Tourism is an ever-expanding business, even in a time of crises. People need to escape from reality - it has become a way of life. However, with globalization, there is an urgent need for the destinations (and hotels) to differentiate themselves and work on quality. If they do not, competition will just become a question of pricing, with very nasty economic consequences. Brussels is no exception.
Are there places in Brussels that are worth visiting but that are not very well known? What are in your opinion the least known but attractions worth seeing?
You cannot, of course, miss Grand Place! But take your time and walk around: there are plenty of little streets, with unique shops - gourmet, designers, fashion etc -, cafés and restaurants. I would recommend walking around looking upwards instead of on the ground: there are so many nice buildings and details you do not notice if you just look in front of you.
I spoke with an American lady yesterday who has lived in Flanders for 9 years: she just discovered the "Galeries Royales St Hubert" and she was so amazed that she could not believe she had never been there.
Unfortunately, the average length of stay in Brussels is 1.2 days, so tourists only have time to concentrate on the city centre (or have to come back several times). There is so much more to see in Brussels than you can do in two days. We have more than 100 museums in Brussels - some are very small and not very well known, but they are full of poetry, such as the Musée Maurice Carême in Anderlecht, or the Magritte house in Jette. There, you will be welcomed by really passionate people, who will tell you a lot of anecdotes and make you feel the atmosphere of the time. Personally, I also love the Far-East museums in Laeken but, unfortunately, they are closed for the moment. One of the least known but worthwhile attractions might be the Musée de la Chine in Scheut (Anderlecht). It's about the Chinese culture, folklore, crafts and religions (mainly seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) collected by Belgian missionaries who went to China at the time. The Porte de Hal museum, the MIM (Museum of Musical Instruments) and the CBBD (Comics Museum), are also really worth a visit, even if only for the buildings.
You are currently working on a project to improve the quality of services to tourists in Brussels for 'Visitbrussels'. How do you define quality in tourism and why is quality so important to you?
For me, quality is when you get not only what you expect, but when you get something that goes beyond your expectations. If you get what you expect, you will probably be satisfied. But will you tell your family and friends you had a fabulous stay? This will only happen if what you get is better than you expected.
I am convinced that lack of quality is one of the biggest issues we are facing today. Special deals and bargains have become the rule in the hospitality/tourism industry - competition is all about prices. Unfortunately, this causes a downward spiral of: lower prices => cost cutting => unemployment/low salaries/insecure staff => dissatisfaction => bad service => loss of customers => lower prices to try to catch a bigger piece of the cake.
I have nothing against bargains. But they cannot apply to services: saving on staff is a short-term strategy.
Staff is the biggest asset in hospitality, because they provide the personal aspect and the quality. A hotel room is a hotel room: a bed, a TV, a bathroom… Of course, it can be small or big, nice or ugly, clean or dirty… but, at the end, it's service, the staff, that makes the difference. What would "hospitality" mean without staff? For me, this is the main reason why B&Bs are so popular: they provide real hospitality, personalized service and attention. It's not a question of price - by the way, I know quite a lot of B&Bs that are now more expensive than 4-star hotels in Brussels.
And this brings us to a big problem we have in Brussels: the cost of employment compared to the average hotel prices in Brussels. My intention is not to argue over this problem here but, taking into account the importance of staff in hotels, it needs to be mentioned. Just to give an idea: on one hand, we have (one of) the highest cost of employment in the world, on the other hand, the average price guests are paying in Brussels hotels is much lower than what people are paying in Paris, Geneva, London, Amsterdam, Zürich, Moscow, Rome, Stockholm … and many others.
Finding the right balance is therefore a real challenge.
Can you tell us something about how you are improving the quality of tourism in the projects you work on at Visitbrussels?
First, we have an ongoing Brussels Visitor Satisfaction survey available online (www.visitbrussels.be/qualitydestination). Feedback is the most important element to improve the quality of the destination. We try to listen to our customers as much as possible, and also play a role of mediator in case there are complaints.
Through the questionnaire I find out why people come, what they expect and especially how satisfied they are with their stay and the services provided (hotels, but also shopping, public transport, cleanliness, accessibility etc). The results of the survey are published monthly on www.visitbrussels.be/satisfaction.
The main reason for visiting Brussels is the historical and cultural heritage. But more and more people just come to wander around and take in the Brussels atmosphere; architecture, especially the Art Nouveau, is attracting more and more visitors, as well as Antiques and Design.
