Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Ecological Thresholds: The Key to Successful Environmental Management or an Important Concept with No Practical Application?

  • Mini Review
  • Published:
Ecosystems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An ecological threshold is the point at which there is an abrupt change in an ecosystem quality, property or phenomenon, or where small changes in an environmental driver produce large responses in the ecosystem. Analysis of thresholds is complicated by nonlinear dynamics and by multiple factor controls that operate at diverse spatial and temporal scales. These complexities have challenged the use and utility of threshold concepts in environmental management despite great concern about preventing dramatic state changes in valued ecosystems, the need for determining critical pollutant loads and the ubiquity of other threshold-based environmental problems. In this paper we define the scope of the thresholds concept in ecological science and discuss methods for identifying and investigating thresholds using a variety of examples from terrestrial and aquatic environments, at ecosystem, landscape and regional scales. We end with a discussion of key research needs in this area.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alcamo J, Leemans R, Kreileman E. 1998. Global change scenarios of the 21st century. Results from the IMAGE 2.1. Oxford Pergamon and Amsterdam: Elsevier Science

    Google Scholar 

  • Allan JD. 2004. Landscapes and riverscapes: the influence of land use on stream ecosystems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 35:257–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Andren H. 1994. Effects of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscapes with different proportions of suitable habitat. Oikos 71:355–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron JS, Rueth HM, Wolfe AM, Nydick KR, Allstott EJ, Minear JT, Moraska B. 2000a. Ecosystem responses to nitrogen deposition in the colorado front range. Ecosystems 3:352–68

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baron JS, Hartman M, Band LE, Lammers R. 2000b. Sensitivity of a high elevation Rocky Mountain watershed to altered climate and CO2. Water Resour Res 36:89–99

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Beisner BE, Haydon DT, Cuddington K. 2003. Alternative stable states in ecology. Front Ecol Environ 1:376–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Bissonette JA, ed. 1997. Wildlife and landscape ecology. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer

    Google Scholar 

  • Bledsoe BP, Watson CC. 2001. Effects of urbanization on channel instability. J Am Water Resour Assoc 37:255–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Bormann FH, Likens GE. 1979. Pattern and process in a forested ecosystem. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowers MA, Matter SF. 1997. Landscape ecology of mammals: relationships between density and patch size. J Mammal 78:999–1013

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown JH, Valone TJ, Curtin CG. 1997. Reorganization of an arid ecosystem in response to recent climate change. Proc Natl Acad Sci 94:9729–33

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown JR, Herrick J, Price D. 1999. Managing low-output agroecosystems sustainably: the importance of ecological thresholds. Can J For Res 29:1112–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Ludwig D, Brock WA. 1999. Management of eutrophication for lakes subject to potentially irreversible change. Ecol Appl 9:751–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR, Turner M. 2000. Opening the black boxes: ecosystem science and economic valuation. Ecosystems 3:1–3

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter SR. 2002. Ecological futures: building an ecology of the long now. Ecology 83:2069–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark JS, Carpenter S, Barber M, Collins S, Dobson A, Foley JA, Lodge DM, Pascual M, Pielke R Jr, Pizer W, Pringle C, Reid WV, Rose KA, Sala O, Schlesinger WH, Wall DH, Wear D. 2001. Ecological forecasts: an emerging imperative. Science 293:657–60

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Connell JH, Sousa WP. 1983. On the evidence needed to judge ecological stability or persistence. Am Nat 121:789–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daily GC, Ehrlich PR, Goulder LH, Lubchenco J, Matson PA, Mooney HA, Schneider SH, Woodwell GM, Tilman D. 1997. Ecosystem services: benefits supplied to human societies by natural ecosystems. Issues Ecol 2:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Dent CL, Cumming GS, Carpenter SR. 2002. Multiple states in river and lake ecosystems. Phil Trans R Soc B 357:635–45

