Socio-ecological Networks Research Articles

What facilitates the socio-spatial reattachment after a disaster? A sense of place approach

Disasters disrupt the socio-spatial bonds of the people and communities that they affect. Even though there is a large body of research on the impacts that these events produce, we know less about how people reconnect to transformed environments. To understand how the re-establishment of ties is experienced, in this study, we examine how sense of place develops in post-disaster settings. We conducted 18 group interviews and 80 walking interviews (n=205), distributed across three cases of emblematic disasters in Chile caused by a volcanic eruption, an earthquake and tsunami, and a fire. We used thematic analysis to examine these interviews. Results show that sense of place, in connection with the re-establishment of bonds, is produced in the assemblage of natural, material, personal, and community aspects, grouped into three major topics: appropriation of space, opening of the self, and community activation. We discuss the relevance of natural landscapes and socio-ecological networks for well-being, as well as the need to address the psychosocial working-through dimension in reconstruction policies. We conclude that sense of place is an integrative theoretical-analytic tool that makes it possible to examine the configurations of socio-spatial reattachment in individuals affected by disasters.

Heterodox modeling: practicing well-tuned provisioning or commoning with networked multi-agent environments

Market-driven, profit-oriented, mainstream neoclassical economics is increasingly being challenged by alternative approaches such as heterodox economics. This article contributes to broader discussions in this field, especially of social provisioning, and suggests that integrating perspectives from the overlapping fields of media history and history of economy could not only provide valuable insights and attract more supporters, but even initiate a bottom-up transformation process. Historical knowledge regarding how neoclassical economics gained mainstream status in the early postwar decades provides hints on how to popularize non-profit-driven, well-designed approaches to social provisioning, often referred to as commoning. More specifically, the article firstly addresses the necessity of a large-scale appropriation of computational methods, procedures, tools, media, and models to experiment with economic issues, which are usually applied mostly by mainstream profit-driven approaches. Secondly, it presents the implications of such a practice, which I tentatively refer to as heterodox modeling, while remembering the 1960s North American context of business simulation games and their role within the large-scale effort to educate and train the newly-defined class of “business managers.” The article, thirdly, theorizes heterodox modeling as being based on a still imaginary, not-yet implemented, networked multi-agent online environment, which would integrate the modular programming of agent-based models, group exercises, role-playing, gaming, and testing of operations and processes within large-scale socio-ecological networks of commoning. Finally, the article argues not only to model heterodox economic theories, but at the same time to model in heterodox ways and highlight associated implications.

Addressing youth un/underemployment through construction social procurement: an ecological systems theory perspective

Young people’s unemployment and underemployment are acknowledged as serious and enduring problems in Australia and globally. Construction is one of the largest employers of young people, and social procurement of construction products and services has significant potential if harnessed to address this problem. This article argues that project-based intermediation offers critical new insights into how social procurement can be implemented in a construction context. Employing a single case study approach, the article uses ecological systems theory and concept mapping to examine the results of focus groups with twelve young people who transitioned to employment in the Australian construction industry through a unique project-based intermediary set up by a major contractor to meet its social procurement requirements. Addressing the current under-theorisation of social procurement research, this article offers new conceptual insights into the socio-ecological networks that influence young people’s successful transition to employment in construction. The findings also provide new practical insights for government policymakers and the construction industry into the potential role that project-based intermediation can play in addressing youth unemployment in the context of emerging social procurement policies in many countries.

Aridification weakens ecosystem services by reducing complexity and stability of socio-ecological networks

