{"id":1717,"date":"2017-11-17T15:10:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T13:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/?p=1717"},"modified":"2020-06-02T14:51:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T12:51:01","slug":"regime-shifts-a-useful-concept-on-which-to-base-discussions-about-impacts-of-biological-invasions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/regime-shifts-a-useful-concept-on-which-to-base-discussions-about-impacts-of-biological-invasions\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Regime shifts\u2019 \u2014 a useful concept on which to base discussions about impacts of biological invasions?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>What happens when you take a concept developed to describe elements of ecology and apply it to complex social-ecological phenomena involving politics, economics, culture, and more? What challenges occur when concepts are borrowed from systems ecology or complexity science and applied to situations with people, power, perceptions, contingencies, and feelings? Have such deliberations any value for invasion science? A new paper addresses exactly these questions.<\/p>\n<p>The paper emerged from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sesync.org\/project\/socioecology-of-acacia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">collaborative project<\/a> involving researchers from diverse disciplines (including several from the C\u00b7I\u00b7B) that came together to investigate the management challenges that exist in areas where Australian <em>Acacia<\/em> species (\u201cwattles\u201d) dominate landscapes. It grew from wide-ranging deliberations as team members tried to agree on a common epistemological and conceptual foundation on which to base discussions relating to social and ecological changes occurring in acacia-dominated landscapes in South Africa, Portugal, Vietnam, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>Published in the journal <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1745-5871.12267\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Geographical Research<\/em><\/a>, the paper does four things:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: disc\">\n<li>It traces the rise of the \u2018regime shift\u2019 concept in the study of social-ecological systems and its roots in dynamical systems theory.<\/li>\n<li>It surveys social science critiques of applying systems-based approaches and concepts (like \u2018regime shift\u2019) to topics involving people, ideas, motivations, perceptions, and regional contexts, and proposes an alternative, critical realist epistemology as a basis for using \u2018regime shift\u2019 as a contingent, multi-perspective metaphor or boundary object. The authors argue that <em>\u201cinstead of understanding a regime shift as a type of systems behaviour that can be described and analysed through systems models\u2026 regime shift [should] be defined specifically enough to facilitate dialogue and research about a bounded range of phenomena, but flexible enough to allow for people with different worldviews and epistemologies to contribute to the debate.\u201d<\/em><\/li>\n<li>It proposes a generic definition of regime shift that is consistent with this alternative epistemology: <strong>a regime shift is a major, sudden, and persistent change in the tightly interrelated processes, functions, and processes that are perceived to characterise and\/or maintain particular society-environment phenomena of interest.<\/strong> The paper also reflects on what exactly \u2018major\u2019, \u2018sudden\u2019, and \u2018persistent\u2019 mean, and which \u2018processes, functions, and processes\u2019 are important. [For details on <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/ddi.12182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">invasive plants as drivers of regimes shifts<\/a>]<\/li>\n<li>Finally, the paper proposes a typology that shows six ways in which analysts use the regime shift concept. It is used to analyse past changes, predict future trends, and describe desired pathways for change, and is also applied to both material and conceptual worlds. The paper gives examples of each usage from the global literature on landscapes shaped by a strong presence of Australian acacias, but it fits just as nicely to many other phenomena (such as bushfires).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The figure below summarizes the typology of different ways in which the regime shift concept is used (the country names indicate examples discussed in the text relating to acacia-dominated landscapes).<\/p>\n<p>The authors argue that the \u2018regime shift\u2019 concept can be a fruitful communicative and analytical tool when applied in a variety of different ways to promote dialogue, discussion, prediction, and more detailed analyses.<\/p>\n<p>The lead author on the paper was <a href=\"https:\/\/christiankull.net\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Professor Christian Kull<\/a> from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. Co-authors included C\u00b7I\u00b7B Director <a href=\"http:\/\/academic.sun.ac.za\/cib\/team\/staff\/dmrichardson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dave Richardson<\/a>, C\u00b7I\u00b7B Associate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geobot.umnw.ethz.ch:8000\/~kueffer\/personal\/Home.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christoph Kueffer<\/a> and former C\u00b7I\u00b7B Research Fellow <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/about\/members\/research-fellows\/dr-joana-vicente\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joana Vicente<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The paper builds on substantial previous work involving C\u00b7I\u00b7B-affiliated researchers dealing with the <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1472-4642.2011.00824.x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">global natural experiment in biogeography created by human-mediated introductions of Australian acacias<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1472-4642.2011.00783.x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">human dimensions of these introductions<\/a>, and the many perspectives relating to <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/j.1472-4642.2011.00816.x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">impacts<\/a>, including the notions of <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/ddi.12182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">regime shifts<\/a> and the framing of invasions as a <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3897\/neobiota.31.10038\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">wicked problem<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>To read the paper\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/1745-5871.12267\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kull, C.A., Kueffer, C., Richardson, D.M., Vaz, A.S., Vicente, J.R. and Honrado, J.P. (2017) Using the \u2018regime shift\u2019 concept in addressing social\u2013ecological change. <em>Geographical Research<\/em>. DOI: 10.1111\/1745-5871.12267<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information, contact Dave Richardson at <a href=\"mailto:rich@sun.ac.za\">rich@sun.ac.za<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1718\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1718\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1718\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/files\/2020\/04\/Figure-1-v4-2017_2.jpg\" alt=\"A novel typology of social-ecological regime shifts\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/files\/2020\/04\/Figure-1-v4-2017_2.jpg 960w, https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/files\/2020\/04\/Figure-1-v4-2017_2-580x435.jpg 580w, https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/files\/2020\/04\/Figure-1-v4-2017_2-940x705.jpg 940w, https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/files\/2020\/04\/Figure-1-v4-2017_2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/files\/2020\/04\/Figure-1-v4-2017_2-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1718\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A novel typology of social-ecological regime shifts, applied with respect to different case studies of landscapes dominated by non-native acacias.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happens when you take a concept developed to describe elements of ecology and apply it to complex social-ecological phenomena involving politics, economics, culture, and more?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":237,"featured_media":1718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[54020,64267],"tags":[71701,72574,72573,72576,72575,72577],"class_list":["post-1717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-54020","category-highlighted-paper","tag-biological-invasions","tag-epistemology","tag-regime-shifts","tag-social-ecological-changes","tag-systems-theory","tag-tipping-point","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/237"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2083,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1717\/revisions\/2083"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/cib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}