Social-ecological Network Research Articles

The social structural foundations of adaptation and transformation in social–ecological systems

Barnes, M. L., Ö. Bodin, A. M. Guerrero, R. J. McAllister, S. M. Alexander, and G. Robins. 2017. The social structural foundations of adaptation and transformation in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society 22(4):16. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-09769-220416

Multiplex social ecological network analysis reveals how social changes affect community robustness more than resource depletion

Network analysis provides a powerful tool to analyze complex influences of social and ecological structures on community and household dynamics. Most network studies of social-ecological systems use simple, undirected, unweighted networks. We analyze multiplex, directed, and weighted networks of subsistence food flows collected in three small indigenous communities in Arctic Alaska potentially facing substantial economic and ecological changes. Our analysis of plausible future scenarios suggests that changes to social relations and key households have greater effects on community robustness than changes to specific wild food resources.

Landscape services as boundary concept in landscape governance: Building social capital in collaboration and adapting the landscape

The landscape services concept provides a lens to study relations within the social-ecological networks that landscapes are, and to identify stakeholders as either providers or beneficiaries. However, landscape services can also be used as a boundary concept in collaborative landscape governance. We demonstrate this by analysing the case of Gouwe Wiericke in the rural west of the Netherlands. Here, a collaborative landscape governance process started off with low levels of trust between farmers and regional governments, as a result of previous processes. The introduction of the landscape services concept helped to bridge social boundaries, which eventually resulted in collective action: farmers and governments reached an agreement on adapted management of ditches and shores to improve water quality and biodiversity. However, we propose that bridging the social boundaries was achieved not merely due to the landscape services concept, but also due to the fact that multiple boundaries were managed simultaneously, and additional arrangements were used in boundary management.

Improving river health: insights into initiating collaboration in a transboundary river basin

ABSTRACTRiver health is a concern worldwide. Governance of river basins is particularly complicated when they are large scale and cross jurisdictional boundaries. Past approaches to making decisions in transboundary basins are limited and attention is increasingly being focused on the potential of collaboration. This research investigates the initiation phase of a collaborative conservation project (WWF-Canada Freshwater Program, St. John River project) in the St. John River Basin of Canada. A social-ecological inventory technique and social network analysis are used to identify the actors in the transboundary basin and their activities, perceptions and connections to river health, relationship with other stakeholders, and actual engagement with a milestone event in the project. Insights gained from exploring the relationships between/among these variables highlight the complicated nature of initiating collaboration. A common understanding of river health and a strong structure of connected actors were encouraging signs that collaboration may flourish, while the assertion of power and context surrounding the initiative were found to mediate its possibility. The collaborative potential of conservation projects in large-scale transboundary river basins may be enhanced through such research and by actively applying these insights.

A New Randomized Algorithm for Community Detection in Large Networks

The problem of community detection (or clustering) in graphs plays an important role in analysis of complex large-scale networks and big data structures, arising in natural, behavioral and engineering sciences. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, World Wide Web (WWW) and Internet, social networks, ecological networks and food webs, cellular and molecular ensembles. A community (or a module) in a graph is a subset of its nodes, whose members are "densely" connected to each other yet have relatively few connections with nodes outside this subset. A number of algorithms to subdivide the nodes of large-scale graphs into communities have recently been proposed; many of them hunt for the graph’s partitions of maximal modularity. One of the most efficient graph clustering algorithms of this type is the Multi-Level Aggregation (or "Louvain") method. In this paper, a randomized counterpart of this algorithm is proposed, which provides a comparable "quality" of graph’s clustering, being however much faster on huge graphs. We demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm, comparing its performance on several "benchmark" large-scale graphs with existing methods.

