Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters

Ecological resilience, adaptive cycles, and panarchy are all concepts that have been developed to explain abrupt and often surprising changes in complex socio-ecological systems that are prone to disturbances. These types of changes involve qualitative and quantitative alterations in systems' s...

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Main Author: Lance Gunderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Resilience Alliance 2010-06-01
Series:Ecology and Society
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss2/art18/
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author Lance Gunderson
author_facet Lance Gunderson
author_sort Lance Gunderson
collection DOAJ
description Ecological resilience, adaptive cycles, and panarchy are all concepts that have been developed to explain abrupt and often surprising changes in complex socio-ecological systems that are prone to disturbances. These types of changes involve qualitative and quantitative alterations in systems' structures and processes. This paper uses the concepts of ecological resilience, adaptive cycles, and panarchies to compare ecological and human community systems. At least five important findings emerge from this comparison. 1) Both systems demonstrate the multiple meanings of resilience - both in terms of recovery time from disturbances and the capacity to absorb them. 2) Both systems recognize the role of diversity in contributing to resilience. 3) The comparison highlights the role of different forms of capital and 4) the importance of cross-scale interactions. 5) The comparison reveals the need for experimentation and learning to build adaptive capacities. All of these ideas have broad implications for attempting to manage complex systems with human and ecological components in the face of recurring natural disasters.
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spelling doaj.art-6197ee7aa60c439686c22b1f7538b22c2022-12-22T04:03:45ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872010-06-011521810.5751/ES-03381-1502183381Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural DisastersLance Gunderson0Department of Environmental Studies, Emory UniversityEcological resilience, adaptive cycles, and panarchy are all concepts that have been developed to explain abrupt and often surprising changes in complex socio-ecological systems that are prone to disturbances. These types of changes involve qualitative and quantitative alterations in systems' structures and processes. This paper uses the concepts of ecological resilience, adaptive cycles, and panarchies to compare ecological and human community systems. At least five important findings emerge from this comparison. 1) Both systems demonstrate the multiple meanings of resilience - both in terms of recovery time from disturbances and the capacity to absorb them. 2) Both systems recognize the role of diversity in contributing to resilience. 3) The comparison highlights the role of different forms of capital and 4) the importance of cross-scale interactions. 5) The comparison reveals the need for experimentation and learning to build adaptive capacities. All of these ideas have broad implications for attempting to manage complex systems with human and ecological components in the face of recurring natural disasters.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss2/art18/ecological resiliencesurprisesurban recovery
spellingShingle Lance Gunderson
Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters
Ecology and Society
ecological resilience
surprises
urban recovery
title Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters
title_full Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters
title_fullStr Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters
title_full_unstemmed Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters
title_short Ecological and Human Community Resilience in Response to Natural Disasters
title_sort ecological and human community resilience in response to natural disasters
topic ecological resilience
surprises
urban recovery
url http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss2/art18/
work_keys_str_mv AT lancegunderson ecologicalandhumancommunityresilienceinresponsetonaturaldisasters