Abstract
The collapse of human societies has commonly involved unsustainable overexploitation of resources and rapid population growth, followed by an environmental catastrophe, such as a prolonged drought, that destroyed the remaining resources. Collapse was sometimes averted by expansion into new territories to tap unexploited resources, which served as spatial subsidies that fueled further population growth. Finally, when expansion was no longer possible, collapse was even more sudden and severe (figure 11.1).
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Acknowledgments
We thank E. Ballesteros, R. Bradbury, P. Dayton, N. Knowlton, L. McClenachan, M.Hardt, A. Rosenberg, and D.Wesson for discussions about history and human impacts on ecosystems. The tuna data were brought to our attention by F. Riera. To all of them we are very grateful.
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© 2011 Island Press
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Sala, E., Jackson, J.B.C. (2011). Lessons from Coral Reefs. In: Jackson, J.B.C., Alexander, K.E., Sala, E. (eds) Shifting Baselines. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-029-3_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-029-3_11
Publisher Name: Island Press, Washington, DC
Online ISBN: 978-1-61091-029-3
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