Bright spots take out top science prize
A team of scientists led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) won one of the nation’s top science awards at tonight’s ‘Oscars of Australian science’, the Eureka P
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au
Abstract: Complex interdependencies between social and ecological dynamics underpin many important environmental problems. To account for these complex dynamics, over the past several years my colleagues and I have been developing an interdisciplinary network modelling framework that captures relationships within and between people and nature. This approach leverages cutting edge methodological advances in the network sciences and brings together perspectives from across the natural and social sciences to identify important structural relationships between people and nature that may facilitate or constrain outcomes in social-ecological systems. In this talk, I review the theoretical foundations of this approach and demonstrate its utility in uncovering novel insights at multiple scales through concrete empirical examples. Drawing on population-level data from a Papua New Guinean island, I first demonstrate how complex patterns of social-ecological interdependencies can help to explain adaptive and transformative action in response to climate change impacts by supporting learning, social contagion, and the internalization of social-ecological feedbacks. Next, I present comparative evidence from Kenya that the alignment of social and ecological structures in coral reef fishing communities can lay the foundation for improved coral reef ecosystem conditions by supporting mechanisms that underpin cooperation. This body of work provides important empirical insight demonstrating how social action and resulting social and environmental conditions can be facilitated and/or constrained by complex patterns of relationships that extend across the social-ecological divide.
A team of scientists led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (Coral CoE) won one of the nation’s top science awards at tonight’s ‘Oscars of Australian science’, the Eureka P
An analytical tool will be used to assess the climate risks facing historic World Heritage sites in Africa—the ruins of two great 13th century ports and the remains of a palace and iron-making indus
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Partner Research Institutions
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies
James Cook University Townsville
Queensland 4811 Australia
Phone: 61 7 4781 4000
Email: info@coralcoe.org.au