The intensification of aridity threatens ecosystem services (ES) that support fundamental needs for human well-being; understanding how ES responds to aridity-induced changes in the interactions between socio-ecological components is critical for the development of effective coping strategies. There remain, however, challenges in systematically characterizing intricate socio-ecological relationships, and these difficulties hinder our understanding. To address this issue, this study constructed a correlation network among ES, vegetation, climatic, landscape, geomorphological and socioeconomic factors under different aridity gradients on the Loess Plateau. By analyzing the relationship between network structure properties and ES, we highlighted how aridity gradients alter the impact of socio-ecological systems on ES: as aridity increases, the connections between socio-ecological components lessen, and the transitivity and density of the socio-ecological network decrease, which means the complexity and stability of the network decrease. Aridification enhances the pivotal status of vegetation factors in the network, while weakening the relative roles of other components. Furthermore, the transitivity and density of the network have significant positive effects on ES. Importantly, the network structure properties explain 66% of the observed variation in ES under different aridity gradients. We conclude, therefore, that aridification reduces ES by weakening the links between socio-ecological components. This study has important instructive implications for mitigating the threat of aridity to human well-being.

The involvement of actors in the English Channel through a socio-ecological approach applied to artificial reefs

For more than fifty years, Artificial Reefs (AR) have been deployed in France to respond to the decline in fish stocks with a high deployment on the Mediterranean coast. However, from 40 sites listed, less than a quarter have not been the subject of any known published ecological or socio-economic monitoring reports, over the past five years. The lack of data on the evaluation of these structures therefore raises questions about their interest, both from an ecological and social point of view. By relying on the theory of organizations and more specifically on the translation resulting from the sociology of innovation applied to the environment, we will develop an original socio-ecological approach intended to meet this need for evaluation, in particular for managers. Based on two case studies on the coasts of the French Channel (Etretat and Cherbourg), we will highlight the interests and roles of human and non-human actors in an AR immersion process. The analysis will highlight the social and ecological objectives of these two projects from an analytical framework designed to verify the adequacy between the socio-ecological network "artificial reefs" formed and the objectives initially expected by the actors, especially decision-makers and funders. The limits posed by these approaches to improve the evaluation of artificial reefs will finally be discussed.

The Influence of Socio-Ecological Networks on Willingness to Communicate in English for Japanese People.

This study investigates the effect of socio-ecological networks on the willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among Japanese people. Previous studies have shown that relational mobility (socio-ecological factor), which is defined as the availability of opportunities to choose new relationship partners, positively affects the WTC in English for Japanese people. However, the network structure of the variables of relational mobility and its effects have not been revealed yet. The present study conducted network analysis with 474 Japanese university students and found the two clusters that correspond to the dimensions of relational mobility in the partial correlation network. Three variables regarding opportunities to meet new people and leave current relationships positively affected the WTC in English; one had a negative effect. Centrality indices, such as nodes strength, betweenness, and closeness, revealed the centrality of several variables in the network. Bootstrapping methods showed the trustworthiness of the estimated network structure and centrality indices as well as edges and variables whose effects differed significantly from that of others. Contrary to the regression analysis results, the network analysis findings can help us understand the in-depth effect of relational mobility on the WTC in a second language, which will prove useful for intervention studies.

Flow of Economic Benefits From Coral Reefs in a Multi-Use Caribbean Marine Protected Area Using Network Theory

Adaptation to changes in the delivery of ecosystem services while maintaining resilience of natural systems is one of the main challenges faced by multi-use marine protected areas (MPAs). To overcome this, it is crucial to improve our understanding of interdependencies among resource users and ecosystems. In this study we used networks to model the socio-ecological system of a multi-use MPA in the southern Caribbean. Using a mixed-method approach, we built a socio ecological network (SEN) from the flow of economic benefits that stakeholders obtain from coral reefs in Los Roques National Park. We specifically looked at how these benefits are distributed among stakeholder groups and how the structure and other network properties can inform management. For this, four networks (simple, weighted, directed and directed-weighted) were built from 125 nodes representing three services and six stakeholder groups, linked through 475 edges. The SEN structure indicated an open resource use pattern with reduced social capital, suggesting that community-based management could be challenging. Only 31% of the benefits from ecosystem services stay within the SEN. Regulation services, derived from the coral reef framework were the most important in terms of maintaining the flow of benefits through the SEN; however, most benefits depended on provisioning services. This approach, based on network theory allowed identification of inequalities in the access to benefits among groups, externalities in benefits derived from fisheries and trade-offs between provisioning and regulation services. Our results suggest that Los Roques might be falling into a socio-ecological trap. Improving access to benefits and increasing trust need be prioritized. Low-cost management intervention can help internalize financial benefits and reduce trade-offs affecting more vulnerable stakeholder groups. However, these would require changes in governance and institutions at the executive level.