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Driscoll CT, Lawrence GB, Bulger AJ, Butler TJ, Cronan CS, Eager C, Lambert KF, Likens GE, Stoddard JL, Weathers KC. 2001. Acidic deposition in the Northeastern US: sources and inputs, ecosystem effects and management strategies. BioScience 51:180–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Dublin HT, Sinclair ARE, McGlade J. 1990. Elephants and fire as causes of multiple stable states in the Serengeti-Mara woodlands. J Anim Ecol 59:1147–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Elmqvist T, Folke C, Nyström M, Peterson G, Bengtsson J, Walker B, Norberg J. 2003. Response diversity, ecosystem change, and resilience. Front Ecol Environ 1:488–94

    Google Scholar 

  • Emmett BA, Reynolds B. 2003. The role of models in addressing critical N loading to ecosystems. In: Canham CD, Cole JJ, Lauenroth WK, Eds. Models in ecosystem science. Princeton (NJ): Princeton University Press. p. 308–326

    Google Scholar 

  • Fath BD, Cabezas H, Pawlowski CW. 2003. Regime changes in ecological systems: an information theory approach. J Theor Biol 222:5170–530

    Google Scholar 

  • Foley JA, Coe MT, Scheffer M, Wang GL. 2003. Regime shifts in the Sahara and Sahel: interactions between ecological and climatic systems in Northern Africa. Ecosystems 6:524–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gardner RH, Milne BT, Turner MG, O’Neill RV. 1987. Neutral models for the analysis of broad-scale landscape patterns. Landscape Ecol 1:19–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graf WL. 2003. Dam removal research: status and prospects. The John Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, Washington. p 151

  • Gunderson LH. 2000. Ecological resilience-theory to practice. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 31:421–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson L, Holling C, eds. 2002. Panarchy: understanding transformations in human and natural systems. Washington (DC): Island Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardesty J, Adams J, Gordon D, Provencher L. 2000. Simulating management with models. Conserv Biol Pract 1:26–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison S. 1997. Persistent, localized outbreaks in the western tussock moth Orgyia vetusta: the roles of resource quality, predation and poor dispersal. Ecol Entomol 22:158–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hartvigsen G, Kinzig A, Peterson G. 1998. The use and analysis of complex adaptive systems in ecosystem science. Ecosystems 1:427–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henson SM, Costantino RF, Desharnais RA, Cushing JM, Dennis B. 2002. Basins of attraction: population dynamics with two stable four-cycles. Oikos 98:17–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS. 1973. Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 4:1–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS, ed. 1978. Adaptive environmental assessment and management. London: Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS. 1996. Surprise for science, resilience for ecosystems, and incentives for people. Ecol Appl 6:733–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Karr JR, Chu EW. 2000. Sustaining living rivers. Hydrobiologia 422/423:1–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Klein RD. 1979. Urbanization and stream water quality impairment. Water Resour Bull 15:948–63

    Google Scholar 

  • Krummel JR, Gardner RH, Sugihara G, O’Neill RV, Coleman PR. 1987. Landscape patterns in a disturbed environment. Oikos 48:321–4

    Google Scholar 

  • Landers DH, Eilers JM, Brakke DF, Overton WS, Kellar PE, Silverstein ME, Schonbrod RD, Crowe RE, Linthurst RA, Omernik JM, Teague SA, Meier EP. 1987. Characteristics of lakes in the western US. Population description and physio-chemical relationships, vol. 1. Washington (DC): US EPA. 425 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Leemans R. 1999. Modeling for species and habitats: new opportunities for problem solving. Sci Total Environ 240:51–73

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leopold LB, Wolman MG, Miller JP. 1964. Fluvial processes in geomorphology. San Francisco: WH Freeman & Sons

    Google Scholar 

  • Likens GE, Driscoll CT, Buso DC. 1996. Long-term effects of acid rain: response and recovery of a forest ecosystem. Science 272:244–6

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lindenmayer DB, Cunningham RB, Pope ML, Donnelly CF. 1999. The response of arboreal marsupials to landscape context: a large-scale fragmentation study. Ecol Appl 9:594–611

    Google Scholar 

  • Ludwig D, Walker B, Holling CS. 1997. Sustainability, stability, and resilience. Conserv Ecol 1(7):7. URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol1/iss1/art7

