Drawing on complex systems theory, this book investigates how linked social-ecological systems build capacity to adapt to uncertainty and change. This book merges forefront research from different disciplines, with case studies from several geographic areas, cultures and resource types, into a common framework for new insights on sustainability.

1. Introduction Fikret Berkes, Johan Colding and Carl Folke; Part I. Perspectives on Resilience: 2. Adaptive dancing Lance Gunderson; 3. Nature and society through the lens of resilience Iain J. Davidson-Hunt and Fikret Berkes; 4. Redundancy and diversity Bobbi Low, Elinor Ostrom, Carl Simon and James Wilson; Part II. Building Resilience in Local Management Systems: 5. The strategy of the commons Lars Carlsson; 6. Management practices for building adaptive capacity Maria Tengoe and Monica Hammer; 7. Living with disturbance Johan Colding, Per Olsson and Thomas Elmqvist; Part III. Social-ecological Learning and Adaption: 8. Exploring the role of local ecological knowledge in ecosystem management Madhav Gadgil, Per Olsson, Fikret Berkes and Carl Folke; 9. Facing the adaptive challenge Kristen Blann, Steve Light and Jo Ann Musumeci; 10. Caribou co-management in northern Canada Anne Kendrick; Part IV. Cross-scale Institutional Response to Change: 11. Dynamics of social-ecological changes in a lagoon fishery in southern Brazil Cristiana Seixas and Fikret Berkes; 12. Keeping ecological resilience afloat in cross-scale turbulence Janis Alcorn, John Bamba, Stefanus Masiun, Ita Natalia and Antoinette Royo; 13. Policy transformations in the US Forest Sector, 1970-2000 Ronald L. Trosper; 14. Synthesis Carl Folke, Johan Colding and Fikret Berkes.

"...the book is a useful addition, introducing the role of property rights in different management systems across scales and providing an interesting review that explores the relationship between ecological and social systems from a range of disciplines. It should be of interest to anyone interested in research into, or application of, new ways of thinking about social and ecological systems and how they interact." Ecoscience