Human and natural systems are interlinked in complex ways. Understanding how these social-ecological systems are and can be resilient poses one of the most pressing problems of our world today. This is especially true for many coastal communities, which are vulnerable to changes. The local ecological knowledge systems developed over millennia have historically allowed residents of coastal communities to be resilient to the weather extremes that can characterize coastal communities. However, the complex patterns and processes involved in these systems, and their potential to enhance resilience to climate change today are poorly understood. This research is grounded in a conceptual framework that integrates social-ecological resilience theory and methods, ethnobiology and ecosystem service modeling. It draws on a combination of long-term existing social and ecological datasets, new experiments, and state-of the art climate and ecosystem service modeling in multiple sites to ask: (1) What are the relationships between local ecological knowledge systems and social-ecological resilience to change? and (2) How will different land and ocean uses affect social-ecological resilience and ecosystem services in linked ridge-reef settings, under different scenarios? This research involves an interdisciplinary, international research team that crosses the natural and social sciences and bridges the marine and terrestrial fields.
This research is expected to have direct benefits to society by enhancing local capacity in decision making to manage coastal areas for sustainability, and contributing to policy development in resilience and adaptation to climate change. It is integrated with interdisciplinary and international educational and training activities for undergraduate and graduate students, especially members of groups underrepresented in the sciences. It will strengthen and extend an interdisciplinary cross-national network of researchers and resource managers. The models produced will provide predictive value for the management of Pacific Island coastal systems by identifying how ecosystem services and social-ecological resilience can be maximized.
