%0 Journal Article %J Sustainability Science %D 2016 %T Biodiversity and ecosystem services require IPBES to take novel approach to scenarios %A Kok, Marcel T. J. %A Kok, Kasper %A Peterson, Garry D. %A Hill, Rosemary %A Agard, John %A Carpenter, Stephen R. %X What does the future hold for the world’s ecosystems and benefits that people obtain from them? While the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has identified the development of scenarios as a key to helping decision makers identify potential impacts of different policy options, it currently lacks a long-term scenario strategy. IPBES will decide how it will approach scenarios at its plenary meeting on 22–28 February 2016, in Kuala Lumpur. IPBES now needs to decide whether it should create new scenarios that better explore ecosystem services and biodiversity dynamics. For IPBES to capture the social-ecological dynamics of biodiversity and ecosystem services, it is essential to engage with the great diversity of local contexts, while also including the global tele-coupling among local places. We present and compare three alternative scenario strategies that IPBES could use and then suggest a bottom-up, cross-scale scenario strategy to improve the policy relevance of future IPBES assessments. We propose five concrete steps as part of an effective, long term scenario development process for IPBES in cooperation with the scientific community. %B Sustainability Science %P 1 - 5 %8 2016 %@ 1862-4057 %G eng %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0354-8 %! Sustainability Science %R 10.1007/s11625-016-0354-8 %0 Journal Article %J Ecology Letters %D 2016 %T Historical foundations and future directions in macrosystems ecology %A Rose, Kevin C. %A Graves, Rose A. %A Hansen, Winslow D. %A Harvey, Brian J. %A Qiu, Jiangxiao %A Wood, Stephen A. %A Ziter, Carly %A Turner, Monica G. %K Hierarchy theory %K landscape ecology %K macrosystems ecology %K space–time %K spatio-temporal %X Macrosystems ecology is an effort to understand ecological processes and interactions at the broadest spatial scales and has potential to help solve globally important social and ecological challenges. It is important to understand the intellectual legacies underpinning macrosystems ecology: How the subdiscipline fits within, builds upon, differs from and extends previous theories. We trace the rise of macrosystems ecology with respect to preceding theories and present a new hypothesis that integrates the multiple components of macrosystems theory. The spatio-temporal anthropogenic rescaling (STAR) hypothesis suggests that human activities are altering the scales of ecological processes, resulting in interactions at novel space–time scale combinations that are diverse and predictable. We articulate four predictions about how human actions are “expanding”, “shrinking”, “speeding up” and “slowing down” ecological processes and interactions, and thereby generating new scaling relationships for ecological patterns and processes. We provide examples of these rescaling processes and describe ecological consequences across terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Rescaling depends in part on characteristics including connectivity, stability and heterogeneity. Our STAR hypothesis challenges traditional assumptions about how the spatial and temporal scales of processes and interactions operate in different types of ecosystems and provides a lens through which to understand macrosystem-scale environmental change. %B Ecology Letters %8 2016 %@ 1461-0248 %G eng %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12717 %R 10.1111/ele.12717 %0 Journal Article %J Environmental Science & Technology %D 2016 %T Reducing Phosphorus to Curb Lake Eutrophication is a Success %A Schindler, David W. %A Carpenter, Stephen R. %A Chapra, Steven C. %A Hecky, Robert E. %A Orihel, Diane M. %X As human populations increase and land-use intensifies, toxic and unsightly nuisance blooms of algae are becoming larger and more frequent in freshwater lakes. In most cases, the blooms are predominantly blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), which are favored by low ratios of nitrogen to phosphorus. In the past half century, aquatic scientists have devoted much effort to understanding the causes of such blooms and how they can be prevented or reduced. Here we review the evidence, finding that numerous long-term studies of lake ecosystems in Europe and North America show that controlling algal blooms and other symptoms of eutrophication depends on reducing inputs of a single