Hexagonal cyclical network structure and operating mechanism of the social-ecological system

Abstract

Research on the social-ecological system unifies society, the economy, resources and the environment and provides an integrated and systematic research framework through which to study complex earth system problems, such as climate change, globalization, land use/cover change and population growth. This research aims to provide support for the excavation of the deep-seated coupling mechanism of the social-ecological system by revealing the basic structure of this system to answer the following three questions. What are the elements of the social-ecological system? What are the correlations between elements? How does the system work? The results are as follows. (1) The social-ecological system consists of six basic elements—population, capital, facility, management, resource, and environment—the first four of which constitute the social subsystem, and the last two of which constitute the ecological subsystem. (2) The basic material circulation and social production chains formed by the six basic elements through specific material and information flow are interrelated; they are fed to each other to form a unit social-ecological system, and a hexagonal network structure is formed through the networking of flow elements. (3) The essential feature of the operation of the hexagonal network structure is circulation. The basic social production chain is nested in the basic material circulation chain; that is, the ecological subsystem provides raw materials and services for social production, then starts the next cycle after absorbing the waste generated by the social subsystem during the production and consumption process. This research reveals that the social-ecological system structure is not only a static geometric network with stability and elasticity formed layer by layer due to multiple factors but also a dynamic circular network based on the circular movement of factors, which can distinguish flow and stock.