Critical Transitions in Nature and Society / / Marten Scheffer.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Scheffer, Marten,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2020]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Studies in Complexity ; 16
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (400 p.) :; 6 halftones. 131 line illus.

How do we explain the remarkably abrupt changes that sometimes occur in nature and society--and can we predict why and when they happen? This book offers a comprehensive introduction to critical transitions in complex systems--the radical changes that happen at tipping points when thresholds are passed. Marten Scheffer accessibly describes the dynamical systems theory behind critical transitions, covering catastrophe theory, bifurcations, chaos, and more. He gives examples of critical transitions in lakes, oceans, terrestrial ecosystems, climate, evolution, and human societies. And he demonstrates how to deal with these transitions, offering practical guidance on how to predict tipping points, how to prevent "bad" transitions, and how to promote critical transitions that work for us and not against us. Scheffer shows the time is ripe for understanding and managing critical transitions in the vast and complex systems in which we live. This book can also serve as a textbook and includes a detailed appendix with equations.Provides an accessible introduction to dynamical systems theory Covers critical transitions in lakes, oceans, terrestrial ecosystems, the climate, evolution, and human societies Explains how to predict tipping points Offers strategies for preventing "bad" transitions and triggering "good" ones Features an appendix with equations

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- CHAPTER 1. Introduction -- Part I THEORY OF CRITICAL TRANSITIONS -- CHAPTER 2. Alternative Stable States -- CHAPTER 3. Cycles and Chaos -- CHAPTER 4. Emergent Patterns in Complex Systems -- CHAPTER 5. Implications of Fluctuations, Heterogeneity, and Diversity -- CHAPTER 6. Conclusion: From Theoretical Concepts to Reality -- Part II CASE STUDIES -- CHAPTER 7. Lakes -- CHAPTER 8. Climate -- CHAPTER 9. Evolution -- CHAPTER 10. Oceans -- CHAPTER 11. Terrestrial Ecosystems -- CHAPTER 12. Humans -- CHAPTER 13. Conclusion: Critical Transitions in a Complex World -- Part III DEALING WITH CRITICAL TRANSITIONS -- CHAPTER 14. How to Know if Alternative Basins of Attraction Exist -- CHAPTER 15. How to Know if a Threshold Is Near -- CHAPTER 16. The Winding Road from Science to Policy -- CHAPTER 17. New Approaches to Managing Change -- CHAPTER 18. Prospects -- Appendix -- Glossary -- Notes -- Index