Abstract:

In the most-cited paper in ecology published in the 1990's, Simon Levin argues that pattern and scale comprise the central problem for ecology. In some cases, patterns emerge from the collective behaviors of smaller scale units; in others, a pattern is imposed by larger scale constraints. Enlarging the scope of analysis to include interactions with human social systems adds new levels of complexity. 

Here I briefly describe three models that approach the coupled-systems problem at different scales. All three address the relationship of Balinese farmers to their terraced paddy fields. The first model emerges from the tradition of game-theoretical studies of the emergence of cooperation, but changes the payoff matrix to include ecological feedback relationships. The second derives from a systems-ecology approach to the ecology of watersheds, but adds adaptive social parameters to assess the feedback effects of local systems of management. The third begins with genetic markers tracing patterns of settlement and migration, but focuses on emergent community structure and relatedness networks. All three models are designed to detect the emergence of higher-level patterns from the collective behavior of smaller units. 

Bio:

J. Stephen Lansing is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, with a joint appointment in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Research Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He is the author of Evil in the Morning of the World: Phenomenological Approaches to a Balinese Community (1974), The Three Worlds of Bali (1983), Priests and Programmers: Technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali (1991), The Balinese (1994), and Perfect Order: Recognizing Complexity in Bali (2006). Documentary films include The Three Worlds of Bali (1981), The Goddess and the Computer (1988), and a segment of The Sacred Balance (2003). Recent publications are available at:

http://www.ic.arizona.edu/~lansing/home.htm