Socio-Ecological Networks: A Lens That Focuses Beyond Physics

Contemporary systems ecology has long been occupied with mechanical explanations of behavior; however, the physical theory that undergirds such explanations has certain limits. It’s not that the physical force laws are ever violated, but with heterogeneous, irreversible relationships subject to aleatoric influences, physical laws can only constrain, but not determine, outcomes. Such complex systems are better treated in the framework of quantified networks of interrelations. The application of simple information theory to networks reveals that ecosystems cannot achieve maximal efficiency without growing vulnerable to novel disturbances. A degree of inefficient redundancies is always necessary to sustain ecological and social functioning; and, if they are to function reliably, such non-optimal features become requisite in the design of infrastructures like power grids, water distribution networks, traffic patterns, and supply chains. In particular, the postulate that economic market efficiency should never be compromised must be re-examined if society is to remain sustainable. Furthermore, the capability of networks to represent distributed causalities allows one to rationalize behaviors like endogenous selection, centripetal acquisition of resources, and the precedence of indirect mutualism over competition in living systems–all phenomena that challenge conventional evolutionary dogma.

Socio-ecological network structures from process graphs.

We propose a process graph (P-graph) approach to develop ecosystem networks from knowledge of the properties of the component species. Originally developed as a process engineering tool for designing industrial plants, the P-graph framework has key advantages over conventional ecological network analysis techniques based on input-output models. A P-graph is a bipartite graph consisting of two types of nodes, which we propose to represent components of an ecosystem. Compartments within ecosystems (e.g., organism species) are represented by one class of nodes, while the roles or functions that they play relative to other compartments are represented by a second class of nodes. This bipartite graph representation enables a powerful, unambiguous representation of relationships among ecosystem compartments, which can come in tangible (e.g., mass flow in predation) or intangible form (e.g., symbiosis). For example, within a P-graph, the distinct roles of bees as pollinators for some plants and as prey for some animals can be explicitly represented, which would not otherwise be possible using conventional ecological network analysis. After a discussion of the mapping of ecosystems into P-graph, we also discuss how this framework can be used to guide understanding of complex networks that exist in nature. Two component algorithms of P-graph, namely maximal structure generation (MSG) and solution structure generation (SSG), are shown to be particularly useful for ecological network analysis. These algorithms enable candidate ecosystem networks to be deduced based on current scientific knowledge on the individual ecosystem components. This method can be used to determine the (a) effects of loss of specific ecosystem compartments due to extinction, (b) potential efficacy of ecosystem reconstruction efforts, and (c) maximum sustainable exploitation of human ecosystem services by humans. We illustrate the use of P-graph for the analysis of ecosystem compartment loss using a small-scale stylized case study, and further propose a new criticality index that can be easily derived from SSG results.

