The importance of human adaptive behavior for the dynamics of social-ecological systems Seminar

Event details

Humans have the capacity to change the biosphere they depend on from local to global scales. At the same time societies are increasingly affected by global change and adapting to it in multiple ways. These interdependencies give rise to non-linear, cross-scale dynamics that pose significant challenges for analysis and governance of social-ecological systems (SES). In this talk I present ongoing work on modeling the co-evolution of SES with an emphasis on the role of human adaptive behavior or lack thereof for large-scale change such as ecological regime shifts. I will address the importance of social dynamics for the cod collapse in the Baltic Sea and the robustness of collective action to environmental variability. Dynamic modeling can be a valuable tool to integrate knowledge across the social and natural sciences and link empirical with theoretical foundations in order to identify mechanisms of change in social-ecological systems. Finally I would like to discuss the integration of human behavior into modeling and analysis of social-ecological systems at the global scale.