Integrating Ecology and Society to Navigate Turbulence

Since the last issue of Ecology and Society, one major environmental event has dominated the news and reminded us of the increasing complexity and turbulence of environmental change in our times. That event was the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean, which was the worst natural disaster, in terms of human casualties, in a generation. The tsunami has had varying effects on the ecology and society of the region and will change the future of both in unknown ways. From coastal marine systems such as lagoons and reefs to coastal forests to inland marshes and riparian systems, primary successional processes are under way. In the social domain, new configurations will emerge because the resilience of the prior system was exceeded. That reorganization is based in large part on the influx of many forms of human, fiscal, and social capital. Nevertheless, other environmental issues persist and grow at other scales.