This study of how institutions learn and how ecosystems respond uses a synthesis of social science and ecological theory to explain the frustrating resistance of institutions to change and the sudden, spasmodic lurches of learning that can occur. Six case studies - from the Everglades to the Baltic - are included to test an emerging theory of complex adaptive systems that forms the basis for explaining the interrelated dynamics of ecosystems, institutions and society.
Lance H. Gunderson, C. S. Holling, and Stephen S. Light