Integrating evolutionary theory and social-ecological systems research to address the sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene

This is the final version. Available on open access from the Royal Society via the DOI in this recordData accessibility: This article has no additional data.The rapid, human-induced changes in the Earth system during the Anthropocene present humanity with critical sustainability challenges. Social-ecological systems (SES) research provides multiple approaches for understanding the complex interactions between humans, social systems, and environments and how we might direct them towards healthier and more resilient futures. However, general theories of SES change have yet to be fully developed. Formal evolutionary theory has been applied as a dynamic theory of change of complex phenomena in biology and the social sciences, but rarely in SES research. In this paper, we explore the connections between both fields, hoping to foster collaboration. After sketching out the distinct intellectual traditions of SES research and evolutionary theory, we map some of their terminological and theoretical connections. We then provide examples of how evolutionary theory might be incorporated into SES research through the use of systems mapping to identify evolutionary processes in SES, the application of concepts from evolutionary developmental biology to understand the connections between systems changes and evolutionary changes, and how evolutionary thinking may help design interventions for beneficial change. Integrating evolutionary theory and SES research can lead to a better understanding of SES changes and positive interventions for a more sustainable Anthropocene. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolution and sustainability: gathering the strands for an Anthropocene synthesis'.European Union Horizon 2020European Research Council (ERC)National Science Foundation (NSF)Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary AnthropologySwedish Research CouncilErling-Persson Family FoundationFORMASIKEA FoundationEuropean UnionUSDA NIF

Classical and Quantum Behavior in Mean-Field Glassy Systems

In this talk I review some recent developments which shed light on the main connections between structural glasses and mean-field spin glass models with a discontinuous transition. I also discuss the role of quantum fluctuations on the dynamical instability found in mean-field spin glasses with a discontinuous transition. In mean-field models with pairwise interactions in a transverse field it is shown, in the framework of the static approximation, that such instability is suppressed at zero temperature.Comment: 9 Pages (including 5 Figures), Revtex, Proceedings of the XIV Sitges Conference, June 1996 (Barcelona) Spai

'To live and die [for] Dixie': Irish civilians and the Confederate States of America

Around 20,000 Irishmen served in the Confederate army in the Civil War. As a result, they left behind, in various Southern towns and cities, large numbers of friends, family, and community leaders. As with native-born Confederates, Irish civilian support was crucial to Irish participation in the Confederate military effort. Also, Irish civilians served in various supporting roles: in factories and hospitals, on railroads and diplomatic missions, and as boosters for the cause. They also, however, suffered in bombardments, sieges, and the blockade. Usually poorer than their native neighbours, they could not afford to become 'refugees' and move away from the centres of conflict. This essay, based on research from manuscript collections, contemporary newspapers, British Consular records, and Federal military records, will examine the role of Irish civilians in the Confederacy, and assess the role this activity had on their integration into Southern communities. It will also look at Irish civilians in the defeat of the Confederacy, particularly when they came under Union occupation. Initial research shows that Irish civilians were not as upset as other whites in the South about Union victory. They welcomed a return to normalcy, and often 'collaborated' with Union authorities. Also, Irish desertion rates in the Confederate army were particularly high, and I will attempt to gauge whether Irish civilians played a role in this. All of the research in this paper will thus be put in the context of the Drew Gilpin Faust/Gary Gallagher debate on the influence of the Confederate homefront on military performance. By studying the Irish civilian experience one can assess how strong the Confederate national experiment was. Was it a nation without a nationalism

Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions and the QCD Matter Phase Diagram

This review will be concerned with our knowledge of extended matter under the governance of strong interaction, in short: QCD matter. Strictly speaking, the hadrons are representing the first layer of extended QCD architecture. In fact we encounter the characteristic phenomena of confinement as distances grow to the scale of 1 fm (i.e. hadron size): loss of the chiral symmetry property of the elementary QCD Lagrangian via non-perturbative generation of "massive" quark and gluon condensates, that replace the bare QCD vacuum. However, given such first experiences of transition from short range perturbative QCD phenomena (jet physics etc.), toward extended, non perturbative QCD hadron structure, we shall proceed here to systems with dimensions far exceeding the force range: matter in the interior of heavy nuclei, or in neutron stars, and primordial matter in the cosmological era from electro-weak decoupling (10^-12 s) to hadron formation (0.5 10^-5 s). This primordial matter, prior to hadronization, should be deconfined in its QCD sector, forming a plasma (i.e. color conducting) state of quarks and gluons: the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP).Comment: 146 pages, 83 figure