Scientists and researchers concerned with the behavior of large ecosystems have focused in recent years on the concept of "resilience." Traditional perspectives held that ecological systems exist close to a steady state and resilience is the ability of the system to return rapidly to that state following perturbation. However beginning with the work of C. S. Holling in the early 1970s, researchers began to look at conditions far from the steady state where instabilities can cause a system to shift into an entirely different regime of behavior, and where resilience is measured by the magnitude of disturbance that can be absorbed before the system is restructured. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems examines theories of resilience and change, offering readers a thorough understanding of how the properties of ecological resilience and human adaptability interact in complex, regional-scale systems. The book addresses the theoretical concepts of resilience and stability in large-scale ecosystems as well as the empirical application of those concepts in a diverse set of cases. In addition, it discusses the practical implications of the new theoretical approaches and their role in the sustainability of human-modified ecosystems. The book begins with a review of key properties of complex adaptive systems that contribute to overall resilience, including multiple equlibria, complexity, self-organization at multiple scales, and order; it also presents a set of mathematical metaphors to describe and deepen the reader's understanding of the ideas being discussed. Following the introduction are case studies that explore the biophysical dimensions of resilience in both terrestrial and aquatic systems and evaluate the propositions presented in the introductory chapters. The book concludes with a synthesis section that revisits propositions in light of the case studies, while an appendix presents a detailed account of the relationship between return times for a disturbed system and its resilienc. In addition to the editors, contributors include Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, C. S. Holling, Bengt-Owe Jansson, Donald Ludwig, Ariel Lugo, Tim R. McClanahan, Garry D. Peterson, and Brian H. Walker. Resilience and the Behavior of Large-Scale Systems By Lance H. Gunderson, Lowell Pritchard Jr. ISLAND PRESS Copyright © 2002 Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE) All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-55963-971-2 Contents About Island Press, About SCOPE, SCOPE Series, Title Page, Copyright Page, Table of Figures, List of Tables, Foreword, Preface, Acknowledgments, PART I - Understanding Resilience: Theory, Metaphors, and Frameworks, 1 - Resilience of Large-Scale Resource Systems, 2 - Models and Metaphors of Sustainability, Stability, and Resilience, PART II - Resilience in Large-Scale Systems, 3 - Resilience and the Restoration of Lakes, 4 - The Baltic Sea: Reversibly Unstable or Irreversibly Stable?, 5 - Resilience of Coral Reefs, 6 - Resilience in Wet Landscapes of Southern Florida, 7 - Ecological Resilience in Grazed Rangelands: A Generic Case Study, 8 - Resilience of Tropical Wet and Dry Forests in Puerto Rico, 9 - Forest Dynamics in the Southeastern United States: Managing Multiple Stable States, PART III - Summary, 10 - A Summary and Synthesis of Resilience in Large-Scale Systems, List of Contributors, Scope Series List, SCOPE Executive Committee 2001–2004, Index, Island Press Board of Directors, CHAPTER 1 Resilience of Large-Scale Resource Systems Lance H. Gunderson, C. S. Holling, Lowell Pritchard Jr., and Garry D. Peterson Regional-scale systems of people and nature provide some of the most vexing challenges for attaining social goals of sustainability, biological conservation, or economic development. There are many more examples of failures than successes, as measured by numerous resource systems that exist in a constant or recurring state of crisis (Ludwig et al. 1993). In the Florida Everglades, agricultural interests, environmentalists, and urban residents contest with one another for control over clean water (Light et al. 1995). In the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, various advocates of salmon argue over the appropriate use of the Columbia River with those who prefer cheap hydroelectric power (Lee 1993; Volkman and McConnaha 1993). The nations surrounding the Baltic Sea struggle with issues of governance as the fish populations and water quality of the sea declines (Jansson and Velner 1995). Within Zimbabwe, large-scale land use conversions are testing stabilities of both ecological and political structures. In these cases resource management has taken a pathological form in which the complexity of the issues, institutional inertia, and uncertainty lead to a state of institutional gridlock, when inaction causes ecological issues to be ignored and existing policies and relationships to be continued. Paradoxical