CHANS-Net: The International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems

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  Ecological Society of America honors paper for systems integration

  Published on March 9, 2017
  A unified paradigm to meet growing global challenges has been recently recognized by the Ecological Society of America (ESA) as “the greatest contribution” to sustainability science that integrates ecological and social sciences.

• 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance issues call for papers

  Published on February 18, 2017
  Scientists studying a number of aspects of earth system governance are invited to submit abstracts fort he 2017 Lund Conference on Earth System Governance, which will be held Oct. 9-11, 2017 in Lund, Sweden. Abstracts are due March 15, 2017.

• The Dynamics of Adaptation to Climate-Driven Variability in California Current Fisheries And Fishing Communities

  Published on September 28, 2016
  The livelihoods of fishermen who work in large marine ecosystems are heavily influenced by the variability inherent in biological and oceanic systems, as well as by the intrinsic uncertainty of economic and management structures. However, as fishe...

• Scale-Dependent Feedbacks Among Protected Areas and Surrounding Socioecological Systems

  Published on September 28, 2016
  Administrative boundaries that establish land management jurisdictions affect both ecological and social processes. In the US, undeveloped lands occur in mosaics of public and private jurisdictions with varying management. These mosaics thus suppo...

• Land transactions and investments: Impacts on agricultural production, ecosystem services, and food-energy security

  Published on September 28, 2016
  Tens of millions of hectares of land has changed hands in the last decade in a large number of lower-income countries, with the UK, China, and the US being among the largest sources of land investments. Control over land enables investors to culti...

• Visualizing Forest Futures Under Climate Uncertainty: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge into Decision-Support Tools for Collaborative Decision Making

  Published on September 28, 2016
  This interdisciplinary research project will examine how human values and practices impact preferences about natural systems and influence the trade-offs made in decision making about forest resources and sustainability. The project will focus on ...

• Andes Bofedales and Cattle: The Impacts of Changing Hydrology and Glacial Retreat on Community Livelihoods in Peru's Cordillera Blanca

  Published on September 28, 2016
  Mountainous regions are undergoing rapid changes due to changing climate, while human livelihoods are shifting with further consequences for mountain landscapes. Andean glaciers are especially sensitive to climate change with accelerating melting ...

• Multi-Scale Coupled Natural-Human System Dynamics of Nitrogen in Residential Landscapes

  Published on September 28, 2016
  Runoff from urban and suburban landscapes has long been known to have a significant effect upon the water quality of streams that receive this discharge. A particular concern in this area is the export of excess nitrate from the use of fertilizers...

• Amazon Dams Network: Advancing Integrative Research and Adaptive Management of Social-ecological Systems Transformed by Hydroelectric Dams

  Published on September 28, 2016
  The Amazon basin is the largest freshwater system in the world, providing critical ecosystem services to local populations, national societies and humanity at large. Today in the Brazilian Amazon, construction of more than 30 large hydroelectric d...

• Coupling of Physical Infrastructure, Green Infrastructure, and Communities

  Published on September 28, 2016
  This interdisciplinary research project will examine the connectivity and functional interdependencies among co-located, critical infrastructure systems, such as gas, water and sewer pipes, roads, and the urban canopy, as well as the networks of p...

• Pastoral Territory as a Dynamic Coupled System

  Published on September 28, 2016
  This interdisciplinary research project will examine the environmental conditions that lead to human territorial behavior in the pastoral ecosystems as well as how territoriality shapes the environment. The project will provide new insights into w...

• Energy Transitions and Environmental Change in East and Southern Africa's Coupled Human, Terrestrial, and Atmospheric Systems

  Published on September 28, 2016
  Wood fuels are used as an energy source for cooking, heating, and small-scale industrial activities by a large number of people in the developing world. As populations increase, the effects of burning wood or other biomass on the vitality of fores...

• Interactions Between Human Perspectives and Natural System Dynamics in the Restoration of Riparian Forests in the Southwestern U.S.

  Published on September 28, 2016
  This interdisciplinary research project will explore the factors associated with success in restoring forest ecosystems in river basins that have been degraded, including the reciprocal causality between people's attitudes and the dynamics of plan...

• Adaptation, Mitigation, and Biophysical Feedbacks in the Changing Bonneville Salt Flats

  Published on September 28, 2016
  The Bonneville Salt Flats is a vast perennial salt pan in northwest Utah that is changing rapidly. The system is sensitive to variations in rain, wind, evaporation, and groundwater flux, and it is known world-wide as the location where land-speed ...

• Assessing the Potential for Climate Change and Forest Insects to Drive Land-Use Regime Shifts

  Published on September 28, 2016
  Climate change and forest insects have significant impacts on forest ecosystems and these factors also strongly influence land-use decision-making, with indirect forest impacts at least as significant as the direct impacts. A scientific frontier i...

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  NSF awards $16.7 million for CNH

  Published on September 20, 2016
  Boston and Baltimore. Miami and Minneapolis. Phoenix and Los Angeles. Fanned across the U.S. and in locations from coast to prairie to desert, what do these cities have in common? Perhaps how their human residents tend that icon of America, the urban...

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  Call for papers for telecoupling journal special edition

  Published on September 2, 2016
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  Finding the balance between conservation and economics

  Published on June 27, 2016
  Seeking to strike the balance between human and natural systems means finding ways to incorporate conservation criteria based on minimal human impact into economic evaluation. CHANS-Net member Kostas Bithas, professor of environmental and natural res...

• Investigating the Dynamic Intersections Among Economic Development, Urbanization, and Forest Degradation

  Published on November 3, 2015
  This project will investigate how economic and environmental changes affect the relationships among urban energy demands, urban and rural livelihoods, and the health of ecosystems that urban residents rely on for critical resources. The project will ...

• Legal, Economic, and Natural Science Analyses of Wind Plant Impacts and Interactions

  Published on November 3, 2015
  This research project will examine the physical, economic, and legal interactions among wind turbines, wind farms, and their local environments. The project will seek answers to a set of important questions, including the following: Who owns the wind...