Caregiver resilience and patients with severe musculoskeletal traumatic injuries

Aims This study investigated the association of resilience on caregiver burden and quality of life in informal caregivers of patients with severe traumatic musculoskeletal injuries. Methods A prospective cohort study of eligible caregivers and acutely injured trauma patients was conducted during 2018 in South East Queensland, with follow-up 3 months after patient discharge. Resilience was examined using the 10-item Connor Davidson Resilience Scale. The primary outcomes, caregiver burden and quality of life were measured respectively, using the Caregiver Strain Index and the Short Form Version 12 Health Survey. Results Baseline measures were completed with fifty-three (77%) patient/carer dyads. Thirty-eight (28%) were available for follow up at 3 months. Significant reductions from baseline were found at follow up, for levels of resilience, mental health, physical exercise and community support. In multiple regression models, caregiver resilience at follow-up independently predicted lower caregiver burden (β = −0.74, p = 0.008) and higher levels of patient physical health and function (β = −0.69, p = 0.003). Conclusions Upon commencing informal care, caregivers’ resilience, mental health and support systems are adversely affected. Higher levels of caregiver resilience appear to be protective against caregiver burden and declines in patient physical function. Early evaluation of caregivers’ resilience, their physical and mental health and socio-ecological networks could improve carer and patient health outcomes. Implications for rehabilitation After 3 months of providing informal care to severely injured musculoskeletal trauma patients, there are apparent declines in their mental health, resilience, community support and physical activity levels. However, those with higher levels of resilience compared to lower levels could be protected against caregiver burden. Higher caregiver resilience could also prevent declines in patients’ physical function. The rehabilitation of severe trauma patients should additionally include routine assessment and management of informal caregivers with the aim to prevent caregiver burden. Early clinical assessment of caregiver resilience using a valid resilience measurement tool could identify caregivers at risk of caregiver burden and flag vulnerable caregivers for ongoing support in the community. Early assessment of caregivers’ physical and mental health and health related behaviours could flag the need for health promotion interventions aimed at supporting caregivers’ physical and mental health.

Governance for Sustainability of Estuarine Areas—Assessing Alternative Models Using the Case of Ria de Aveiro, Portugal

Estuaries are one of the most productive and complex types of ecosystems supporting a wide range of economic activities. Departing from a set of governance problems and emergent goals, such as sustainability or climate change adaptation faced by an estuarine case study area, Ria de Aveiro, in Portugal, this article assesses the adequacy of alternative governance models under the existing water resources legal framework and traditional political culture. It shows that apart from the centrally-based compliance model, all other alternatives require high degrees of institutional reforms. Moreover, although the model based on a dedicated new agency, long preferred by many users of Ria de Aveiro, is the most understandable and focused, it does not assure the pursuance of adaptability or collaboration, which are considered essential for estuary governance. As it relies on collective action and multi-level and multi-agent contexts, estuarine governance may require a new institutional design. Where one begins a process of institutional change, however, is not a simple issue to address and demands a deeper analysis, particularly on the types of required institutional changes, as well as on their impacts on policy and decision-making outcomes over estuarine environments and associated socio-ecological networks.

Multiscale socio-ecological networks in the age of information.

Interactions between people and ecological systems, through leisure or tourism activities, form a complex socio-ecological spatial network. The analysis of the benefits people derive from their interactions with nature—also referred to as cultural ecosystem services (CES)—enables a better understanding of these socio-ecological systems. In the age of information, the increasing availability of large social media databases enables a better understanding of complex socio-ecological interactions at an unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. Within this context, we model and analyze these interactions based on information extracted from geotagged photographs embedded into a multiscale socio-ecological network. We apply this approach to 16 case study sites in Europe using a social media database (Flickr) containing more than 150,000 validated and classified photographs. After evaluating the representativeness of the network, we investigate the impact of visitors’ origin on the distribution of socio-ecological interactions at different scales. First at a global scale, we develop a spatial measure of attractiveness and use this to identify four groups of sites. Then, at a local scale, we explore how the distance traveled by the users to reach a site affects the way they interact with this site in space and time. The approach developed here, integrating social media data into a network-based framework, offers a new way of visualizing and modeling interactions between humans and landscapes. Results provide valuable insights for understanding relationships between social demands for CES and the places of their realization, thus allowing for the development of more efficient conservation and planning strategies.

Landscape Connectivity Approach in Oceanic Islands by Urban Ecological Island Network Systems with the Case Study of Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos (Ecuador)

