Seminar 15th April 2011 4 p.m. University of Southampton, Building 58, Room 1007
Complex socio-ecological systems: Bridging the gap between theory and reality
Professor John Dearing
University of Southampton, School of Geography
- Web page
- http://cmg.soton.ac.uk/people/jd1u06/
- Categories
- Climate, Complex Systems, Energy, Human environment interaction, Human population
- Submitter
- Petrina Butler
Professor John Dearing will speak about complex socio-ecological systems
Complex Systems Simulation Seminar Series (CS^4)
from the Institute for Complex Systems Simulation, the Complexity in Real-World Contexts USRG, and the Computational Modelling Group.
Abstract
Chief Scientist Sir John Beddington recently spoke about a Perfect Storm scenario: a not-so-distant future where climate and population drive converging, and declining, trajectories in the availability of food, water, energy and land.
It brought to a head the need to understand the impact of human activities on environmental processes in terms of adaptive socio-ecological systems and their associated complex behaviour, operating over diverse spatio-temporal scales. But as reported in international reports, like the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the need is rarely matched by appropriate assessment methods.
This talk looks at the gap that exists between system science/complexity science theory and methods to assess and model the sustainability and resilience of real regional landscapes. It focuses on reconstructing multi-decadal timescales of human activities, environmental processes and ecosystem services as key elements in identifying complex system behaviour. Regional integration of environmental history, palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, document and instrument records is now providing extended timescales within which to observe and model system interactions, thresholds, alternative steady states and critical states.
Further Reading
Dearing, J. A., A. K. Braimoh, A. Reenberg, B. L. Turner and S. Van der Leeuw. 2010. Complex Land Systems: the Need for Long Time Perspectives to Assess their Future. Ecology and Society 15 (4): 21. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art21/
Refreshments
Available from 3:30pm, lecture starts at 4pm.
Complex Systems Simulation Seminar Series
For the complete CS^4 schedule please click here: http://www.multidisciplinary.soton.ac.uk/cs4.html
Contact
Multidisciplinary Research Co-ordinator
University Strategic Research Groups
Research and Innovation Services
02380 593244