Work

The impacts of local networks on subsistence resilience and biodiversity in a low-lying Moluccan reef system between 1600 and the present

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Using field data for the 1980s and historic material, I show how the central places of networks crucial for regional and long-distance trades in the Moluccas between 1600 and the present were often environmentally vulnerable volcanic islands and low-lying reefs. After reviewing existing data on hazards, and evaluating the evidence for erosion and degradation, I suggest how resilience has been historically achieved through social and material exchanges between islands, accommodating the consequences of specific perturbations. Re-interpretation of published data shows how inter-island trade has re-organised patterns of biological interaction spatially and over the long term, helping us assess whether, in the face of climate-change effects, such areas are zones of robustness or of potential fragility.

Source: AMBIO

DOI: 10.1007/s13280-018-1091-2

Author: Roy Ellen

Institution: University of Kent

Language: English

Topic: Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies

Subfield: Ecology

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Life on land

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,490