The other aspect of the project is the Brussels Quality Academy. Through this, we try to raise awareness about the importance of quality information and a welcoming attitude among Brussels professionals in hospitality and tourism. Every week, I organize a session on a special topic. It might be history, architecture, comics, lifestyle, sustainability - we recently had a session on slow food - or more "technical" subjects, such as "how to prepare an exhibition or a fair" or security (for example policing in Brussels). Because of the growing demand for personalization and authenticity, I also explain to the professionals that they need to know not only the basics, but also "hidden secrets" our visitors won't find in tourist guides. Personalization is what is important. It's what makes people remember the visit. You can show off to your friends that you have seen something they haven't.
How do people find the questionnaire and who is your target group to get feedback?
Indeed getting feedback from visitors is a challenge sometimes. I'm interested in the feedback of all people who visit Brussels for leisure or for business. They will find a link to the questionnaire (www.visitbrussels.be/qualitydestination) on some websites of hotels, restaurants, museums - but flyers are also displayed in different establishments of the city. Every month, we also send emails to people who booked Brussels cards or guided tours. On average we get 2 completed questionnaires per day - we would however need more feedback from the business visitors, these are more difficult to target.
Even Belgian residents can fill in the questionnaire, because when you live in Brussels you can be "a tourist" in your own city and evaluate restaurants, parking, cleanliness etc. even better.
Generally the tourists are very happy, but tourists do not always go where the people who live here go… Locals might have a different view. This makes the analysis even more interesting and it's a great help for improvements.
Every month we offer a weekend for two in Brussels in a 4 or 5 star hotel (including breakfast, VIP treatment, Brussels Card and tourist information) to one of the respondents.
How do you define a quality destination and how can Brussels become a leading tourist destination?
As you can see on the above graph, people are generally satisfied. They are willing to come back and recommend. Great!
However, to become a leading tourist destination, the percentage of "very satisfied" people should be higher than the percentage of "satisfied" people. This is why we need to go "beyond expectations". How?
In my view, a "quality destination" can only be obtained if ALL actors are working together in synergy. The whole city and all the services offered should contribute to the success, including the people who live here. Tourism is not only hotels, museums, attractions and airport, it's also taxis, shops, opening hours, cleanliness, signage, parking, attitude of people and how they speak to you.
It is essential that both the private and the public sectors are on the same line to create the optimal environment and awareness. There must be a common (long- and short term) vision and action plan, that everybody should be aware of. We should work together on the strategy for the benefit of all - it's important to keep everybody happy.
As in most cities/countries - Brussels is no exception - the recognition of tourism as a major contributor to the local economy is quite recent (maximum 10 years). There have been improvements lately but, in this changing world, there is still a lot to be done.
What inspired you to start working in the tourism industry and to become a hotel manager?
Although my grand-father had always worked as a chef in renowned hotels and restaurants, it was not at all my father's intention to follow him. But with the EXPO 58, my parents decided to host workers coming from Switzerland to prepare the exhibition, kind of a first B&B. Then, they bought a restaurant in Wemmel, where I grew up with my 2 sisters and my brother. My father was revealed to be a great cook, my mother was a charming hostess and the restaurant was very successful. This is how I learned what "hospitality" and "guest satisfaction" mean.
The restaurant was a very demanding environment though; our parents had to work every evening, on Saturdays and Sundays, at Christmas and New Year. So when my parents stopped the restaurant, none of the children - including me - wanted to take over this crazy business. I wanted to become either a PR person or a journalist, and so I started studying English & German at ISTI (Institut Supérieur de Traducteurs et Interprètes). However, when the time came to look for a job, the first ad I saw in the newspaper was for the Ramada hotel. I sent my CV and started to work there the week after. This was still "the good time": 1 application, 1 job.
At that time, the Hilton Brussels on Boulevard de Waterloo was "the place to be". We loved to go there because it was full of life, there was always something happening there. I was impressed and I said to myself: "one day, I will manage this kind of hotel". This is where the story began.
You were one of the first female general managers in hotels, how did your career develop? Did you encounter any specific challenges in your career?
Indeed, I was among the first female GMs, at least in 4 and 5-star international hotels. In the 80ies/early 90ies, only 2-star sometimes even 3-star hotels were "accessible" to women. Most of the time, when I was in an international meeting, the "men" where asking me at which hotel I worked as Sales Manager. Sales was OK for a woman, but not general management. I have probably come across all the typical misogynistic clichés. Unfortunately, in that respect, hospitality is not different from other industries. Even today you can still count the number of female general managers in 4 and 5-star hotels in Brussels on one hand.
