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Contribute or suggest an example

We warmly welcome all contributions to the database! Please use the links below to contribute an example of a generic type of regime shift, a specific case study of a particular regime shift, or to suggest a potential regime shift or case study for future inclusion.


Add Regime Shift
These are generic descriptions of types of regime shifts that have been observed at multiple locations or case studies (e.g. eutrophication). They can also include unique large scale subcontinental or global regime shifts (e.g. collapse of the Greenland ice sheet). We suggest filling out the description offline using the Regime Shift Template, and then copying and pasting the details into the online form.


Add Case Study
These are specific examples of regime shifts in particular places or case studies (e.g. eutrophication in the Baltic Sea). We suggest filling out the description offline using the Case Study Template, and then copying and pasting the details into the online form.


Suggest a Regime Shift or Case Study
Please let us know if you have suggestions for potential regime shifts or case studies to be included – e.g. if you are unable to write them up yourself, or are unsure if they fit. You are also welcome to contact us with questions at info@regimeshifts.org.


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Regime Shift / Case Study Suggestions

Total 21 suggestions found

Suggested Case Studies

  1. Ecosystem service regime shifts in China

    Poverty alleviation linked to agricultural intensification has been achieved in many regions but there is often only limited understanding of the impacts on ecological dynamics. A central need is to observe long term changes in regulating and support ... Read More

    References

    • Ke Zhang, John A. Dearing, Terence P. Dawson, Xuhui Dong, Xiangdong Yang, Weiguo Zhang, Poverty alleviation strategies in eastern China lead to critical ecological dynamics, Science of The Total Environment, Volumes 506–507, 15 February 2015, Pages 164-181, ISSN 0048-9697, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.096.
      (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969714015575)
    Add a comment

  2. Everglades

    Nutrient and flow management. Management potentially stuck in a rigidity trap - no new ideas are able to take hold, due to vested capital and power dynamics. ... Read More

    References

    • Potential contact: Lance Gunderson
    Add a comment

  3. Glen Canyon Dam

    Grand Canyon/Colorado River - Dam caused a large regime shift in ecology, but over time management has been adapted to try to approximate the original regime through water releases etc. Learnign how to do this has been achieved through experimentatio ... Read More

    References

    • Mentioned by Lance Gunderson
    Add a comment

  4. Grassland Degradation in Tibet

    Important SES features, such as LUI, productivity and degradation risk are heterogeneously distributed in space. Land-use intensification at farm-scales in the 1990s increased landscape-scale degradation risks. Eventually the regime shift of degradat ... Read More

    References

    • https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-021-01191-0
    Add a comment

  5. Invasive beavers in Tierra del Fuego

    In 1946, the Argentine military flew 20 beavers from Canada to Tierra del Fuego (Argentina). The beavers crossed the border to Chile, and now their population grew to 70 000 - 110 000 in Tierra del Fuego and extended to Patagonia (Argentina and Chile ... Read More

    References

    • Demographic plasticity in an invasive species: The effects of time since invasion and population management history on beavers in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jzo.13035
    • Invasión del castor en Tierra del Fuego: Subsecretario del MMA sobrevuela bosques subantárticos gravemente afectados. https://mma.gob.cl/invasion-del-castor-en-tierra-del-fuego-subsecretario-del-mma-sobrevuela-bosques-subantarticos-gravemente-afectados/
    • Invasive beavers are destroying Tierra del Fuego. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/beaver-overpopulation-tierra-del-fuego
    • Status of the North American beaver invasion in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340902527_Status_of_the_North_American_beaver_invasion_in_the_Tierra_del_Fuego_archipelago
    Add a comment

  6. Irish Potato Famine

    Between 1845 and 1850, a potato blight triggered a famine that killed or displaced 25% of the Irish population.  In Ireland, a host of economic, demographic, and social pressures marked the decades leading to the famine and meant that the Irish ... Read More

    References

    • Fraser, E. D. G. 2003. Social vulnerability and ecological fragility: building bridges between social and natural sciences using the Irish Potato Famine as a case study. Conservation Ecology 7(2): 9. [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol7/iss2/art9/
    Add a comment

  7. Landscape degradation in Greece

    Human settlement in Greece in the Bronze Age caused damatic changes to the soils and ecosystem functioning in the Mediterranean. ... Read More

    References

    • Contact Eberhard Zangger
    Add a comment

  8. Loess Plateau in China - ecosystem restoration

    This documentary demonstrates that it is possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems, to restore ecosystem functions in areas where they have been lost, to fundamentally improve the lives of people who have been trapped in poverty for gen ... Read More

    References

    • The film "Hope in a Changing Climate" by John D. Liu http://vimeo.com/19661805
    Add a comment

  9. Settlement of Iceland

    Until the arrival of the Norse in AD 871, at the height of the Viking expansion across the North Atlantic, Iceland was a pristine wilderness. The arrival of humans and the sheep, goats, pigs and cattle they brought with them had a profound - some wou ... Read More

    References

    • http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/study/phd/ecology-and-global-change/human-settlement-and-its-effects-on-lake-and-wetland-ecosystems-in-northern-iceland/
    Add a comment

  10. Shrimp farming in Thailand

    We explain how a shift from culture of the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) to the Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) took place during 2002-6 in Thailand. We use system innovation theory to help explain how niche substitution led to a r ... Read More

    References

    • Louis Lebel, Rattanawan Mungkung, Shabbir H. Gheewala, Phimphakan Lebel, Innovation cycles, niches and sustainability in the shrimp aquaculture industry in Thailand, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 13, Issue 4, June 2010, Pages 291-302, ISSN 1462-9011, 10.1016/j.envsci.2010.03.005.
      (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901110000237)
    Add a comment
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