Stephen R. Carpenter

Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs (2009)

Brose, Ulrich, Jonsson, Tomas, Berlow, Eric L., Warren, Philip, Banasek-Richter, Carolin, Bersier, Louis-Félix, ...

It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web...

Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs (2009)

Brose, Ulrich, Jonsson, Tomas, Berlow, Eric L., Warren, Philip, Banasek-Richter, Carolin, Bersier, Louis-Félix, ...

It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web...

Body sizes of consumers and their resources (2009)

Brose, Ulrich, Cushing, Lara, Berlow, Eric L., Jonsson, Tomas, Banasek-Richter, Carolin, Bersier, Louis-Félix, ...

Trophic information—who eats whom—and species' body sizes are two of the most basic descriptions necessary to understand community structure as well as ecological and evolutionary dynamics....

Body sizes of consumers and their resources (2009)

Brose, Ulrich, Cushing, Lara, Berlow, Eric L., Jonsson, Tomas, Banasek-Richter, Carolin, Bersier, Louis-Félix, ...

Trophic information—who eats whom—and species' body sizes are two of the most basic descriptions necessary to understand community structure as well as ecological and evolutionary dynamics....

Resilience: Accounting for the Noncomputable (2009)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Scheffer, Marten; Wageningen University; Marten.Scheffer@wur.nl, Westley, Frances; University Of Waterloo; Fwestley@watarts.uwaterloo.ca

Plans to solve complex environmental problems should always consider the role of surprise. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to emphasize known computable aspects of a problem while neglecting...

Resilience: Accounting for the Noncomputable (2009)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Scheffer, Marten; Wageningen University; Marten.Scheffer@wur.nl, Westley, Frances; University Of Waterloo; Fwestley@watarts.uwaterloo.ca

Plans to solve complex environmental problems should always consider the role of surprise. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to emphasize known computable aspects of a problem while neglecting...

Spurious Certainty: How Ignoring Measurement Error and Environmental Heterogeneity May Contribute to Environ -mental Controversies (2009)

Reinette Biggs, Stephen R. Carpenter, William A. Brock

Disputes over conflicting information from different studies play a prominent role in many environmental controversies. Rather than resulting from flawed or fraudulent science, we suggest that...

Resilience: Accounting for the Noncomputable (2009)

Carpenter, Stephen R., Folke, Carl, Scheffer, Marten, Westley, Frances

"Plans to solve complex environmental problems should always consider the role of surprise. Nevertheless, there is a tendency to emphasize known computable aspects of a problem while neglecting...

Adaptive Capacity and Traps (2008)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Brock, William A.; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; WBrock@ssc.wisc.edu

Adaptive capacity is the ability of a living system, such as a social–ecological system, to adjust responses to changing internal demands and external drivers. Although adaptive capacity is a...

Adaptive Capacity and Traps (2008)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Brock, William A.; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; WBrock@ssc.wisc.edu

Adaptive capacity is the ability of a living system, such as a social–ecological system, to adjust responses to changing internal demands and external drivers. Although adaptive capacity is a...

Adaptive Capacity and Traps (2008)

Carpenter, Stephen R., Brock, William A.

"Adaptive capacity is the ability of a living system, such as a social-ecological system, to adjust responses to changing internal demands and external drivers. Although adaptive capacity is a...

Coupled Human and Natural Systems (2007)

Jianguo Liu, Thomas Dietz, Stephen R. Carpenter, Carl Folke, Marina Alberti, Charles L. Redman, ...

Humans have continuously interacted with natural systems, resulting in the formation and development of coupled human and natural systems (CHANS). Recent studies reveal the complexity of...

Understanding Regional Change: A Comparison of Two Lake Districts (2007)

STEPHEN R. CARPENTER, BARBARA J. BENSON, REINETTE BIGGS, JONATHAN W. CHIPMAN, JONATHAN A. FOLEY, SHAUN A. GOLDING, ...

We compared long-term change in two lake districts, one in a forested rural setting and the other in an urbanizing agricultural region, using lakes as sentinel ecosystems. Human population growth and...

Variance as a Leading Indicator of Regime Shift in Ecosystem Services (2006)

Brock, William A; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; WBrock@ssc.wisc.edu, Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu

Many environmental conflicts involve pollutants such as greenhouse gas emissions that are dispersed through space and cause losses of ecosystem services. As pollutant emissions rise in one place, a...

Scenarios for Ecosystem Services: An Overview (2006)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Bennett, Elena M; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Embennett@wisc.edu, Peterson, Garry D; McGill University; Garry.peterson@mcgill.ca

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) scenarios address changes in ecosystem services and their implications for human well-being. Ecological changes pose special challenges for long-term...