I started my career at the Ramada in Brussels, where I gradually moved up to be the assistant of the general manager. Luckily for me, the general manager changed quite often: which gave me the opportunity to fill-in the gaps, to do their hand-overs and replace them frequently. I learned a lot during that period. However, it would have been difficult for me to take over this particular hotel, after all those years: I needed to gain more experience elsewhere - and preferably outside of Brussels. The new owner of the hotel offered to train me at the headquarters of the group, located in Paris, which I accepted. There I worked in different departments and in other hotels of the group for specific missions, e.g. in Strasbourg and for the opening of the Crowne Plaza in Lyon. After a few months, they offered me the HR director position at headquarters. But I do not like headquarters at all, I prefer hotels. There was an opportunity to become the GM of the Ibis hotel in Paris Roissy, they agreed to offer me the position.
After that I have been a GM for the same group in different cities such as Liège, Lyon, and Paris and later on for Hilton, in Rotterdam, Brussels and Evian-les-bains.
Then I decided time had come for me to come back to Brussels and to work for myself - away from the "big ones". Since 2008 I have been working as a consultant in the hospitality and tourism business in Brussels, with one specific goal: to increase awareness of the importance of quality in hospitality and tourism, in order to improve its impact on the economy.
Did the position of general manager of a hotel change over the last few years?
Yes, unfortunately, at least in big hotel chains. Standardization, centralization, clustering, forecasting, reporting, restructuring… all this leaves little room to a general manager today for creativity, initiatives, time for his/her employees … and guests. Hospitality has become a business like every other business; run by finance people and shareholders who do not know - or have forgotten - the meaning of "hospitality".
But history repeats itself and, luckily, we see again an increasing number of private investors creating small original hotels (call them "boutique" or not): although profit remains the ultimate objective of course, service and personalization are their ambition.
You have worked in different hotels in and outside Belgium, what can you tell us about working abroad?
The willingness to relocate is essential in hospitality, at least if you want to move forward professionally. This might be the reason why there are fewer women in that job. It remains quite difficult, if you are married, to ask your husband to quit his job because you want to travel. The opposite is more commonly accepted.
Also, being a hotel manager means you are available 24 hours/day - 7 days a week: hotels are full of surprises, anything can happen any time. Therefore it's practically impossible to have a "normal family life". Many hotel managers, and certainly if they relocate, are divorced or single. Usually, at least in (American) hotel chains, you have to move every 3-4 years. Meaning you have to also start a new social life every time.
Of course, you can also run a hotel without moving abroad. But, to my view, this leads to routine and to a lack of vision.
What is the situation of women in the tourism industry? How are they represented compared to men?
I think Tourism is very similar to the hotel industry in that sense. There are some women who are at the head of tourist offices, but I'm not sure the proportion is different from other industries. Just to show: the Board of the tourist office in Brussels has no women members. There are just 2 women who are "allowed" to attend the executive committee: one secretary and one legal advisor.
However, there has been a positive development recently: following the departure from Brussels of Mr Frederic De Deken, the Brussels Hotel Association (BHA) is given a new Chairman, or rather a Chairwoman, in the person of Mrs Sophie Blondel, General Manager of the Stanhope Hotel.
Is there something specific that women can bring to the tourism industry? Can they bring more benefits or something different?
A soul maybe? And a more human approach? We cannot generalize, of course, but I think women are more attentive in general, more focused on details too - this would greatly benefit the hotel industry at the moment. Especially with the desire for more personalization that we see from tourists today.
There are more and more women travelling for business, do you see that reflected in the hotels in Brussels, are hotels adapting their services?
We do not have statistics about gender in hotels, except as far as employees are concerned. To my knowledge, there are also no statistics on women vs men travelling in Europe. What I can say is that the number of respondents to our satisfaction survey is 50/50 every year.
I also do not think a lot of hotels have a different approach for women, and staff are for sure not trained in that sense.
In the eighties, Ramada created a "woman friendly" program. This program disappeared quite quickly - it was much too "segregational" and "too American" in my view.
