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Adaptive Capacity of Social-Ecological Systems: Lessons from Immune Systems

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Abstract

How do systems respond to disturbances? The capacity of a system to respond to disturbances varies for different types of disturbance regimes. We distinguish two types of responses: one that enables the system to absorb disturbances from an existing disturbance regime, and one that enables a system to reconstruct itself after a fundamental change in a disturbance regime. We use immune systems as a model for how systems can deal with disturbances, and use this model to derive insights in adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems. We identify a tension between the two types of responses where one benefits from learning and memory while the other requires fast-turnover of experience. We discuss how this may affect building up adaptive capacity of social-ecological systems.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Brian Walker and the reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this article. Support from the Resilience Alliance and the National Science Foundation (SES0083511) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Informatics and Center for the Study of Institutions, Population and Environmental Change, Indiana University, 408 North Indiana Avenue, Bloomington, IN , 47408

    Marco A. Janssen

  2. Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405

    Erik E. Osnas

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  1. Marco A. Janssen
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  2. Erik E. Osnas
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Correspondence to Marco A. Janssen.

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Janssen, M.A., Osnas, E.E. Adaptive Capacity of Social-Ecological Systems: Lessons from Immune Systems. EcoHealth 2, 93–101 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10393-004-0158-7

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