Variance as a Leading Indicator of Regime Shift in Ecosystem Services (2006)

Brock, William A., Carpenter, Stephen R.

"Many environmental conflicts involve pollutants such as greenhouse gas emissions that are dispersed through space and cause losses of ecosystem services. As pollutant emissions rise in one place,a...

Scenarios for Ecosystem Services: An Overview (2006)

Carpenter, Stephen R., Bennett, Elena M., Peterson, Garry D.

"The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) scenarios address changes in ecosystem services and their implications for human well-being. Ecological changes pose special challenges for long-term...

Consumer-resource body-size relationships in natural food webs (2006)

Brose, Ulrich, Johnsson, Tomas, Berlow, Eric L., Warren, Philip, Banasek-Richter, Carolin, Bersier, Louis-Felix, ...

It has been suggested that differences in body size between consumer and resource species may have important implications for interaction strengths, population dynamics, and eventually food web...

Uncertainty in Discount Models and Environmental Accounting (2005)

Ludwig, Donald; University Of British Columbia; Ludwig@math.ubc.ca, Brock, William A.; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; WBrock@ssc.wisc.edu, Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is controversial for environmental issues, but is nevertheless employed by many governments and private organizations for making environmental decisions. Controversy...

Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters (2005)

Adger, W. Neil, Hughes, Terry P., Folke, Carl, Carpenter, Stephen R., Rockström, Johan

Social and ecological vulnerability to disasters and outcomes of any particular extreme event are influenced by buildup or erosion of resilience both before and after disasters occur. Resilient...

Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters (2005)

Adger, W. Neil, Hughes, Terry P., Folke, Carl, Carpenter, Stephen R., Rockström, Johan

Social and ecological vulnerability to disasters and outcomes of any particular extreme event are influenced by buildup or erosion of resilience both before and after disasters occur. Resilient...

Social-ecological resilience to coastal disasters (2005)

Adger, W. Neil, Hughes, Terry P., Folke, Carl, Carpenter, Stephen R., Rockström, Johan

Social and ecological vulnerability to disasters and outcomes of any particular extreme event are influenced by buildup or erosion of resilience both before and after disasters occur. Resilient...

Uncertainty in Discount Models and Environmental Accounting (2005)

Ludwig, Donald, Brock, William A., Carpenter, Stephen R.

"Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is controversial for environmental issues, but is nevertheless employed by many governments and private organizations for making environmental decisions. Controversy...

Resilience, Adaptability and Transformability in Social–ecological Systems (2004)

Walker, Brian; CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems; Brian.Walker@csiro.au, Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Kinzig, Ann P; Arizona State University; Ann.Kinzig@asu.edu

The concept of resilience has evolved considerably since Holling’s (1973) seminal paper. Different interpretations of what is meant by resilience, however, cause confusion. Resilience of a...

Spatial Complexity, Resilience, and Policy Diversity: Fishing on Lake-rich Landscapes (2004)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Brock, William A; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Wbrock@ssc.wisc.edu

The dynamics of and policies governing spatially coupled social-ecological mosaics are considered for the case of fisheries in a lake district. A microeconomic model of households addresses agent...

Spatial Complexity, Resilience, and Policy Diversity: Fishing on Lake-Rich Landscapes (2004)

Carpenter, Stephen R., Brock, William A.

"The dynamics of and policies governing spatially coupled social-ecological mosaics are considered for the case of fisheries in a lake district. A microeconomic model of households addresses agent...

The US Long Term Ecological Research Program (2003)

JOHN E. HOBBIE, STEPHEN R. CARPENTER, NANCY B. GRIMM, JAMES R. GOSZ, TIMOTHY R. SEASTEDT

The 24 projects of the National Science Foundation's Long Term Ecological Research Network, whose sites range from the poles to the Tropics, from rain forests to tundras and deserts, and from...

Assessing Future Ecosystem Services: A Case Study of the Northern Highlands Lake District, Wisconsin (2003)

Peterson, Garry D., Beard Jr., T. Douglas, Beisner, Beatrix E., Bennett, Elena M., Carpenter, Stephen R., Cumming, Graeme S., ...

"The Northern Highlands Lake District of Wisconsin is in transition from a sparsely settled region to a more densely populated one. Expected changes offer benefits to northern Wisconsin residents but...

Managing the Resilience of Lakes: A Multi-agent Modeling Approach (1999)

Janssen, Marco A; Indiana University; Maajanss@indiana.edu, Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu

We demonstrate an approach for integrating social and ecological models to study ecosystem management strategies. We focus on the management of lake eutrophication. A model has been developed in...

Ecological and Social Dynamics in Simple Models of Ecosystem Management (1999)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu, Brock, William; University Of Wisconsin; Brock@macc.wisc.edu, Hanson, Paul; University Of Wisconsin; Pchanson@facstaff.wisc.edu

Simulation models were developed to explore and illustrate dynamics of socioecological systems. The ecosystem is a lake subject to phosphorus pollution. Phosphorus flows from agriculture to upland...