    Google Scholar 

  • Ludwig JA, Wiens JA, Tongway DJ. 2000. A scaling rule for landscape patches and how it applies to conserving soil resources in savannas. Ecosystems 3:84–97

    Google Scholar 

  • Lundberg J, Moberg F. 2003. Mobile link organisms and ecosystem functioning: implications for ecosystem resilience and management. Ecosystems 6:87–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May RM. 1977. Thresholds and breakpoints in ecosystems with a multiplicity of stable states. Nature 269:471–7

    Google Scholar 

  • Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2003. Ecosystems and human well-being. Washington (DC): Island Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Montaña C, 1992. The colonization of bare areas in two-phase mosaics of an arid ecosystem. J Ecol 80:315–27

    Google Scholar 

  • Morley SA, Karr JR. 2002. Assessing and restoring the health of urban streams in the Puget Sound basin. Conserv Biol 16:1498–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • NRC (National Research Council). 2000. Clean coastal waters: understanding and reducing the effects of nutrient pollution. Washington (DC): National Academy Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Nydick KR. 2002. Mountain lake responses to elevated nitrogen deposition. PhD dissertation, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

  • Paerl HW, Bales JD, Ausley LW, Buzzelli CP, Crowder LB, Eby LA, Fear JM, Go M, Peierls BL, Richardson TL, Ramus JS. 2001. Ecosystem impacts of three sequential hurricanes (Dennis, Floyd, and Irene) on the US’s largest lagoonal estuary, Pamlico Sound, NC. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98(10):5655–60

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paerl HW, Dyble J, Twomey L, Pinckney JL, Nelson J, Kerkhof L. 2002. Characterizing man-made and natural modifications of microbial diversity and activity in coastal ecosystems. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 81:487–507

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paerl HW, Valdes LM, Pinckney JL, Piehler MF, Dyble J, Moisander PH. 2003. Phytoplankton photopigments as Indicators of Estuarine and Coastal Eutrophication. BioScience 53(10):953–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker G, Klingeman PC, McLean DG. 1982. Bedload and size distribution in paved gravel-bed streams. J Hydr Eng Div – ASCE 108:544–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul MJ, Meyer JL. 2001. Streams in the urban landscape. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 32:333–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson G, Allen CR, Holling CS. 1998. Ecological resilience, biodiversity and scale. Ecosystems 1:6–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson GD. 1999. Contagious disturbance and ecological resilience. Dissertation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

  • Peterson GD. 2002. Forest dynamics in the Southeastern United States: managing multiple stable states. In: Gunderson LH, Pritchard L Jr, eds. Resilience and the behavior of large-scale ecosystems. Washington (DC): Island Press. p 227–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Rebertus AJ, Williamson GB, Moser EB. 1989. Longleaf pine pyrogenicity and turkey oak mortality in Florida xeric sandhills. Ecology 70:60–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Redman CL, Kinzig AP. 2003. Resilience of past landscapes: resilience theory, society, and the Longue Duree. Conserv Ecol 7:14

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers K, Biggs H. 1999. Integrating indicators, endpoints and value systems in strategic management of the rivers of the Kruger National Park. Freshw Biol 41:439–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rueth HM, Baron JS. 2002. Differences in Englemann spruce forest biogeochemistry east and west of the Continental Divide in Colorado, USA. Ecosystems 5:45–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scheffer M, Carpenter S, Foley JA, Folke C, Walker B. 2001. Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems. Nature 413:591–6

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Scheffer M, Carpenter SR. 2003. Catastrophic regime shifts in ecosystems: linking theory to observation. Trends Ecol Evol 18:648–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott ML, Friedman JM, Auble GT. 1996. Fluvial process and the establishment of bottomland trees. Geomorphology 14:327–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith VH. 1998. Cultural eutrophication of inland, estuarine, and coastal waters. In: Pace ML, Groffman PM, Eds. Successes, limitations and frontiers in ecosystem science. Berlin Heidelberg New York: Springer. p 7–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Stauffer D. 1985. Introduction to percolation theory. London: Taylor and Francis

    Google Scholar 

  • Stauffer D, Aharony A. 1992. Introduction to percolation theory, 2nd ed. London: Taylor and Francis

