https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~schapire/papers/ecolmod.pdf

Maximum entropy modeling of species geographic distributions

The resilience perspective is increasingly used as an approach for understanding the dynamics of social–ecological systems. This article presents the origin of the resilience perspective and provides an overview of its development to date. With roots in one branch of ecology and the discovery of multiple basins of attraction in ecosystems in the 1960–1970s, it inspired social and environmental scientists to challenge the dominant stable equilibrium view. The resilience approach emphasizes non-linear dynamics, thresholds, uncertainty and surprise, how periods of gradual change interplay with periods of rapid change and how such dynamics interact across temporal and spatial scales. The history was dominated by empirical observations of ecosystem dynamics interpreted in mathematical models, developing into the adaptive management approach for responding to ecosystem change. Serious attempts to integrate the social dimension is currently taking place in resilience work reflected in the large numbers of sciences involved in explorative studies and new discoveries of linked social–ecological systems. Recent advances include understanding of social processes like, social learning and social memory, mental models and knowledge–system integration, visioning and scenario building, leadership, agents and actor groups, social networks, institutional and organizational inertia and change, adaptive capacity, transformability and systems of adaptive governance that allow for management of essential ecosystem services.

Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses

Our main objective in this article is to join the growing group of "green" organization theorists by demonstrating the usefulness of institutional theory as an approach to ecologically sustainable organizations. Institutional theory helps to understand how consensus is built around the meaning of sustainability and how concepts or practices associated with sustainability are developed and diffused among organizations. We extend institutional theory by offering hypotheses in four different areas: (a) the incorporation of values into organizational sustainability, (b) the study of institutions as distinct elements within systems, (c) the study of institutions as distinct spheres, and (d) the construction of paradigms that support organizational sustainability. We then offer possible modifications to institutional theory that are suggested by the extension to a new area of study. Among them are the consideration of natural constraints on sense making and paradigm construction, the study of regional networks, and the recognition of the role of individual actors. Finally, we discuss possible avenues for future research by drawing on research that we are currently conducting.

Ecologically Sustainable Organizations: An Institutional Approach

http://www.zo.utexas.edu/courses/THOC/Cities1997.pdf

Urban ecological footprints: Why cities cannot be sustainable—And why they are a key to sustainability

We review critical issues that must be considered when selecting indicator species for a monitoring program that aims to maintain or restore ecological integrity. First, we examine the pros and cons of different management approaches on which a conservation program can be based and conclude that ecosystem management is most appropriate. We then identify potential indicators of ecological integrity at various levels of the ecosystem, with a particular emphasis on the species level. We conclude that, although the use of indicator species remains contentious, it can be useful if (1) many species representing various taxa and life histories are included in the monitoring program, (2) their selection is primarily based on a sound quantitative database from the focal region, and (3) caution is applied when interpreting their population trends to distinguish actual signals from variations that may be unrelated to the deterioration of ecological integrity. Finally, we present and discuss different methods that have been used to select indicator species.

http://web.umoncton.ca/umcm-conservation/files/umcm-conservation/wf/wf/documents/carignan_villard_2002_ema.pdf

Selecting indicator species to monitor ecological integrity: a review.

Life as a manifestation of the second law of thermodynamics

Complexity and thermodynamics: Towards a new ecology

As environmental degradation and change continues, decision makers and managers feel significant pressure to rectify the situation. Scientists, in turn, find themselves under pressure to set out simple and clear rules for proper ecosystem management. The response has been one of frustration. Michael Soule and Laurence Slobdokin both loudly complain that ecology is an intractable science, immature and not very helpful. Kristin Shrader-Frechette and Robert Peters reproach ecologists for not producing simple testable hypotheses.1 Meanwhile policy makers and managers clamour for a measure of ecosystem integrity whose value in different situations can be predicted by simulation models. The question on everyone’s mind is “what does ecosystem science identify as the main, simple, basic, universal laws which will allow quantitative prediction of ecosystem behaviour and what are the resulting rules for ecosystem management?”

Embracing Complexity the Challenge of the Ecosystem Approach

INTRODUCTION In the middle of the 19th century, two major scientific theories emerged about the evolution of natural systems over time. Thermodynamics, as refined by Boltzmann, viewed nature as decaying towards a certain death of random disorder in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics. This equilibrium seeking, pessimistic view of the evolution of natural systems is contrasted with the paradigm associated with Darwin, of increasing complexity, specialization, and organization of biological systems through time. The phenomenology of many natural systems shows that much of the world is inhabited by nonequilibrium coherent structures, such as convection cells, autocatalytic chemical reactions and life itself. Living systems exhibit a march away from disorder and equilibrium, into highly organized structures that exist some distance from equilibrium. This dilemma motivated Erwin Schrodinger, and in his seminal book What is Life ? (Schrodinger, 1944), he attempted to draw together the fundamental processes of biology and the sciences of physics and chemistry. He noted that life was comprised of two fundamental processes; one ‘ order from order ’ and the other ‘ order from disorder ’. He observed that the gene generated order from order in a species, that is, the progeny inherited the traits of the parent. Over a decade later Watson and Crick (1953) provided biology with a research agenda that has led to some of the most important findings of the last fifty years. However, Schrodinger's equally important but less understood observation was his order from disorder premise. This was an effort to link biology with the fundamental theorems of thermodynamics (Schneider, 1987).

/pdf/what-is-life-the-next-fifty-years-order-from-disorder-the-v8cmtvo6gt.pdf

What is Life? The Next Fifty Years: Order from disorder: the thermodynamics of complexity in biology

Over the past decade, the authors have studied the organization of ecosystems using complex systems theory, and in particular non-equilibrium thermodynamics. This study has led to a set of hypotheses concerning the organizational development of ecosystems, a thermodynamic framework for discussing ecosystem integrity, and a set of measures that reflect ecosystem organization and aid in the assessment of the impact of environmental change. These are presented herein.

Eric D. Schneider

Papers

Life as a manifestation of the second law of thermodynamics

Complexity and thermodynamics: Towards a new ecology

Embracing Complexity the Challenge of the Ecosystem Approach

What is Life? The Next Fifty Years: Order from disorder: the thermodynamics of complexity in biology

Thermodynamics and Measures of Ecological Integrity