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Landscape Stability, Instability and Civilization Collapse

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Modelling Landscape Dynamics

Part of the book series: RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft ((RFSRL))

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Abstract

Aside of the mathematical notions of stability which is briefly introduced here, the landscape-ecological approach to landscape stability is distinct from the geomorphological: the two are different, yet complementary to one another. Their main difference consists in that, while the geomorphological perspective focuses on hillslope processes and climate-soil-vegetation systems, the ecological approach focuses on ecosystem dynamics. Using as example the collapse of the Mycenean civilization in late Helladic IIIB, it can be suggested that long-term landscape instability may be associated with the collapse of a civilization. It is therefore essential to monitor and assess landscape stability over long time intervals. Yet, it is shown here that the mathematical and the ecological approaches to landscape stability may not always converge: although a system of ordinary differential equations describing landscape dynamics may be stable, the landscape changes may be “unstable” in the ecological sense.

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  1. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Forschungsbereich Geographie, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Fivos Papadimitriou

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Papadimitriou, F. (2023). Landscape Stability, Instability and Civilization Collapse. In: Modelling Landscape Dynamics. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42496-1_3

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