strongly influenced by scale; multiple cross-scale interactions demonstrate the
need for greater knowledge and analyses to address scale-dependent processes, i.e., critical scales and
scaling laws. This feature emphasizes the relevance of thresholds and non-equilibrium dynamics in multiple
natural resource management applications and in so doing demonstrates the need for a more comprehensive
and integrated ecological framework capable of quantitatively assessing dynamics at multiple s
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | complexity science, ecological resilience, non-equilibrium ecology, self-organized systems, |
| Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
| Research Group: | Biochemistry and cell biology |
| Research Field: | Structural biology (incl. macromolecular modelling) |
| Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
| Objective Group: | Other environmental management |
| Objective Field: | Other environmental management not elsewhere classified |
| UTAS Author: | Johnson, CR (Professor Craig Johnson) |
| ID Code: | 65930 |
| Year Published: | 2010 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 29 |
| Deposited By: | Zoology |
| Deposited On: | 2010-12-09 |
| Last Modified: | 2014-11-24 |
| Downloads: | 572 View Download Statistics |
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