Theorizing benefits and constraints in collaborative environmental governance: a transdisciplinary social-ecological network approach for empirical investigations

When environmental processes cut across socioeconomic boundaries, traditional top-down government approaches struggle to effectively manage and conserve ecosystems. In such cases, governance arrangements that foster multiactor collaboration are needed. The effectiveness of such arrangements, however, depends on how well any ecological interdependencies across governed ecosystems are aligned with patterns of collaboration. This inherent interdisciplinary and complex problem has impeded progress in developing a better understanding of how to govern ecosystems for conservation in an increasingly interconnected world. We argue for the development of empirically informed theories, which are not only able to transcend disciplinary boundaries, but are also explicit in taking these complex social-ecological interdependences into account. We show how this emerging research frontier can be significantly improved by incorporating recent advances in stochastic modeling of multilevel social networks. An empirical case study from an agricultural landscape in Madagascar is reanalyzed to demonstrate these improvements.

Achieving social-ecological fit through bottom-up collaborative governance: an empirical investigation

Guerrero, A. M., Ö. Bodin, R. R. J. McAllister, and K. A. Wilson. 2015. Achieving social-ecological fit through bottom-up collaborative governance: an empirical investigation. Ecology and Society 20(4):41.http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08035-200441

Tracks, trawls and lines—Knowledge practices of skippers in the Namibian hake fisheries

Based on interviews with demersal trawl and longline captains targeting hakes (Merluccius capensis and Merluccius paradoxus), this paper looks into specific knowledge practices in relation to the skipper’s tasks of finding and catching fish and some of the challenges encountered when attempting to mobilise that knowledge for fisheries management. Observing that knowledge production is influenced by the technology and fishing method used, the article describes several key aspects of fishing behaviour at sea. These, involve critical decisions the skipper has to make, such as choice of fishing area, position, direction and length of trawls. Specific insights about the social–ecological network of relations that can be gained from observing these decisions, are discussed. The article concludes that formal methods to mobilise and transfer information from fishers through logbooks and digital cartography, cannot capture important aspects of fishers’ knowledge because the information is decontextualised and separated from experiences that are made in the process of fishing. Rather than focusing on fishers as providers of data on fishing mortality only, considering fisheries as networks of relations in which fishing takes place in response to other actors, allows a better understanding of fisheries dynamics, which in turn is important for sustainable fisheries management.

Early warning signs in social-ecological networks.

A number of social-ecological systems exhibit complex behaviour associated with nonlinearities, bifurcations, and interaction with stochastic drivers. These systems are often prone to abrupt and unexpected instabilities and state shifts that emerge as a discontinuous response to gradual changes in environmental drivers. Predicting such behaviours is crucial to the prevention of or preparation for unwanted regime shifts. Recent research in ecology has investigated early warning signs that anticipate the divergence of univariate ecosystem dynamics from a stable attractor. To date, leading indicators of instability in systems with multiple interacting components have remained poorly investigated. This is a major limitation in the understanding of the dynamics of complex social-ecological networks. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to demonstrate that rising variance—measured, for example, by the maximum element of the covariance matrix of the network—is an effective leading indicator of network instability. We show that its reliability and robustness depend more on the sign of the interactions within the network than the network structure or noise intensity. Mutualistic, scale free and small world networks are less stable than their antagonistic or random counterparts but their instability is more reliably predicted by this leading indicator. These results provide new advances in multidimensional early warning analysis and offer a framework to evaluate the resilience of social-ecological networks.

Socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services in a transhumance social-ecological network

The ecosystem services framework is receiving increasing attention in the fields of policy and research. The assessment of human attitudes and perceptions regarding ecosystem services has been proposed as a promising tool for addressing complex problems associated with environmental change, particularly in the context of cultural landscapes. Transhumance is not only a farming practice responsible for shaping cultural landscapes but also an adaptive strategy based on mobility that may represent a useful approach to overcoming the growing challenges posed by accelerated environmental change. A socio-cultural valuation of ecosystem services associated with the Conquense Drove Road, one of the major transhumant networks still in use in Mediterranean Spain, was conducted via the distribution of questionnaires to 416 local residents and visitors to capture their perceptions regarding the importance of 34 ecosystem services (10 provisioning, 12 regulating, and 12 cultural) for both social and personal well-being. Overall, the ecosystem services considered to be the most important for social well-being were fire prevention, air purification and livestock. Most of the ecosystem services in question were perceived as declining, with the exception of those associated with recreation, scientific knowledge and environmental education. This study revealed that perceptions regarding the value of ecosystem services differed among respondents, depending on their age, place of origin and gender. Several methodological issues, as well as the implications of socio-cultural valuation for policy making, are also discussed here.