Keystone Species and Academic-Agency Collaboration: A response to: Walters. 1997. 'Challenges in Adaptive Management of Riparian and Coastal Ecosystems' (1998)

Carpenter, Stephen R.

"Each year, billions of dollars are spent on environmental management and monitoring. It is widely believed that science has a role to play in these activities. At the same time, academics are trying...

Responses of epilimnetic phytoplankton to experimental nutrient enrichment in three small seepage lakes (1998)

Cottingham, Kathryn L., Carpenter, Stephen R., Amand, Ann L.St.

This paper describes the responses of three epilimnetic phytoplankton communities to experimental nitrogen and phosphorus enrichment as compared to the phytoplankton community in a fourth,...

Resilience and Restoration of Lakes (1997)

Carpenter, Stephen R; University Of Wisconsin-Madison; Srcarpen@wisc.edu

Lake water quality and ecosystem services are normally maintained by several feedbacks. Among these are nutrient retention and humic production by wetlands, nutrient retention and woody habitat...

Response of phytoplankton and bacteria to nutrients and zooplankton: a mesocosm experiment (1997)

Cottingham, Kathryn L., Knight, Susan E., Carpenter, Stephen R., Cole, Jonathan J., Pace, Michael L., Wagner, Amy E.

Although both nutrient inputs and zooplankton grazing are important to phytoplankton and bacteria in lakes, controversy surrounds the relative importance of grazing pressure for these two groups of...

Predicting chlorophyll vertical distribution in response to epilimnetic nutrient enrichment in small stratified lakes (1995)

Christensen, David L., Carpenter, Stephen R., Cottingham, Kathryn L.

Light-limited metalimnetic phytoplankton communities are thought to be negatively impacted by epilimnetic nutrient enrichment because of shading by increased epilimnetic phytoplankton biomass. We...

Fish predators, food availability and diel vertical migration in Daphnia (1992)

Dini, Michael L., Carpenter, Stephen R.

Diel vertical migration of zooplankton is a highly variable and complex behaviour which apparently cannot be explained by any single factor. We determined the relative importance of fish predation,...

Species-specific algal responses to zooplankton: experimental and field observations in three nutrient-limited lakes (1987)

Elser, James J., Goff, Nancy C., MacKay, Neil A., Amand, Ann L.St., Elser, Monica M., Carpenter, Stephen R.

A series of 4-day manipulations of zooplankton biomass and nutrient availability was performed in enclosures in three lakes to determine species-specific algal responses to herbivory and nutrient...

Ecological community description using the food web, species abundance, and body size

Cohen, Joel E., Jonsson, Tomas, Carpenter, Stephen R.

Measuring the numerical abundance and average body size of individuals of each species in an ecological community's food web reveals new patterns and illuminates old ones. This approach is...

Eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems: Bistability and soil phosphorus

Carpenter, Stephen R.

Eutrophication (the overenrichment of aquatic ecosystems with nutrients leading to algal blooms and anoxic events) is a persistent condition of surface waters and a widespread environmental problem....

Multiple states in river and lake ecosystems.

Dent, C Lisa, Cumming, Graeme S, Carpenter, Stephen R

Nonlinear models of ecosystem dynamics that incorporate positive feedbacks and multiple, internally reinforced states have considerable explanatory power. However, linear models may be adequate,...

Panaceas and diversification of environmental policy

Brock, William A., Carpenter, Stephen R.

We consider panacea formation in the framework of adaptive learning and decision for social–ecological systems (SESs). Institutions for managing such systems must address multiple timescales of...

Aquatic eutrophication promotes pathogenic infection in amphibians

Johnson, Pieter T. J., Chase, Jonathan M., Dosch, Katherine L., Hartson, Richard B., Gross, Jackson A., Larson, Don J., ...

The widespread emergence of human and wildlife diseases has challenged ecologists to understand how large-scale agents of environmental change affect host–pathogen interactions. Accelerated...

Turning back from the brink: Detecting an impending regime shift in time to avert it

Biggs, Reinette, Carpenter, Stephen R., Brock, William A.

Ecological regime shifts are large, abrupt, long-lasting changes in ecosystems that often have considerable impacts on human economies and societies. Avoiding unintentional regime shifts is widely...

Science for managing ecosystem services: Beyond the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Carpenter, Stephen R., Mooney, Harold A., Agard, John, Capistrano, Doris, DeFries, Ruth S., Díaz, Sandra, ...

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) introduced a new framework for analyzing social–ecological systems that has had wide influence in the policy and scientific communities. Studies after the...