Papers by F Stuart Chapin III
Ecology and Society, 2021
Stewardship has been increasingly used in the realm of conservation and sustainable land use as a... more Stewardship has been increasingly used in the realm of conservation and sustainable land use as an important pathway for action. Ecosystem stewardship, a specific application of this concept, is an approach for natural resource management, but the lack of empirical examples is a shortcoming to its applicability. With this work, we aimed at investigating whether environmental initiatives taking place in a rural watershed in southeast Brazil can be framed as ecosystem stewardship and, if so, whether they address key socialecological feedbacks that influence the quality of critical local ecosystem services (water, food production, soil, forests). Drawing on data from direct and participant observation at community and technical meetings, nine unstructured interviews, and gray literature, we demonstrated that three initiatives encompass all elements of ecosystem stewardship to some extent (dual goals of ecosystem resilience and human well-being, integration of processes across scales and emphasis on actions that shape the future). Only one initiative, a multi-stakeholder network, fully entails all elements of ecosystem stewardship. The initiatives overlap in space and time and entail pressing and non-urgent issues, therefore they promote, as a group, complementary ecosystem stewardship practices at various levels in the territory. They also address the key feedbacks responsible for the degradation of water, food production, and soil. Knowledge, relational values, and care are salient ingredients that combine in different ways, shaping each initiative. Our findings suggest that ecosystem stewardship arises from local social-ecological challenges combined with stakeholders' knowledge and understanding of the system dynamics. Collaboration among initiatives can strengthen their effects on undesired feedbacks and enable the design of joint strategies to tackle the erosion of relational values. Actions focusing on reconnecting local communities and forests may safeguard the flux of ecosystem-service bundles on both the short and long term.
Annals of Botany, Mar 1, 2003
Human activities are causing widespread changes in the species composition of natural and managed... more Human activities are causing widespread changes in the species composition of natural and managed ecosystems, but the consequences of these changes are poorly understood. This paper presents a conceptual framework for predicting the ecosystem and regional consequences of changes in plant species composition. Changes in species composition have greatest ecological effects when they modify the ecological factors that directly control (and respond to) ecosystem processes. These interactive controls include: functional types of organisms present in the ecosystem; soil resources used by organisms to grow and reproduce; modulators such as microclimate that in¯uence the activity of organisms; disturbance regime; and human activities. Plant traits related to size and growth rate are particularly important because they determine the productive capacity of vegetation and the rates of decomposition and nitrogen mineralization. Because the same plant traits affect most key processes in the cycling of carbon and nutrients, changes in plant traits tend to affect most biogeochemical cycling processes in parallel. Plant traits also have landscape and regional effects through their effects on water and energy exchange and disturbance regime.
Ecology and Society, 2018
Public participation is increasingly advocated in natural resource management to meet a spectrum ... more Public participation is increasingly advocated in natural resource management to meet a spectrum of instrumental to normative goals. However, the success of participation in achieving these goals is highly variable, depending on both societal and institutional contexts. Whether participation realises its benefits or succumbs to its pitfalls is shaped by dynamic interactions operating among three contextual dimensions: participatory rationales (instrumental to normative), institutional fit of different levels (types) of participation (information delivery to partnership to delegation), and social structures (such as cultural context, social capital, and power distribution). Some levels of participation may support the existing power hierarchy, others benefit organized stakeholder groups and special interests, and still others foster deliberative democratic outcomes. We argue that wise choice of levels of participation in particular contexts shapes the balance of participation's benefits and pitfalls.
