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ABSTRACT
Improved understanding and management of social-ecological systems (SES) requires collaboration between biophysical and social scientists; however, issues related to research philosophy and approaches, the nature of data, and language hinder interdisciplinary science. Here, we discuss how we used conceptual models to promote interdisciplinary dialogue in support of integrated ecosystem assessments (IEAs) in the California Current ecosystem. Initial con-ceptualizations of the California Current IEA were based on the Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response framework. This initial framing was biophysically centered, with humans primarily incorporated as impacts on the system. We wished to move from a conceptualization that portrayed an antagonistic relationship between humans and nature to one that integrated humans and social systems into the IEA framework. We propose a new conceptualization of the California Current that functions across temporal and spatial scales, captures the diverse relationships that typify SESs, and highlights the need for interdisciplinary science. The development of this conceptualization reveals how our understanding of the place and role of people in the ecosystem changed over the course of the history of the California Current IEA. This conceptual model is adaptive and serves to ensure that interdisciplinarity will now be the standard for the California Current IEA and, perhaps, beyond.
Acknowledgments
We dedicate this paper to Mark Plummer who was our friend and colleague and served as an inspiration to us. We are indebted to Su Kim who translated our musings into a , our graphic of the California Current SES. Dan Holland and Cindy Thomson contributed to our thinking of how the California Current could be conceptualized.