Biodiversity loss and sustainability of social-ecological systems

Abstract

Human activities are currently causing a mass extinction and the resulting biodiversity loss is expected to affect ecosystem services, including agricultural production. Natural habitat destruction and fragmentation results in biodiversity loss occurring with a time delay. Such lagged ecological dynamics affect the long-term sustainability of social–ecological systems (SESs) that depend on a range of ecosystem services. I will present the results of a stylized model that couples the dynamics of biodiversity, technology, human demography and compliance with a social norm prescribing sustainable consumption.