The oceanic islands are well known for their high biodiversity where the dynamic integration of the ecosystems inside the populated islands is such as a living laboratory of ecological and social relations of interdependence. Oceanic islands are experimenting significant pressure on their ecosystems. Habitat fragmentation produces poor spatial connectivity between protected areas and human settlements. The essence of the research approach is to develop a new framework of Oceanic Island Network System based on urban ecological networks in dealing with island connectivity issues space. This new urban ecological planning tool can help to generate an integrator balance by a physical linkage system in a socio-ecosystem island. Facilitating the territorial ordering based on the spatial and functional relations between ecological functions and urban structure through the island network system has not been analyzed yet as an essential resource for integrating the natural and human systems in oceanic islands. This paper presents a landscape theory connectivity analysis of the built space vs. the natural space of oceanic islands with the case study of Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos into the Pelican Way Watershed boundaries. In this context, spatial network elements are considered under land movement concept. The analysis is intended to determine the spatial elements interrelationships by socio-ecological networks establishing a new landscape system strategy. Additionally, it is valuable and necessary to establish a new concept of land use network for oceanic islands, such as a potential resource to generating a physical structure of environmental balance connectivity, which includes social needs and ecological potentialities for successful urban ecological conservation and development.

Identifying socio-ecological networks in rural-urban gradients: Diagnosis of a changing cultural landscape

Socio-ecological systems maintain reciprocal interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic structures. As a result of these interactions key essential services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of land change and cause serious shifts in socio-ecological relationships and the associated lifestyles. The framework of rural-urban gradients has proved to be a powerful tool for ecological research about urban influences on ecosystems and on sociological issues related to social welfare. However, to date there has not been an attempt to achieve a classification of municipalities in rural-urban gradients based on socio-ecological interactions. In this paper, we developed a methodological approach that allows identifying and classifying a set of socio-ecological network configurations in the Region of Madrid, a highly dynamic cultural landscape considered one of the European hotspots in urban development. According to their socio-ecological links, the integrated model detects four groups of municipalities, ordered along a rural-urban gradient, characterized by their degree of biophysical and socioeconomic coupling and different indicators of landscape structure and social welfare. We propose the developed model as a useful tool to improve environmental management schemes and land planning from a socio-ecological perspective, especially in territories subject to intense urban transformations and loss of rurality.

Bestyrkende faktorer som fremmer en positiv overgang fra skole til varig arbeidslivstilknytning for elever i lærekandidat-ordningen.

Introduksjon: Artikkelen omhandler ungdom som har hatt spesialundervisning i grunn- og videregående skole og faktorer som kan bidra til en god overgang til varig yrkeslivstilknytning i privat eller offentlig virksomhet. I denne artikkelen ønsker vi, gjennom en kvalitativ tilnærming å forfølge problemstillingen; Hvilke bestyrkende faktorer kan fremme positive overganger fra skole til varig arbeidslivstilknytning for elever i lærekandidatordningen?Teoretisk tilnærming: Artikkelens teoretiske tilnærming forankres i forståelse og fortolkning av norsk skolelovgivning og teori om «empowerment». De teoretiske perspektivene anvendes i drøfting av empiri.Metode: Den metodiske tilnærmingen er kvalitativ. Det er gjennomført fire semi-strukturerte intervjuer av unge informanter som har gjennomført videregående skole i lærekandidatordningen og som har hatt minimum ett års tilknytning til bedrift. Det er gjennomført tematiske analyser av datamaterialet gjennom anvendelse av NVivo 11, et data-analyseprogram som støtter kvalitative data og blandede forskningsmetoder.Resultat og diskusjon: Gjennom tematisk analysen fant vi tre betydningsfulle bestyrkningsfaktorer som har bidratt til gode arenaoverganger og varig arbeidslivstilknytning:a) Anvendelse og utvikling av elevens kompetanse - mestring og meningb) Betydningen av relasjon, kommunikasjon og velfungerende sosio-økologiske nettverkc) Betydningen av elevmedvirkning og elevmedbestemmelse

Cyborg landscapes: Choreographing resilient interactions between infrastructure, ecology, and society

Contemporary challenges of climate change, population growth, resource scarcity, and environmental decline prompt designers to envision new relationships between nature and culture. Infrastructure design and adaptation are key to addressing theses issues. This article argues for the formulation of a landscape approach that integrates biotic and abiotic systems to envision more dynamic interactions among infrastructure, ecology, and urbanism. Conceptualized as cyborg landscapes, this approach embraces notions of change, adaptation, and feedback to create hybrid infrastructures of human and non-human systems, of living and non-living entities, across a range of spatial and temporal scales. Three examples illustrate that the profession is already (knowingly or unknowingly) working within this framework. Designed as co-dependent socioecological networks, these projects transform and choreograph landscape processes across multiple spatial and temporal scales. They promote an aesthetic that is predicated on relationships between dynamic things and systems. By stressing co-evolutionary processes between human agency and ecological systems, cyborg landscapes aspire to create multifunctional landscapes that do not simply operate in the present, but learn from experiences in order to adapt and grow smarter.