Envisioning the future of transhumant pastoralism through participatory scenario planning: a case study in Spain

Transhumance is a practice of nomadic pastoralism that was once common in Mediterranean Europe. This livestock-rearing system is associated with the maintenance of cultural landscapes and the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services. Although transhumance is still practised in Spain on a small scale, its future is highly uncertain because of socioeconomic constraints and other drivers of change. A participatory scenario-planning exercise with 68 participants, including shepherds, decision-makers, veterinarians, environmental experts, intermediaries from the wool and meat markets, and researchers, was used to envision plausible futures for transhumance and to enlighten policy-making for the maintenance of this practice along the Conquense Drove Road, one of the largest foot-based transhumant social-ecological networks still in use in Spain. Specifically, the aims were to: (1) analyse the drivers influencing the future of transhumance, (2) depict the current situation of transhumance, (3) envision future scenarios for this activity, (4) analyse ecosystem services’ trade-offs between different scenarios and their effect on human wellbeing, and (5) provide some insights for policy-making related to the maintenance of transhumance. Four plausible future scenarios were built, each showing clear trade-offs in the delivery of 19 ecosystem services, such as food, fibre, ecological connectivity, soil fertility, air quality, fire prevention, cultural identity, local ecological knowledge and cultural exchanges, as well as the different dimensions of human wellbeing. As a result of the participatory process, nine management strategies were identified for the maintenance of transhumance. Priority was given to the implementation of payment schemes for ecosystem services, the enhancement of social capital among transhumants and institutional coordination, the improvement of product marketing, and the restoration and conservation of drove roads. Finally, the implications of the current reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in the European Union for the maintenance of transhumance are discussed.

Inclusive Protected Area Management in the Amazon: The Importance of Social Networks over Ecological Knowledge

In the Amacayacu National Park in Colombia, which partially overlaps with Indigenous territories, several elements of an inclusive protected area management model have been implemented since the 1990s. In particular, a dialogue between scientific researchers, indigenous people and park staff has been promoted for the co-production of biological and cultural knowledge for decision-making. This paper, based on a four-year ethnographic study of the park, shows how knowledge products about different components of the socio-ecosystem neither were efficiently obtained nor were of much importance in park management activities. Rather, the knowledge pertinent to park staff in planning and management is the know-how required for the maintenance and mobilization of multi-scale social-ecological networks. We argue that the dominant models for protected area management—both top-down and inclusive models—underestimate the sociopolitical realm in which research is expected to take place, over-emphasize ecological knowledge as necessary for management and hold a too strong belief in decision-making as a rational, organized response to diagnosis of the PA, rather than acknowledging that thick complexity needs a different form of action. Co-production of knowledge is crucial for governance, but mainly not for the reasons for which it is promoted.

Evaluating Ecosystem Services in Transhumance Cultural LandscapesAn Interdisciplinary and Participatory Framework

Following the concept of ecosystem services, we propose in this article an interdisciplinary and participatory methodological framework for ecosystem services assessment and participatory decision-making in Mediterranean cultural landscapes linked with transhumant pastoralism. It is based on four sequential phases: 1. characterisation of the social-ecological network associated with transhumance, 2. preliminary identification and characteri sation of ecosystem services, 3. evaluation of ecosystem services (in biophysical, socio-cultural, and economic terms), and 4. future scenario planning for the analysis of social conflicts related to ecosystem services use and trade-offs as well as the proposal of management strategies. Applying the framework to a case study on one of the major transhumance landscapes in Spain, we could identify and evaluate more than 30 ecosystem services. The framework facilitated the design of robust policy measures that aim to maintain this livestock raising model and its associated flow of ecosystem services. It also contributes to provide the basis for the implementation of adaptive co-management strategies.