Ecology and Society, 2021
The Arctic is changing in many dimensions, as described throughout this special feature. Many Arc... more The Arctic is changing in many dimensions, as described throughout this special feature. Many Arctic changes, such as climate change, mining, and oil extraction, are driven by economic forces that originate largely outside of the Arctic. Others, such as changes in Arctic flora and fauna, Indigenous cultures, and regional economy, are also substantially influenced by decisions made within the Arctic. Recent changes, wherever they occur, often have devastating consequences for local communities and contribute to public despair and disengagement rather than to concerted search for solutions. A new framework is needed to link identification of deep problems with motivation and strategies to seek innovative solutions. Stewardship is one such framework.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears... more Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1995 to build trusted digital archives for scholarship. We work with the scholarly community to preserve their work and the materials they rely upon, and to build a common research platform that promotes the discovery and use of these resources. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
Springer eBooks, 2000
12.1 Introduction 12.2 Measurement of succulence 12.3 Nocturnal acidification 12.4 Nocturnal CO2 ... more 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Measurement of succulence 12.3 Nocturnal acidification 12.4 Nocturnal CO2 fixation viii Contents 12.5 Analysis of day-night and seasonal patterns of CO2 and H20 vapor exchange 12.6 Measurement of photosynthesis and respiration by O2 exchange 12.7 Water relations 12.8 Stress physiology 13 Stable isotopes James R. Ehleringer and C. Barry Osmond 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Natural abundances of stable isotopes of ecological interest 13.3 Stable isotope mass spectrometry 13.4 Sample preparation 13.5 Sample variability 13.6 Application of stable isotopes in ecological studies 14 Canopy structure
Grassroots Stewardship
This chapter describes a stewardship framework that would enable society to shift from a pathway ... more This chapter describes a stewardship framework that would enable society to shift from a pathway of planetary degradation toward sustainability. During the time since about 1950—a blink of an eye in geological terms—the burning of fossil fuels has radically changed Earth’s metabolism. It’s not too late to fix this problem. Understanding and realigning the interactions between people and the rest of nature is the greatest and most urgent societal challenge faced by humanity. Both the causes and potential solutions to global problems are deeply rooted in human nature. Human beings are endowed with instincts to both compete for resources and care for others and cooperate so that all people may thrive together. Stewardship enables people to shape physical, biological, and social conditions to benefit both people and nature so that both may flourish.
BioScience, 2021
Despite striking global change, management to ensure healthy landscapes and sustained natural res... more Despite striking global change, management to ensure healthy landscapes and sustained natural resources has tended to set objectives on the basis of the historical range of variability in stationary ecosystems. Many social–ecological systems are moving into novel conditions that can result in ecological transformation. We present four foundations to enable a transition to future-oriented conservation and management that increases capacity to manage change. The foundations are to identify plausible social–ecological trajectories, to apply upstream and deliberate engagement and decision-making with stakeholders, to formulate management pathways to desired futures, and to consider a portfolio approach to manage risk and account for multiple preferences across space and time. We use the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska as a case study to illustrate how the four foundations address common land management challenges for navigating transformation and deciding when, where, and how t...
Environmental Research Letters, 2016
CO 2 emissions from inland waters are commonly determined by indirect methods that are based on t... more CO 2 emissions from inland waters are commonly determined by indirect methods that are based on the product of a gas transfer coefficient and the concentration gradient at the air water interface (e.g., wind-based gas transfer models). The measurements of concentration gradient are typically collected during the day in fair weather throughout the course of a year. Direct measurements of eddy covariance CO 2 fluxes from a large inland water body (Ross Barnett reservoir, Mississippi, USA) show that CO 2 effluxes at night are approximately 70% greater than those during the day. At longer time scales, frequent synoptic weather events associated with extratropical cyclones induce CO 2 flux pulses, resulting in further increase in annual CO 2 effluxes by 16%. Therefore, CO 2 emission rates from this reservoir, if these diel and synoptic processes are under-sampled, are likely to be underestimated by approximately 40%. Our results also indicate that the CO 2 emission rates from global inland waters reported in the literature, when based on indirect methods, are likely underestimated. Field samplings and indirect modeling frameworks that estimate CO 2 emissions should account for both daytimenighttime efflux difference and enhanced emissions during synoptic weather events. The analysis here can guide carbon emission sampling to improve regional carbon estimates.
