Nutrient Recycling and Stability: A Reevaluation

Harwell, Mark A.; Cropper, Wendell P.; Ragsdale, Harvey L.

doi:10.2307/1939016

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The concept has been used to characterize a system's ability to bounce back to a reference state after a disturbance (47,48) and the capacity of a system to maintain certain structures and functions despite disturbance (49,50). Recognizing that ecosystems often exhibit nonand multiequilibria dynamics, current resilience theories envision ecosystems as constantly changing (49,(51)(52)(53).…”

Section: The Emergence Of Vulnerability Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

Turner

Kasperson

Matson

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

3,269

2,056

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Global environmental change and sustainability science increasingly recognize the need to address the consequences of changes taking place in the structure and function of the biosphere. These changes raise questions such as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental changes underway, and where? Research demonstrates that vulnerability is registered not by exposure to hazards (perturbations and stresses) alone but also resides in the sensitivity and resilience of the system experiencing such hazards. This recognition requires revisions and enlargements in the basic design of vulnerability assessments, including the capacity to treat coupled human-environment systems and those linkages within and without the systems that affect their vulnerability. A vulnerability framework for the assessment of coupled humanenvironment systems is presented. R esearch on global environmental change has significantly improved our understanding of the structure and function of the biosphere and the human impress on both (1). The emergence of ''sustainability science'' (2-4) builds toward an understanding of the human-environment condition with the dual objectives of meeting the needs of society while sustaining the life support systems of the planet. These objectives, in turn, require improved dialogue between science and decision making (5-8). The vulnerability of coupled human-environment systems is one of the central elements of this dialogue and sustainability research (6, 9-11). It directs attention to such questions as: Who and what are vulnerable to the multiple environmental and human changes underway, and where? How are these changes and their consequences attenuated or amplified by different human and environmental conditions? What can be done to reduce vulnerability to change? How may more resilient and adaptive communities and societies be built?Answers to these and related questions require conceptual frameworks that account for the vulnerability of coupled human-environment systems with diverse and complex linkages. Various expert communities have made considerable progress in pointing the way toward the design of these frameworks (10, 11). These advances are briefly reviewed here and, drawing on them, we present a conceptual framework of vulnerability developed by the Research and Assessment Systems for Sustainability Program (http:͞͞sust.harvard.edu) that produced the set of works in this Special Feature of PNAS. The framework aims to make vulnerability analysis consistent with the concerns of sustainability and global environmental change science. The case study by Turner et al. (12) in this issue of PNAS illustrates how the framework informs vulnerability assessments. The Emergence of Vulnerability AnalysisApproaches to and Composition of Vulnerability. Vulnerability is the degree to which a system, subsystem, or system component is likely to experience harm due to exposure to a hazard, either a perturbation or stress͞stressor. i This definition and the concept it addresses are not new (13); they ...

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Section: The Emergence Of Vulnerability Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

Turner

Kasperson

Matson

et al. 2003

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

3,269

2,056

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“…La circulación de nutrientes es uno de los aspectos clave de la diná-mica de los ecosistemas terrestres, y recibe atención creciente como manifestación integradora de la conducta de los sistemas ecológicos, ya sea en condiciones naturales o bien sometidos a perturbaciones experimentales (Harwell et al 1977, Likens et al 1970, O'Neill et al 1977, Van Voris et al 1980, Webster et al 1975). …”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Circulación de nutrientes en algunos ecosistemas forestales del Montseny (Barcelona)

Ferrés¹,

Llanza²,

González³

et al. 1984

MDTRRA

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“…The ability of an ecosystem to return to its reference state after a perturbation stress is given by its 18 resilience (May, 1974;Harwell et al, 1977;Pimm, 1982). A high resilient ecosystem is one that is able 19 to recover fast after inbalances in the populations densities induced by climatic fluctuations.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A high resilient ecosystem is one that is able 19 to recover fast after inbalances in the populations densities induced by climatic fluctuations. The ability 20 of an ecosystem to resist displacement from its reference state during a perturbation stress is given by 21 its resistance (Webster et al, 1975;Harwell et al, 1977;Harrison, 1979). A high resistant ecosystem is 22 one which is displaced slightly after imbalances in the populations rates induced by climatic fluctuations 23 (Harrison, 1979;Harrison and Fekete, 1980).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…35 Despite the importance of resistance for ecosystem stability (Pimm, 1984), theoretical works that address 36 ecosystem resistance are much less abundant than in the case of resilience, probably due to the lack of 37 a unified theory (Harrison, 1979). Therefore, resistance has been a stability property more difficult to 38 quantify (Harwell et al, 1977;Webster et al, 1975;Harrison and Fekete, 1980; Loreau and Behera, 39 1999). Also, there is not yet a clear picture of how ecosystem resistance may be affected by food 40 web diversity (Loreau and Behera, 1999).…”

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Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength

Vallina

Quéré

2011

Journal of Theoretical Biology

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In the face of stochastic climatic perturbations, the overall stability of an ecosystem will be determined 3 by the balance between its resilience and its resistance, but their relative importance is still unknown. 4Using aquatic food web models we study ecosystem stability as a function of food web complexity. 5We measured three dynamical stability properties: resilience, resistance, and variability. Specifically, 6we evaluate how a decrease in the strength of predator-prey interactions with food web complexity, 7 reflecting a decrease in predation efficiency with the number of prey per predator, affects the overall 8 stability of the ecosystem. We find that in mass conservative ecosystems, a lower interaction strength 9 slows down the mass cycling rate in the system and this increases its resistance to perturbations of the 10 growth rate of primary producers. Furthermore, we show that the overall stability of the food webs is 11 mostly given by their resistance, and not by their resilience. Resilience and resistance display opposite 12 trends, although they are shown not to be simply opposite concepts but rather independent properties. 13

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Nutrient Recycling and Stability: A Reevaluation

Cited by 33 publications

References 15 publications

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

A framework for vulnerability analysis in sustainability science

Circulación de nutrientes en algunos ecosistemas forestales del Montseny (Barcelona)

Stability of complex food webs: Resilience, resistance and the average interaction strength

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