After several years working in hotels and in different roles at corporate headquarters in operations, finance, sales and HR, Huguette Maison-D'Ardenne spent 20 years as General Manager with international hotel chains such as Accor, Ramada, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Hilton - in Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
Many times during her career, she took up the challenges she was given to rethink, reorganize and rebuild the businesses she was responsible for. Today she uses this experience and know-how as a consultant at the service of other companies, in Tourism and Hospitality. Among other projects she launched a program at the Brussels Tourist Office to improve the quality of Brussels as a tourist destination.
Any views and opinions presented in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Visitbrussels, nor do they constitute a legally binding agreement.


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Home Financial News Amid Coronavirus Distress, Wealthy Hospitals Hoard Millions
Amid Coronavirus Distress, Wealthy Hospitals Hoard Millions
Jordan Rau
Inova Health System, with campuses in some of the wealthiest suburbs of Washington, D.C., and Truman Medical Centers, a safety-net hospital in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, have little in common. But, today, they are confronting the same financial plague: mass cancellations of nonessential surgeries that are their biggest moneymakers while bracing for an expensive onslaught of coronavirus patients.
Yet Truman has less than a month's worth of cash reserves to keep it afloat while Inova entered the outbreak with enough money to operate for at least 21 months, according to Inova's financial disclosure for 2019, before the stock market decline. At that time, Inova told its bondholders it had $3.1 billion in investments it could liquidate within three days. Tapping any of that may never be necessary because Inova also drew down its entire $238 million line of credit earlier this year to prepare for the pandemic.
"At the end of the day, not all hospitals are created equal," said Charlie Shields, Truman's president and CEO. "If you were sitting on a year of … cash on hand, that would not be as challenging, but most safety-net hospitals are south of 25 days, and we're probably around 10. How do you manage through that?"
But Dr. J. Stephen Jones, Inova's president and CEO, said, "Our finances are a mess at this point," with the system postponing non-urgent treatments and eliminating 427 administration and management positions.
"This is an existential threat to every health care organization, no matter how strong they come into it," said Jones, who cut his own salary by 25%.
As the coronavirus wreaks havoc with hospital finances, wealthy hospitals sitting on millions or even billions of dollars are in a competitive stampede against near-insolvent hospitals for the same limited pots of financial relief. Those include the $175 billion bailout fund Congress allotted for health care providers as part of two recent coronavirus packages and loans from private banks.
Certainly, even the richest hospitals are having their balance sheets despoiled by a triple punch: the stock market slump, the cost of preparation for coronavirus patients and the cessation of profitable surgeries, which is costing many hospitals half or more of their revenues. Inova, for instance, has spent $32 million to buy personal protective equipment and install negative air pressure systems in 200 hospital rooms, Jones said. (As of Monday morning, the system had 323 coronavirus patients.)
But unlike safety-net and smaller hospitals, many big health systems have the resources to stay afloat without financial assistance through the summer and beyond. Half of the 284 hospitals whose bonds Moody's Investors Service rated in 2018 had enough cash on hand to cover six months or more.
They also don't have to rely for survival on revenue from only treating patients. Before the stock market drop, 365 hospitals — about one of every 13 — reported an investment portfolio exceeding $100 million, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis of hospital cost reports from 2018 filed with Medicare. Together, those investments pumped $2.8 billion into those hospitals that year.
"A lot of the big hospitals have developed fortress balance sheets since the financial crisis" of 2008, said Chas Roades, co-founder and CEO of Gist Healthcare, a consulting firm. "The reflex is to protect the operation." But, he said, "if that's a rainy day fund, it's raining pretty hard right now."
The wealthier hospitals face sacrifices that other hospitals might envy, such as having to postpone ambitious building projects or adding to their already large investment portfolios. They are less concerned with running out of money than with depleting their cash reservoirs so much that their credit ratings would be downgraded, which could lead to higher borrowing costs.
"Most would prefer to have a line of credit than liquidate a stock holding," said Lisa Goldstein, an associate managing director at Moody's.
UCHealth, a 12-hospital nonprofit system in Colorado, has temporarily stopped contributing to its investments, which as of the end of last year totaled more than $544 million in cash and liquid investments and $4 billion in long-term investments, according to its financial disclosure report. Even before the pandemic, it had been stockpiling extra cash to build an 11-story tower at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver that will cost $388 million, said Dan Rieber, UCHealth's chief financial officer. The system has enough liquidity to operate for more than 300 days without any new income and has obtained new lines of credit.
