Socio-Ecological+Systems+Modeling+of+our+research+questions


 * SES Models**

There have been multiple diagrams created to represent complex socio-ecoogical systems analyses. One has been developed by the International Society for Science and the Environment (ISSE) and has most recently been published in //Frontiers// by Collins et al. 2011. We used this diagram as a framework to better understand the broader context of our own research questions. Below is a series of diagrams that represent our class this semester.

9/16/2011 It is easier for me to grasp linear concepts, so I have cut and flattened out the conventional loop-de-loop diagram so that it looks as follows:

Decision-makers ==> Infrastructure Creation/Implementation ==> Larger Community of People ==> Land Cover ==> Ecosystem Function ==> Ecosystem Services

Of course, each of these "steps" has some connectivity to each of the other "steps." I might narrate or illustrate this diagram as follows: Decision-makers create and place physical infrastructure (like dams or highways) and implement non-physical infrastructure (such as laws and regulations governing land use); these infrastructure affect communities of people, either via force/threat of force or by creating choices (creation of a dam forcefully ejects certain people from land and creates a lake which some people may choose to live near); the behavior of communities affects land cover (if you do not like to mow a lawn, you may pave your front yard and once you've paved your front yard, your neighbor may also); land cover affects ecosystem function (lots of paved yards may disrupt the ecosystem's ability to filter pollutants from water or may increase erosion and thus turbidity of the water); ecosystem function affects ecosystem services (turbid or polluted water is less drinkable water). We should all be concerned with ecosystem services because if they fall below a certain threshold, disruption to our comfortable lives will ensue.

I believe most research looks at the link between two of the "steps" in the diagram (and usually it is between two adjacent "steps"). Some research looks at the link between three "steps." My research relates to the link between North Carolina dams as a part of "Infrastructure Creation/Implementation" and the demographics around them (i.e., the "Larger Community of People").

-- Michael Youth

10/12 I'm focusing on the relationship between water quality and land cover in the triangle. Specifically, how land cover patters -- or specific LC characteristics that make-up a development pattern like 'suburbs' -- affect water quality in streams & watersheds. There are elements of human behavior and lifestyle choices that characterize the way we develop our land, as well as biophysical elements that occur (or would occur) naturally that affect the system as a whole -- with external drivers on water quality in the Triangle being related to climate change events and human influenced development of landscapes. -- Scott Beck

Guillermo: I'm working on biomass availability/distribution/utilization as a result of the energy independence and green energy movement. It includes problems from the uneven distribution of resources and people in the world. The main focus right now is interactions between North America an Europe (Producer - Consumer).