Abstract

The concept of panarchy provides a framework that characterizes complex systems of people and nature as dynamically organized and structured within and across scales of space and time. It has been more than a decade since the introduction of panarchy. Over this period, its invocation in peer-reviewed literature has been steadily increasing, but its use remains primarily descriptive and abstract. Here, we discuss the use of the concept in the literature to date, highlight where the concept may be useful, and discuss limitations to the broader applicability of panarchy theory for research in the ecological and social sciences. Finally, we forward a set of testable hypotheses to evaluate key propositions that follow from panarchy theory.

Keywords

complex systems; discontinuities; novelty; regime; resilience; social-ecological systems; transformations

Published in

Ecosystems
2014, Volume: 17, number: 4, pages: 578-589

SLU Authors

• Angeler, David

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9744-2

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/61322