But when large health systems draw down those lines of credit, it makes it harder for smaller hospitals to get private aid because lenders may be tapped out, said Christopher Kerns, a vice president at Advisory Board, a health care consulting firm. "In our own discussions with lenders, there's only so much cash that's available, and that is putting the squeeze on the small or midsize organizations, and they are finding themselves very crushed," Kerns said.
The federal Health and Human Services Department has not made financial leeway assets a factor in deciding how it will distribute the $100 billion bailout fund passed in March. The department is doling out the first $30 billion based on how much each health care provider was paid by Medicare last year. The department plans to distribute the remaining money with an eye toward the prevalence of coronavirus infections in a hospital or region, and in the number of low-income and uninsured patients. The latest federal stimulus package — signed by President Donald Trump on Friday — added $75 billion to the relief fund.
"There isn't a mechanism right now to distinguish between the exceedingly well-endowed hospitals and those that are struggling," said Dan Mendelson, founder of the consulting company Avalere Health and a private equity investor.
The association representing safety-net hospitals, America's Essential Hospitals, has urged that cash reserves be a factor in divvying up the money, which is widely viewed as insufficient to cover all hospitals' costs. Some member hospitals have fewer than 10 days of cash reserves and run on average margins of 1.6%, a fifth of the industry average, according to the group.
"Our hospitals are struggling now to manage surging patient volume, staff and supply shortages, and other severe challenges as their limited cash reserves dwindle," Dr. Bruce Siegel, the association's president, said in a statement.
Certainly, even the wealthiest hospitals are seeing their robust balance sheets being turned upside down. Following the guidance of the federal government, UCHealth has postponed elective surgeries, leading to a drop in business of 50% to 60%. Elizabeth Concordia, UCHealth's CEO, said the system expects that it will not completely rebound even when the pandemic has diminished because many older people will be reluctant to return for elective surgeries for fear they might become infected with the coronavirus.
She said UCHealth is also on the front lines of fighting the pandemic. It currently has admitted 240 COVID-19 patients, more than any other Colorado hospital, and has been analyzing tests for rural hospitals without yet setting a contract for how much it will be reimbursed. It has also maintained its 25,000-person workforce without imposing pay reductions or furloughs.
"COVID is having a devastating impact on all of our finances," Concordia said.
But for those hospitals with their own wealth, investment earnings can provide a buffer that most hospitals don't have. In a forthcoming paper in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health led by Ge Bai found that nearly all investment earnings for nonprofit hospitals were earned by just a quarter of the hospitals. Without that amount, their aggregate net income would have been 31% lower.
Investment income made up 5% of the total revenue for Trinity Health, a 92-hospital Catholic system based in Michigan and operating in 22 states, according to its financial disclosures to bondholders covering the last six months of 2019. Those investment earnings of $468 million accounted for 58% of Trinity's surplus.
As of December, Trinity had $9.6 billion in cash and investments, enough to operate for six months. It also reported credit lines totaling $1.2 billion. Trinity did not respond to requests for comment.
The wealthier hospital systems are strongly positioned to take full advantage of whatever method the government sets for distributing the remainder of the bailout funds. They employ more reimbursement staff and have in place sophisticated methods to document every expense that they can attribute to the coronavirus response, said Simone Rauscher Singh, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
"The big hospitals are ramping up their capacity to document all this so they can go back later and say, 'This is what we spent,'" she said. "The small hospitals are going to be in an even worse position to do that."
The article was published at Amid Coronavirus Distress, Wealthy Hospitals Hoard Millions
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Policy making in Iceland over the past century has resulted in the savings of 350 million tons in CO2 emissions and could reach 50 million tons of CO2 in savings annually through a policy of ecological utilisation, which in six years is equivalent to the annual emissions of France, with a population of 66 million people.
Orkustofnun has evaluated the CO2 savings from using geothermal instead of oil from 1914 through 2014. The accumulated savings are 140 million tons by utilizing geothermal instead of using oil for heating and production of electricity as is widely done abroad. Two thirds of the CO2 savings are the contribution of the Icelandic district heating utilities over the past century.


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At the University of Exeter we combine teaching excellence and high levels of student satisfaction with world class research at our beautiful campuses in Devon and Cornwall.
Why choose Exeter?
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There are more than 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans. An estimated 10 per cent of the plastics we produce end up in the sea. Researchers from the University of Exeter are leading the way in investigating the effect this has on the health of humans and wildlife.