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele JH. 1998. Regime shifts in marine ecosystems. Ecol Appl 8(Suppl):S33–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG, Gardner RH, Dale VH, O’Neill RV. 1989. Predicting the spread of disturbance across heterogeneous landscapes. Oikos 55:121–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG, Romme WH. 1994. Landscape dynamics in crown fire ecosystems. Landscape Ecol 9:59–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turner MG, Gardner RH, O’Neill RV. 2001. Landscape ecology in theory and practice: pattern and process. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker B, Meyers JA. 2004. Thresholds in ecolgoical and social-ecological systems: a developing database. Ecol Soc 9(2):3 [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art3

    Google Scholar 

  • Walters CJ. 1986. Adaptive management of renewable resources. New York: McGraw Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Weathers KC, Lovett GM, Likens GE, Lathrop R. 2000. The effect landscape features on deposition to Hunter Mountain, Catskill Mountains, New York. Ecol Appl 10:528–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams MW, Tonnessen KA. 2000. Critical loads for inorganic nitrogen deposition in the Colorado Front Range, USA. Ecol Appl 10:1648–65

    Google Scholar 

  • With KA, King AW. 1997. The use and misuse of neutral landscape models in ecology. Oikos 97:219–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe AP, Baron JS, Cornett RJ. 2001. Unprecedented changes in alpine ecosystems related to anthropogenic nitrogen deposition. J Paleolimnol 25:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimov SA, Chuprynin VI, Oreshko AP, Chapin FS, Reynolds JF, Chapin MC. 1995. Steppe-tundra transition: a herbivore-driven biome shift at the end of the Pleistocene. Am Nat 146:765–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The conference that lead to this paper was supported by the US EPA National Center for Environmental Research (NCER) through its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program. The paper was derived from conference presentations by Jill Baron, Peter Groffman, Lance Gunderson, Hans Paerl, Garry Peterson, LeRoy Poff, Jim Reynolds, Monica Turner and Kathleen Weathers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Box AB, Millbrook, New York, 12545, USA

    Peter M. Groffman, David W. Rejeski & Kathleen C. Weathers

  2. Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, US Geological Survey, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523-1499, USA

    Jill S. Baron

  3. Air Resources Division, USDI-National Park Service, Academy Place, Room 450, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, Colorado, 80225-0287, USA

    Tamara Blett

  4. Department of Natural Resources Science, 105 Coastal Institute in Kingston, University of Rhode Island, One Greenhouse Road, Kingston, Rhode Island, 02881, USA

    Arthur J. Gold

  5. US Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20460, USA

    Iris Goodman & Barbara M. Levinson

  6. Department of Environmental Studies, Emory University, 400 Dowman Drive, Atlanta, Georgia, 30322, USA

    Lance H. Gunderson

  7. University of Maryland, Plant Sciences Building 4112, College Park, Maryland, 20742-4415, USA

    Margaret A. Palmer

  8. Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 3431 Arendell Street, Morehead City, North Carolina, 28557, USA

    Hans W. Paerl

  9. Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin, 680 N. Park St, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Garry D. Peterson

  10. Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 80523, USA

    N. LeRoy Poff

  11. Department of Biology, Duke University, Box 90338, Durham, North Carolina, 27708, USA

    James F. Reynolds

  12. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, 430 Lincoln Drive, Birge Hall 432, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA

    Monica G. Turner

  13. The Nature Conservancy, 4245 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 100, Arlington, Virginia, 22203, USA

    John Wiens

Authors
  1. Peter M. Groffman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jill S. Baron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tamara Blett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Arthur J. Gold
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Iris Goodman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Lance H. Gunderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Barbara M. Levinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Margaret A. Palmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Hans W. Paerl
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Garry D. Peterson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. N. LeRoy Poff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. David W. Rejeski
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. James F. Reynolds
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Monica G. Turner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Kathleen C. Weathers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. John Wiens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter M. Groffman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Groffman, P.M., Baron, J.S., Blett, T. et al. Ecological Thresholds: The Key to Successful Environmental Management or an Important Concept with No Practical Application?. Ecosystems 9, 1–13 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-003-0142-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-003-0142-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation