Catastrophic regime shifts in ecosystems: linking theory to observation

By Marten Scheffer, Stephen R. Carpenter. 2003

2,847 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Environmental Engineering, Genetics, Global and Planetary Change

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8cdb2602ae7a6ee7584b58ceb43fdfcf7164abdf

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Environmental Engineering

1. Vasilis Dakos
2. Carl Folke
3. Stephen R. Carpenter
4. F. Brand
5. Marten Scheffer
6. William A. Brock
7. E. V. van Nes
8. Reinette Biggs

In Genetics

1. F. Brand
2. William A. Brock
3. Terry P. Hughes
4. T. Plieninger
5. C. Bieling
6. I. Darnhofer
7. Stephen R. Carpenter
8. Peter J. Mumby

In Global and Planetary Change

1. D. Bellwood
2. Carl Folke
3. Nicholas A. J. Graham
4. F. Brand
5. M. Pratchett
6. Peter J. Mumby
7. S. Wilson
8. A. Hoey

Citations in the corpus

• Impact of noise on bistable ecological systems (2007, background): “Given the growing evidence for such regime shifts in ecological systems, it is important to understand the result of including effects such as environmental fluctuations, seasonality, and spatial heterogeneity (Scheffer and Carpenter, 2003) on the nature of the regimes and their resilience.”
• Ecosystem services (2011, neutral): “The consequence is that management or policy interventions may be difficult because they can involve making decisions against a backdrop of considerable uncertainty (Rockström et al., 2009; Scheffer and Carpenter, 2003; Scheffer et al., 2001, 2003; Walker and Meyers, 2004; Walker et al., 2006).”
• Linking a cougar decline, trophic cascade, and catastrophic regime shift in Zion National Park (2006, background): “Catastrophic regime shifts can occur when perturbations dramatically alter ecosystem structure and function (Holling, 1986; Scheffer and Carpenter, 2003 ).”
• Rising variance: a leading indicator of ecological transition. (2006, background): “Regime shifts are difficult to study (Carpenter 2003; Scheffer & Carpenter 2003 ).”
• Fragmentation drives tropical forest fragments to early successional states: A modelling study for Brazilian Atlantic forests (2011, background): “We found, that in the long termanewstable community equilibium can arise in forest fragments, suggesting that tropical forests how alternative stable states (Scheffer and Carpenter, 2003).”
• Form and function of tropical macroalgal reefs in the Anthropocene (2019, background): “A key criterion for classifying a state of algal overgrowth should be evidence that a coral–algal regime shift has occurred, concomitant with feedback processes (e.g., reduced herbivory) that maintain a skew towards macroalgal reef states (Bellwood et al., 2004; Scheffer & Carpenter, 2003).”
• Capturing the cornerstones of coral reef resilience: linking theory to practice (2008, background): “…for lakes) ecology for decades, it has not until recently been applied to the ecology and management of coral reef ecosystems (e.g., Nyström et al. 2000; Nyström and Folke 2001; Scheffer et al. 2001; Scheffer and Carpenter 2003; Hughes et al. 2003, 2005; Bellwood et al. 2004; McCook et al. 2007).”
• Does biogeomorphic feedback lead to abrupt shifts between alternative landscape states?: An empirical study on intertidal flats and marshes (2013, background): “Despite such evidence, it is still possible that the system shows a threshold response which is not caused by alternative attractors or bifurcation [Scheffer, 2009; Scheffer and Carpenter, 2003].”
• Avifaunal disarray due to a single despotic species (2013, background): “…to anthropogenic habitat modification, small alterations in the environment can result in large and pervasive changes in assemblages, and the resultant assemblage may persist even if the initial perturbation is reversed (Scheffer & Carpenter, 2003; Mac Nally, 2008; Blackwood et al., 2012).”
• Extreme drought alters competitive dominance within and between tree species in a mixed forest stand (2013, background): “Monoculture systems, by contrast, can be particularly vulnerable to rapid ecosystem collapse and regime shift once thresholds in environmental conditions are breached (Scheffer & Carpenter 2003).”
• The ‘Design’ of Mediterranean Landscapes: A Millennial Story of Humans and Ecological Systems during the Historic Period (2006, background): “As noted by Scheffer and Carpenter (2003) , surprisingly large shifts can occur in ecosystems, and these shifts can be attributed to movement between alternative stable states.”
• Can forest management based on natural disturbances maintain ecological resilience (2006, background): “Moreover, stable states always show slow trends, such as paludification (Scheffer and Carpenter 2003).”
• Response diversity determines the resilience of ecosystems to environmental change (2013, background): “Glossary Alternative stable states: Multiple (alternative) basins of attraction within an ecological system (Carpenter & Gunderson, 2001; Scheffer & Carpenter, 2003).”
• Resilience indicators: prospects and limitations for early warnings of regime shifts (2015, background): “Scheffer & Carpenter [58] have proposed that patterns such as hysteresis in the response to a control variable, or the emergence of bimodality in the frequency distribution of states in time or space (e.”