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Not only is Exeter a beautiful place to live, but it's also such a great learning environment. I find it really easy to talk to my lecturers about the course content or even just things that interest me and the University is constantly improving facilities to supplement our learning. There is so much support available to aid your studies and future career as well as your general wellbeing. I feel like, when I leave, I will be well-rounded and ready for what the world has to throw at me.
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My decision to study on Penryn Campus and adjust to life in Cornwall was a huge leap of faith. A year down the line and many smiles and laughs later, I couldn't be happier with my choice. At Penryn Campus, you don't make friends, you make family. My favourite aspect about studying here has to be the people. The size of Penryn Campus means that you belong to a closely-knit community. You get to benefit from the extremely high quality of education the University of Exeter has to offer whilst forming long-term friendships along the way.
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Exeter is a vibrant, regional University. Its global outlook and diversity fosters a culture of open-ness, innovation and collaboration with researchers from all backgrounds; in industry, in non-Government organisations and at other universities. Exeter's entrepreneurial research culture enables me to explore new horizons, establish enduring research partnerships and exploit the latest research technologies. Working in this way I have been able to build a multinational team focused on solving long-term problems in sustainable energy, pollution and health.
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Case Studies (330)
American chestnut dominant forests to red maple dominant forests
Written by Ross Shackleton
Add Image Add Reference Add Resource Edit Detailed Info
Ross Shackleton
Other Contributors:
Brendon Larson, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs
American Chestnut Blight Results of the American Chestnut blight are documented on the Chattahoochee National Forest in north Georgia, 1930.
American Chestnut, Central Maryland. Photograph supplied by the United States Forest Service.
Map of infected American chestnut trees, Invasion of chestnut blight with time. The shaded area represents chestnut tree populations that have not been fully invaded yet (from Gravatt, 1949).
Causal loop diagram
The eastern parts of the USA were once dominated by American chestnut tree forests (Castanea dentata), making up 40-85 % of canopy cover. However, an invasive alien fungus known as chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) was accidently introduced to New York in the early 1900s at a time of significantly increased global trade. American chestnut trees had no resistance to this Asian fungus and it spread rapidly across the eastern coast. By the 1930s it had reached the southern Application forests in Virginia and North Carolina and killed almost all chestnut trees in the area (Anagnostikas, 1982; Freinkel, 2007). It continued to spread further into South Carolina and Georgia. By the mid-1950s over 3.6 million hectares of chestnuts trees, almost the entire population, were dead or dying (Anagnostikas, 1987). Only about 1 % of chestnuts now remain, mainly as small coppiced shrubs.
The loss of chestnut trees in the USA had significant negative impacts on the supply of timber, tannins, fodder and food products, negatively impacting the livelihoods of foresters and local communities as well and native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning (Freinkel, 2007). It resulted in the loss of a key food and shelter sources for wild animals in the region and altered nutrient cycles (Smock and McGregor, 1988; Ellison et al. 2005). For up to 50 years many forests in the eastern US had large gaps.
Hickory filled in these gaps over time and became the dominant forest species (McCormick and Platt, 1980). Due to exclusion of fire in the mid to late 1900s, red maple outcompeted hickory and is now the dominate forest species in the Appellation area.
Historically a number of techniques have been used to try and manage chestnut blight invasion, but the majority have failed. This included spaying of fungicide that did not work, and the use of biological control that had limited success. More recently genetic modification and breeding techniques are being implemented to produce chestnut blight resistant strains of C. dentate (Milgroom and Cortesi, 2004; Jacobs, 2007). Replanting of resistant strains into native forests has begun recently.
Type of regime shift
Ecosystem type
Temperate & Boreal Forests
Land uses
Small-scale subsistence crop cultivation
Large-scale commercial crop cultivation
Intensive livestock production (eg feedlots, dairies)
Extensive livestock production (natural rangelands)
Timber production
Spatial scale of the case study
Sub-continental/regional (e.g. southern Africa, Amazon basin)
Continent or Ocean
East coase of the USA
Locate with Google Map
View more info & key references
Key direct drivers
Species introduction or removal
Intensive livestock production (eg feedlots)
Extensive livestock production (rangelands)
Land use impacts are primarily off-site (e.g. dead zones)
Key Ecosystem Processes
Nutrient cycling
Provisioning services
Wild animal and plant products
Woodfuel
Fuel and fiber crops
Regulating services
Regulation of soil erosion
Aesthetic values
Knowledge and educational values
Spiritual and religious
Livelihoods and economic activity
Cultural, aesthetic and recreational values
Key Attributes
Spatial scale of RS
Sub-continental/regional
Time scale of RS
Irreversible (on 100 year time scale)
Hysteretic
Contemporary observations
Confidence: Existence of RS
Well established – Wide agreement in the literature that the RS exists
Confidence: Mechanism underlying RS
Well established – Wide agreement on the underlying mechanism
Alternate regimes
American chestnut dominant forests
The original regime consisted of American chestnut dominant forests (40-85 % canopy cover) throughout the east coast of the USA. This was a keystone species in the area – particularly for its role as a food and shelter source for animals. It was also highly prized by humans for timber, tannin, food and fodder.