Unfolding livelihood aspects of the Water–Energy–Food Nexus in the Dampalit Watershed, Philippines

Study regionThis study explores the connectivity of upland farmers and downstream fishers through interlinkages of water, energy and food within the Dampalit sub-watershed of Laguna Lake, Philippines. Study focusThe aim of the study is to yield policy relevant results to improve the status of the water resources and food products and to reduce possible user conflicts. Surveying 176 households mainly in the mid- and downstream areas elements and interlinkages of the local Water-Energy-Food Nexus (WEF-Nexus) were identified by the five capitals of the sustainable livelihood approach through a socio-ecological network analysis. New hydrological insights for the regionBesides the innovative methodology, this research adds to the underserved local perspective in the WEF-Nexus research. The survey shows different livelihood profiles for the two groups and a lack of direct social links between them in the WEF-Nexus context. Also indirect links through consumption of the other group’s food products could not be identified. However, a large fraction of the population share the use of char coal for cooking, the Makiling groundwater for drinking and various household purposes and the Central Market in Los Banos for their food supply.

Lessons Learned from Reconstructing Interactions Between Local Ecological Knowledge, Fisheries Science, and Fisheries Management in the Commercial Fisheries of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Questions centered on the development of local and traditional ecological knowledge and the relationship of that knowledge to the development of conservation and management practices have recently attracted critical attention. We examine these questions with respect to the dynamic commercial fisheries of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The knowledge of fish harvesters coevolves with fishing practices and is embedded in a dynamic socioecological network that extends into and beyond the fisher, fishery households, and communities to include management, technologies, markets, and marine ecological conditions. Changes in these networks have moved knowledge and practices related to fishing in directions defined by policy, science, economic rationality, and new ecological realities. We characterize this movement as a shift along a continuum from local ecological knowledge (LEK) towards globalized harvesting knowledge (GHK) as harvesters become increasingly disconnected from socioecological relationships associated with traditional species and stocks. We conclude with a discussion of how LEK/GHK have interacted over time and space with other knowledge systems (particularly science) to influence management, and suggest that contingent, empirical evaluations of these interactions will provide a fruitful avenue for future interdisciplinary research.

Socioecological landscape planning approach and multicriteria acceptability analysis in multiple-purpose forest management

In the socioecological landscape planning of natural resource management, sociocultural and ecological decision criteria are integrated with ‘traditional’ economic considerations in an analytic and systemic way. As the main phases, the approach involves (1) pinpointing the sites of foremost importance from the viewpoint of ecological and sociocultural management objectives; (2) elaborating different so-called ecological and sociocultural networks, the combinations of which determine alternative socioecological networks; (3) producing alternative timber production programmes for areas not included in different socioecological networks (resulting in different alternative management plans for the whole area under planning); (4) evaluating the relative worth of alternative plans with respect to each relevant objective; and, finally, (5) the holistic comparison of alternative management plans by applying multiple criteria decision aid methods. This article first discusses the principles and rationale of the approach. Then an illustrative application of the new planning approach is presented. In the application, recreational and ecological objectives were integrated into forest management planning of a landscape owned by the State. The criteria were measured on ordinal scale, and they were ranked according to their mutual importance. Stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis with ordinal criteria (SMAA-O) was used in the holistic comparison of alternative landscape-level plans. The socioecological landscape planning approach was found practicable. The Finnish Forest and Park Service, governing the vast majority of State-owned lands in Finland, has already made the decision to apply the approach in strategic natural resource management.