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A transdisciplinary typology of change identifies new categories of adaptations and forms of co-adaptation in coupled human and natural systems

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Abstract

Adaptation in human and natural systems has received growing attention in sustainability scholarship. Co-adaptation, when coupled human and natural systems (CHANSs) adapt in congruence, is receiving much less attention. Not only are various forms of co-adaptation difficult to disentangle, adaptations are also conceptualized very differently by scholars of human and natural systems. One aspect of adaptation that scholars agree on, however, is that it is first and foremost a change. We offer a new transdisciplinary typology of the four most basic types of change, internally and externally driven non-structural and structural changes, that bridges perspectives in the natural and social sciences and through which we introduce new categories of adaptations and forms of co-adaptation in CHANSs. We first describe the typology’s foundations and its four types of change. We then organize forms of adaptation in human and natural systems according to the types of change they exhibit to identify new categories of adaptations and forms of co-adaptation. Finally, we illustrate the application of the new categories and forms in a real-world CHANS—the privately managed Northwoods in the Upper Midwest, USA. This new typology paves the way for robust and cross-disciplinary research on CHANSs.

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Notes

  1. The term “adjustment” is also used instead of “change” in defining adaptation (e.g., Matthews 2018; Smit et al. 2001), which is a change that improves suitability.

  2. Based on data in Butler (2008, pg. 52) for Michigan (8.96 mill ac), Minnesota (5.39 mill ac), and Wisconsin (9.08 mill ac).

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the US Department of Agriculture for funding this research through its McIntire-Stennis Programs (Projects 1011135 and 1021272), as well as to the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service Northern Research Station.

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  1. School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, 440 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Garry Sotnik, A. Paige Fischer, Inés Ibáñez & Stella J. M. Cousins

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  1. Garry Sotnik
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  2. A. Paige Fischer
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  3. Inés Ibáñez
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  4. Stella J. M. Cousins
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Correspondence to Garry Sotnik.

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Sotnik, G., Fischer, A.P., Ibáñez, I. et al. A transdisciplinary typology of change identifies new categories of adaptations and forms of co-adaptation in coupled human and natural systems. Sustain Sci 16, 1609–1623 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-021-00979-y

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