Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems are important for global biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services. There is consensus in the scientific literature that freshwater ecosystems are vulnerable to the impacts of environmental change, which may trigger irreversible regime shifts upon which biodiversity and ecosystem services may be lost. There are profound uncertainties regarding the management and assessment of the vulnerability of freshwater ecosystems to environmental change. Quantitative approaches are needed to reduce this uncertainty. We describe available statistical and modeling approaches along with case studies that demonstrate how resilience theory can be applied to aid decision-making in natural resources management. We highlight especially how long-term monitoring efforts combined with ecological theory can provide a novel nexus between ecological impact assessment and management, and the quantification of systemic vulnerability and thus the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change.

Keywords

Global change; Resilience; Regime shifts; Monitoring; Management; Vulnerability

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2014, Volume: 43, number: 1 Supplement, pages: 113-129
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Angeler, David

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

• Drakare, Stina

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

• Mckie, Brendan

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

• Johnson, Richard

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

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology
Oceanography, Hydrology, Water Resources
Environmental Management


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0566-z

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/67134