nutrient: phosphorus. In contrast, small-scale experiments of short duration, where nutrients are added rather than removed, often give spurious and confusing results that bear little relevance to solving the problem of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes.As human populations increase and land-use intensifies, toxic and unsightly nuisance blooms of algae are becoming larger and more frequent in freshwater lakes. In most cases, the blooms are predominantly blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria), which are favored by low ratios of nitrogen to phosphorus. In the past half century, aquatic scientists have devoted much effort to understanding the causes of such blooms and how they can be prevented or reduced. Here we review the evidence, finding that numerous long-term studies of lake ecosystems in Europe and North America show that controlling algal blooms and other symptoms of eutrophication depends on reducing inputs of a single nutrient: phosphorus. In contrast, small-scale experiments of short duration, where nutrients are added rather than removed, often give spurious and confusing results that bear little relevance to solving the problem of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes. %B Environmental Science & Technology %V 50 %P 8923 - 8929 %8 2016/09/06 %@ 0013-936X %G eng %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b02204 %N 17 %R 10.1021/acs.est.6b02204 %0 Journal Article %J Science %D 2015 %T Creating a safe operating space for iconic ecosystems %A Scheffer, M. %A Barrett, S. %A Carpenter, S. R. %A Folke, C. %A Green, A. J. %A Holmgren, M. %A Hughes, T. P. %A Kosten, S. %A van de Leemput, I. A. %A Nepstad, D. C. %A van Nes, E. H. %A Peeters, E. T. H. M. %A Walker, B. %B Science %V 347 %P 1317 - 1319 %8 2015/03/20 %G eng %U http://www.sciencemag.org/content/347/6228/1317.short %N 6228 %! Science %R 10.1126/science.aaa3769 %0 Journal Article %J Science %D 2015 %T Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet %A Steffen, Will %A Richardson, Katherine %A Rockström, Johan %A Cornell, Sarah E. %A Fetzer, Ingo %A Bennett, Elena M. %A Biggs, Reinette %A Carpenter, Stephen R. %A de Vries, Wim %A de Wit, Cynthia A. %A Folke, Carl %A Gerten, Dieter %A Heinke, Jens %A Mace, Georgina M. %A Persson, Linn M. %A Ramanathan, Veerabhadran %A Reyers, Belinda %A Sörlin, Sverker %X The planetary boundaries framework defines a safe operating space for humanity based on the intrinsic biophysical processes that regulate the stability of the Earth system. Here, we revise and update the planetary boundary framework, with a focus on the underpinning biophysical science, based on targeted input from expert research communities and on more general scientific advances over the past 5 years. Several of the boundaries now have a two-tier approach, reflecting the importance of cross-scale interactions and the regional-level heterogeneity of the processes that underpin the boundaries. Two core boundaries—climate change and biosphere integrity—have been identified, each of which has the potential on its own to drive the Earth system into a new state should they be substantially and persistently transgressed. %B Science %V 347 %8 2015/02/13 %G eng %U http://www.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/1259855.abstract %N 6223 %! Science %R 10.1126/science.1259855 %0 Journal Article %J Sustainability %D 2012 %T General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events %A Carpenter, S. R. %A Arrow, K. J. %A Barrett, S. %A Biggs, R. %A Brock, W. A. %A Crepin, A. S. %A Engstrom, G. %A Folke, C. %A Hughes, T. P. %A Kautsky, N. %A Li, C. Z. %A McCarney, G. %A Meng, K. %A Maler, K. G. %A Polasky, S. %A Scheffer, M. %A Shogren, J. %A Sterner, T. %A Vincent, J. R. %A Walker, B. %A Xepapadeas, A. %A de Zeeuw, A. %X Resilience to specified kinds of disasters is an active area of research and practice. However, rare or unprecedented disturbances that are unusually intense or extensive require a more broad-spectrum type of resilience. General resilience is the capacity of social-ecological systems to adapt or transform in response to unfamiliar, unexpected and extreme shocks. Conditions that enable general resilience include diversity, modularity, openness, reserves, feedbacks, nestedness, monitoring, leadership, and trust. Processes for building general resilience are an emerging and crucially important area of research. %B Sustainability %V 4 %P 3248-3259 %@ 2071-1050 %G eng %U http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su4123248 %N 12 %R 10.3390/su4123248