Social-ecological systems in the Anthropocene: The need for integrating social and biophysical records at regional scales

Understanding social-ecological system dynamics is a major research priority for sustainable management of landscapes, ecosystems and resources. But the lack of multi-decadal records represents an important gap in information that hinders the development of the research agenda. Without improved info...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	The Anthropocene Review Vol. 2; no. 3; pp. 220 - 246
Main Authors:	Dearing, JA, Acma, B, Bub, S, Chambers, FM, Chen, X, Cooper, J, Crook, D, Dong, XH, Dotterweich, M, Edwards, ME, Foster, TH, Gaillard, M-J, Galop, D, Gell, P, Gil, A, Jeffers, E, Jones, RT, Anupama, K, Langdon, PG, Marchant, R, Mazier, F, McLean, CE, Nunes, LH, Sukumar, R, Suryaprakash, I, Umer, M, Yang, XD, Wang, R, Zhang, K
Format:	Book Review Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London, England SAGE Publications 01-12-2015
Subjects:	complex systems science ecosystem services Environmental Science Geography Humanities and Social Sciences IGBP-PAGES Miljövetenskap palaeoenvironmental records social-ecological systems sustainable management tipping points sustainable management tipping points complex systems science social-ecological systems palaeoenvironmental records ecosystem services IGBP-PAGES Labex DRIIHM OHM Haut-Vicdessos Observatoires Hommes-Millieux
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Summary:	Understanding social-ecological system dynamics is a major research priority for sustainable management of landscapes, ecosystems and resources. But the lack of multi-decadal records represents an important gap in information that hinders the development of the research agenda. Without improved information on the long-term and complex interactions between causal factors and responses, it will be difficult to answer key questions about trends, rates of change, tipping points, safe operating spaces and pre-impact conditions. Where available long-term monitored records are too short or lacking, palaeoenvironmental sciences may provide continuous multi-decadal records for an array of ecosystem states, processes and services. Combining these records with conventional sources of historical information from instrumental monitoring records, official statistics and enumerations, remote sensing, archival documents, cartography and archaeology produces an evolutionary framework for reconstructing integrated regional histories. We demonstrate the integrated approach with published case studies from Australia, China, Europe and North America.
ISSN:	2053-0196 2053-020X 2053-020X
DOI:	10.1177/2053019615579128