Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessing Resilience In Stressed Watersheds, Kristine T. Nemec, Joana Chan, Christina Hoffman, Trisha L. Spanbauer, Joseph A. Hamm, Craig R. Allen, Trevor Hefley, Donald Pan, Prabhakar Shrestha

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Although several frameworks for assessing the resilience of social-ecological systems (SESs) have been developed, some practitioners may not have sufficient time and information to conduct extensive resilience assessments. We have presented a simplified approach to resilience assessment that reviews the scientific, historical, and social literature to rate the resilience of an SES with respect to nine resilience properties: ecological variability, diversity, modularity, acknowledgement of slow variables, tight feedbacks, social capital, innovation, overlap in governance, and ecosystem services. We evaluated the effects of two large-scale projects, the construction of a major dam and the implementation of an ecosystem recovery program, on …