Losing our way with mapping: Thinking critically about marine spatial planning in Scotland

Marine spatial planning (MSP) is the dominant management tool for marine environments around the world and is an attempt to move beyond the sectoral governance of marine spaces. Scotland is no exception and MSP is central to its management plans. The interpretation and use of spatial data informs these plans and maps provide the backbone of the decision-making process. Whilst not refuting MSP as a governance tool, this paper examines more closely some of the inherent problems with representing marine environments spatially and how the practice of map-making inevitably interacts with social-ecological networks. Borrowing from critical cartography and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), four observations are made: 1) due to the necessary procedure of categorising and simplifying data, maps do not always accurately represent changeable marine environments and situations; 2) maps can produce reality as much as represent it; 3) mapping has become the point through which all actors and stakeholders must pass; 4) as they are obliged to pass through this point, the roles and definition of certain actors can change. This discussion of marine spatial planning in Scotland demonstrates what can be learnt from viewing marine spaces as a tightly coupled social-ecological environment.

Connecting Social Networks with Ecosystem Services for Watershed Governance: a Social-Ecological Network Perspective Highlights the Critical Role of Bridging Organizations

In many densely settled agricultural watersheds, water quality is a point of conflict between amenity and agricultural activities because of the varied demands and impacts on shared water resources. Successful governance of these watersheds requires coordination among different activities. Recent research has highlighted the role that social networks between management entities can play to facilitate cross-scale interaction in watershed governance. For example, bridging organizations can be positioned in social networks to bridge local initiatives done by single municipalities across whole watersheds. To better understand the role of social networks in social-ecological system dynamics, we combine a social network analysis of the water quality management networks held by local governments with a social-ecological analysis of variation in water management and ecosystem services across the Monteregie, an agricultural landscape near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. We analyze municipal water management networks by using one-mode networks to represent direct collaboration between municipalities, and two- mode networks to capture how bridging organizations indirectly connect municipalities. We find that municipalities do not collaborate directly with one another but instead are connected via bridging organizations that span the water quality management network. We also discovered that more connected municipalities engaged in more water management activities. However, bridging organizations preferentially connected with municipalities that used more tourism related ecosystem services rather than those that used more agricultural ecosystem services. Many agricultural municipalities were relatively isolated, despite being the main producers of water quality problems. In combination, these findings suggest that further strengthening the water management network in the Monteregie will contribute to improving water quality in the region. However, such strengthening requires developing a network that better connects both agricultural and tourism oriented municipalities. Furthermore, these findings show that consideration of the social-ecological context of social networks, can help explain the structure of networks and reveal social-ecological clusters and disconnects in a network.

Complex Social-Ecological Systems Network：New Perspective on the Sustainability

The complex social-ecological systems network is an integrative platform of ecology, economy, management and complex networks which providing a new perspective on the comprehensive management of ecological and socio economical processes. Through research of the structures, functions and processes, one four-dimensional conceptual model of the complex social-ecological system for sustainable development was set up. The complex social-ecological systems comprise of natural subsystem, social subsystem, economic subsystem and integrative decision subsystem. The complex social-ecological systems network was defined as one six-element tuple which denotes the comprehensive spatial structure with different kinds of nodes of ecosystem, social system and economic system. The complex social-ecological systems network has some important characteristics including hierarchies, power-low, vulnerabilities, resilience, dynamics, co-evolution of flow and structure, et al. At last, based on the Multimedia Environment Pollutant Assessment System (MEPAS) of US EPA, the relationship between POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) exposure and lifetime fatal cancer risk was studied, and comprehensive risk network of the Taihu basin water pollution and human body health was established.

Toward a Network Perspective of the Study of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

Formal models used to study the resilience of social-ecological systems have not explicitly included important structural characteristics of this type of system. In this paper, we propose a network perspective for social-ecological systems that enables us to better focus on the structure of interactions between identifiable components of the system. This network perspective might be useful for developing formal models and comparing case studies of social-ecological systems. Based on an analysis of the case studies in this special issue, we identify three types of social-ecological networks: ( 1) ecosystems that are connected by people through flows of information or materials, ( 2) ecosystem networks that are disconnected and fragmented by the actions of people, and ( 3) artificial ecological networks created by people, such as irrigation systems. Each of these three archytypal social-ecological networks faces different problems that influence its resilience as it responds to the addition or removal of connections that affect its coordination or the diffusion of system attributes such as information or disease.