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Common Core Themes in Geomorphic, Ecological, and Social Systems

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Abstract

Core themes of geomorphology include: open systems and connectivity; feedbacks and complexity; spatial differentiation of dominant physical processes within a landscape; and legacy effects of historical human use of resources. Core themes of ecology include: open systems and connectivity; hierarchical, heterogeneous, dynamic, and context-dependent characteristics of ecological patterns and processes; nonlinearity, thresholds, hysteresis, and resilience within ecosystems; and human effects. Core themes of environmental governance include: architecture of institutions and decision-making; agency, or ability of actors to prescribe behavior of people in relation to the environment; adaptiveness of social groups to environmental change; accountability and legitimacy of systems of governance; allocation of and access to resources; and thresholds and feedback loops within environmental policy. Core themes common to these disciplines include connectivity, feedbacks, tipping points or thresholds, and resiliency. Emphasizing these points of disciplinary overlap can facilitate interdisciplinary understanding of complex systems, as well as more effective management of landscapes and ecosystems by highlighting drivers of change within systems. We use a previously published conceptual framework to examine how these core themes can be integrated into interdisciplinary research for human–landscape systems via the example of a river.

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Acknowledgments

This article was developed from a workshop, and subsequent meeting sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation (EAR 0952354 and EAR 1045002). The authors thank Laura Laurencio for assistance with graphics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1482, USA

    Ellen Wohl

  2. Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85712, USA

    Andrea K. Gerlak

  3. Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA

    N. LeRoy Poff

  4. Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, CO, 80217, USA

    Anne Chin

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  1. Ellen Wohl
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Correspondence to Ellen Wohl.

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Wohl, E., Gerlak, A.K., Poff, N.L. et al. Common Core Themes in Geomorphic, Ecological, and Social Systems. Environmental Management 53, 14–27 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-013-0093-x

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