Understanding the adaptive capacity of social ecological systems to address regional-scale environmental change in the American West
Type: Virtual Paper
Day: 2/26/2022
Start Time: 3:40 PM
End Time: 5:00 PM
Theme: The Changing North American Continent
Sponsor Group(s):
Human Dimensions of Global Change Specialty Group
, Water Resources Specialty Group
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
Organizer(s):
Brian Chaffin
,
,
,
Chairs(s):
Holly Nesbitt, University of Montana
; Sapana Lohani, University of Montana
Description:
Environmental change, including changes in climate, species distribution, and disturbance regimes, is impacting people and landscapes across the globe in specific ways based on contexts including historic legacies of social-ecological dynamics. In the American West, increasing aridity, habitat fragmentation, and changing disturbance regimes such as wildfire and drought are leading drivers of change. Fostering a more holistic understanding of how individuals and groups navigate this change is key to developing approaches to continued future change and sustainability in social-ecological systems in the American West. Adaptive capacity is defined as the ability, often latent, of a system to respond to or even drive change (i.e., maintain resilience or enable transformation) and includes biophysical and social underpinnings such as diversity, flexibility, capital, knowledge, learning, agency, and organization. Papers in this session explore aspects of adaptive capacity in social-ecological systems of the American West. Participants will discuss regional-scale environmental change in the American West and examples of human coping or adaption with specific emphasis on adaptive or transformative capacity in the face of both acute and slow onset disturbance.
Presentation(s), if applicable
Sapana Lohani, ; Spatial patterns of social-ecological transitions in the great plain rangelands in Nebraska |
Timothy Assal, Kent State University; Predicting the durability of expired fields in the Conservation Reserve Program: Can we measure enduring benefits of the program from afar? |
Janet Gritzner, South Dakota State University; Determinates of Small Town Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century: A South Dakota Story |
Holly Nesbitt, ; How do ranchers’ social networks enable or constrain their capacity to adapt to change in a grassland social-ecological system? |
Grete Gansauer, Montana State University - Land, Resources and Environmental Scienc; Networked adaptive capacities and community resilience in public drinking water management: A regional case study from the Northern Great Plains |
Non-Presenting Participants Agenda
| Role | Participant |
| Discussant | Brian Chaffin |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
Understanding the adaptive capacity of social ecological systems to address regional-scale environmental change in the American West
Description
Virtual Paper
Contact the Primary Organizer
Brian Chaffin - brian.chaffin@umontana.edu
Session Sponsored By
