Feedbacks in Human–Landscape Systems

Abstract

This article identifies key questions and challenges for geomorphologists in investigating coupled feedbacks in human-landscape systems. While feedbacks occur in the absence of human influences, they are also altered by human activity. Feedbacks are a key element to understanding human-influenced geomorphic systems in ways that extend our traditional approach of considering humans as unidirectional drivers of change. Feedbacks have been increasingly identified in Earth-environmental systems, with studies of coupled human-natural systems emphasizing ecological phenomena in producing emerging concepts for social-ecological systems. Enormous gaps or uncertainties in knowledge remain with respect to understanding impact-feedback loops within geomorphic systems with significant human alterations, where the impacted geomorphic systems in turn affect humans. Geomorphology should play an important role in public policy by identifying the many diffuse and subtle feedbacks of both local- and global-scale processes. This role is urgent, while time may still be available to mitigate the impacts that limit the sustainability of human societies. Challenges for geomorphology include identification of the often weak feedbacks that occur over varied time and space scales ranging from geologic time to single isolated events and very short time periods, the lack of available data linking impact with response, the identification of multiple thresholds that trigger feedback mechanisms, the varied tools and metrics needed to represent both physical and human processes, and the need to collaborate with social scientists with expertise in the human causes of geomorphic change, as well as the human responses to such change.

The effect of reciprocal connections between demographic decision making and land use on decadal dynamics of population and land-use change

“…However, understanding weak feedbacks resulting from indirect couplings is a continuing challenge in CHANS research (Chin et al 2014). The results of this paper suggest that indirect couplings can result in statistically significant differences in the observed states of CHANS over sufficiently long (decadal in this case) time scales.…”

Using Pressure and Alteration Indicators to Assess River Morphological Quality: Case Study of the Prahova River (Romania)

“…In terms of quantitative attributes, the degree of alteration of river's morphology seems to be more intense than the level of detected human pressures for our case study (28.4% for the alteration index versus 20.3% for the pressure index) compared to a quasi-natural status; it suggests a degree of alteration higher than the degree of human pressures, caused by various feedback loops in river landscape-human system, currently insufficiently known [65]. According to the WISE WFD database relying on the River Basin Management Plans [66], in most EU member countries, the reported state seem to be contrary: a greater number of river bodies is affected by pressures than by alteration of the habitat (e.g., among classified rivers, 66.1% suffered hydromorphological pressures and 31.4% registered altered riparian habitats in EU, as a mean value for member countries which reported both pressures and alterations).…”

Landscapes in the Anthropocene: State of the art and future directions

“…Recently, various studies (e.g. Liu et al, 2007;Chin et al, 2014) have pointed to the importance of coupled human-landscape dynamics, where changes in landscape functioning affect human systems. The analysis of human-landscape interactions in anthropogenic landscapes represents a real challenge for better understanding the evolution of our present-day environment.…”