Ecology and Society - Vol. 15, No. 4 (2010)

E&S Home > Vol. 15, No. 4 (2010) > Abstract

Disturbance, Response, and Persistence in Self-Organized Forested Communities: Analysis of Robustness and Resilience in Five Communities in Southern Indiana

Forrest D. Fleischman, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Kinga Boenning, Institute of Agricultural Development in Central and Eastern Europe (IAMO)
Gustavo A Garcia-Lopez, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Sarah Mincey, Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh, Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Katrin Daedlow, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, LGF, Division of Resource Economics and Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB)
Maria Claudia Lopez, Facultad de Estudios Ambientales y Rurales, Universidad Javeriana
Xavier Basurto, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
Burney Fischer, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
Elinor Ostrom, Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

Abstract
We develop an analytic framework for the analysis of robustness in social-ecological systems (SESs) over time. We argue that social robustness is affected by the disturbances that communities face and the way they respond to them. Using Ostrom's ontological framework for SESs, we classify the major factors influencing the disturbances and responses faced by five Indiana intentional communities over a 15-year time frame. Our empirical results indicate that operational and collective-choice rules, leadership and entrepreneurship, monitoring and sanctioning, economic values, number of users, and norms/social capital are key variables that need to be at the core of future theoretical work on robustness of self-organized systems.

Key words
disturbance; intentional communities; response; robustness; social-ecological systems

Full Text: HTML

Download citation of this article