Ecology and Society, 2014
Systems theories of robustness and resilience, which are derived from engineering and ecology, re... more Systems theories of robustness and resilience, which are derived from engineering and ecology, respectively, have been increasingly applied to social-ecological systems (SESs). Social-ecological robustness has been applied primarily to management of physical dimensions of SESs (e.g., water management) and resilience to management of ecological dimensions of SESs (e.g., rangelands). However, cases of highly engineered systems have yet to be adequately evaluated by either approach. We find the robustness framework serves to better explain management options of a highly engineered, ecologically-based SES, the lower Ship Creek fishery in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. Robustness applies well to this system because its dynamics are highly engineered through both structures and institutions. Even the salmon are products of a hatchery fishery that operates independently of many ecological variables and feedbacks within the system. However, robustness theory has yet to develop a prescriptive method for management that can assist practitioners. We conclude by applying Ostrom's design principles to the system dynamics to assess opportunities for increasing the robustness of this urban fishery.
Ecology, 2006
It is well established that plant species influence ecosystem processes, but we have little abili... more It is well established that plant species influence ecosystem processes, but we have little ability to predict which vegetation changes will alter ecosystems, or how the effects of a given species might vary seasonally. We established monocultures of eight plant species in a California grassland in order to determine the plant traits that account for species impacts on nitrogen and phosphorus cycling. Plant species differed in their effects on net N mineralization and nitrification rates, and the patterns of species differences varied seasonally. Soil PO 4 À and microbial P were more strongly affected by slope position than by species. Although most studies focus on litter chemistry as the main determinant of plant species effects on nutrient cycling, this study showed that plant species affected biogeochemical cycling through many traits, including direct traits (litter chemistry and biomass, live-tissue chemistry and biomass) and indirect traits (plant modification of soil bioavailable C and soil microclimate). In fact, species significantly altered N and P cycling even without litter inputs. It became particularly critical to consider the effects of these multiple traits in order to account for seasonal changes in plant species effects on ecosystems. For example, species effects on potential rates of net N mineralization were most strongly influenced by soil bioavailable C in the fall and by litter chemistry in the winter and spring. Under field conditions, species effects on soil microclimate influenced rates of mineralization and nitrification, with species effects on soil temperature being critical in the fall and species effects on soil moisture being important in the dry spring. Overall, this study clearly demonstrated that in order to gain a mechanistic, predictive understanding of plant species effects on ecosystems, it is critical to look beyond plant litter chemistry and to incorporate the effects of multiple plant traits on ecosystems.
Ecological studies, 1978
Most models of plant production processes have been models of primary production and aboveground ... more Most models of plant production processes have been models of primary production and aboveground canopy processes and have included various environmental and physiological parameters in an attempt to predict photosynthesis and growth (Davidson and Philip, 1958; de Wit, 1965; Duncan et al., 1967; de Wit et al., 1970; Miller and Tieszen, 1972; Monsi and Saeki, 1953; Murphy and Knoerr, 1972; Paltridge, 1970; Lemon et al., 1971). Many have assumed that temperatures were optimal, most have assumed that water was not limiting growth, and all have assumed that minerals were not limiting growth. Horowitz (1958) developed mathematical formulations for alternative concepts of the mechanism of translocation. Thornley (1972) presented a primary production model which incorporated carbon and nitrogen to simulate the seasonal development of the root:shoot ratios. The model consisted of only two compartments, roots and shoots, composed of carbon and nitrogen. Although the model is fairly simple, it has the basic feedback mechanisms which have been associated with the carbon-nitrogen flow in plants. The lack of plant models which include minerals may reflect a current lack of a consistent set of hypotheses and data regarding the role of minerals in plant development and the mechanisms of their interaction.
Choice Reviews Online, Nov 1, 2009
, except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection w... more , except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identifie as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.
Global Environmental Politics, May 1, 2011
Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, Mar 15, 2023
AGUFM, Dec 1, 2006
ABSTRACT
Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 2010
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Papers by F Stuart Chapin III