Biocomplexity in the Big Thicket

Callicott, J. Baird; Acevedo, Miguel F.; Gunter, Pete A. Y.; Harcombe, P. A.; Lindquist, Christopher; Monticino, Michael

doi:10.1080/13668790500512597

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…We need to approach the management of the SES as a complex adaptive system. Yet, such an approach requires models and actions that integrate across diverse stakeholders, governance structures, scales, and interests that are difficult to accommodate in a single framework (Callicott et al 2006, Breen et al 2018.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical political ecology as qualitative social-ecological system analysis in the Maumee River Watershed

Siman¹,

Niewiarowski²

2023

E&S

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Threats to water security are on the rise globally. In the Great Lakes, major threats arise from watershed land-use practices promoting chemical and nutrient pollution. In the Maumee River Watershed (MRW), which discharges into the western basin of Lake Erie, nutrient inputs associated with harmful algal bloom events (HABs) have increased in frequency and severity over the last several decades. This includes forcing the historic shut down of the City of Toledo's drinking water supply to 400,000 residents in 2014. Conditions which favor HABs did not appear overnight. We trace the history of land-use practices that transformed the structure and function of the MRW from a balanced system into a source of nutrient dynamics favoring HABs. Successful policy intervention must treat the MRW as a complex adaptive system operating at multiple scales at the intersection of agricultural practices and conflicting socioeconomic drivers, confounding traditional interventions that focus on single factors such as water quality or fertilizer use regulation. We conclude with three interventions that policymakers can employ to help tip the scales back into an ecologically balanced system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical political ecology as qualitative social-ecological system analysis in the Maumee River Watershed

Siman¹,

Niewiarowski²

2023

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Big Thicket is an ill-defined region of southeast Texas (see Cozine, 2004;MacRoberts, 2004, 2008a;Callicott et al, 2006;Diggs et al, 2006 for discussion and literature). However, it is generally agreed that it encompasses all or part of Newton, Jasper, Hardin, Tyler, San Jacinto, Polk and northern Liberty counties, an area of approximately 15,700 km 2 (Diggs et al, 2006).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The Big Thicket of southeastern Texas has been repeatedly described as exceptionally rich in species, diverse in plant communities and a crossroads where adjacent ecological regions meet and mingle (see Cozine, 2004;MacRoberts and MacRoberts, 2004, 2007, 2009Callicott et al, 2006;Diggs et al, 2006 for history of this description and references). Probably the most cited example of this view is Eisner (1973: 525) when he wrote that the Big Thicket was ''a region of extraordinary biological exuberance … ecologically unique not only to Texas, but to the entire North American expanse as well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%