Hickory and red maple dominant forests
For up to 50 years in some cases there were large gaps within forests where American chestnuts had died. These gapes were later filled by hickory species which became the dominant tree cover. Later fire exclusion caused hickory to be replaced by red maple, which is now the dominant forest tree species in the Appellation area of the USA.
Drivers and causes of the regime shift
The main driver of the regime shift was the accidental introduction of an invasive alien fungus (chestnut blight). This was underpinned by an increase in global trade in the early 1900s.
How the regime shift worked
The accidental introduction of an alien fungus (chestnut blight) to New York was the primary driver of the shift. American chestnuts native to the US were not resistant to this Asian fungus, and it rapidly spread across the country killing almost all chestnut trees.
The hickory and red maple regime is maintained by the suppression of American chestnut biomass and seedbanks resulting from the severe reduction of adult chestnut trees due to the invasive chestnut blight fungus. Furthermore, exclusion of natural fires has aided red maple to become dominant over other tree species along the eastern parts of the USA, in particular in the Appellations.
Impacts on ecosystem services and human well-being
This regime shift had many negative impacts on ecosystem services. Negative effects on provisioning services include loss of timber, food, tannin production, and livestock fodder (Anagnostikas, 1987). The loss of chestnut trees has also resulted in altered water and soil nutrient cycling, and resulted in the loss of carbon sequestration potential (Ellison et al. 2005). The American chestnuts provided many cultural services, including aesthetic and spiritual values. The American chestnut had always been a tree that American citizens closely identified with (Anagnostikas, 1987; Freinkel, 2007).
These negative impacts of chestnut blight had substantial costs for local livelihoods and human well-being. This included the loss of livelihood strategies and income for people in the timber, tannin and nut production industry. Nuts were also commonly collected and traded (bartered) for other supplies especially by poorer households (Anagnostikas, 1987). It has also resulted in a negative change for cultural identity and loss of cultural practices, as chestnut trees were a popular ornamental, collecting of nuts was a cultural tradition for families, and the tree was symbolic for many Americans.
A number of actions were implemented to try and manage the impact of chestnut blight fungus. This included spraying of fungicide and quarantining and destroying infected trees. However, this did not work effectively. There was also attempted use of biological control for the chestnut blight fungus using a hypovirulence agent. This had mixed success, working well in some regions but not in others (Milgroom and Cortesi, 2004). Attempts are now being made to breed and genetically modify chestnut trees to produce chestnut blight resistant cultivars and hybrids for replanting and restoration of chestnut tree forests in the USA (Jacobs, 2007).
Anagnostakis SL. 1982. Biological control of chestnut blight. Science, 466-471.
Anagnostakis SL. 1987.Chestnut blight: The classical problem of an introduced pathogen. Mycologia 79, 23-37.
Diskin M, Steiner KC, Herbard FV, Recovery of American chestnut characteristics following hybridization and backcross breeding to restore blight-ravaged Castanea dentate. Forest Ecology and Management 223, 439-447.
Ellison AM et al. 2005. Loss of foundation species: consequences for the structure and dynamics of forested ecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 3, 479-486.
Freinkel S. 2007. American chestnut: the life, death and rebirth of a perfect tree. University of California Press.
Jacobs DF. 2007. Towards development of silvical strategies for forest restoration of American chestnut (Castanea dentata) using blight-resistant hybrids. Biological Conservation 137, 497-506.
Loo JA. 2009. Ecological impacts of non-indigenous invasive fungi as forest pathogens. Biological Invasions 11, 81-96.
McCormick JF, Platt RB. 1980. Recovery of an Appalachian forest following the chestnut blight or Caherine Keever – you were right! The American Midland Naturalist 104, 264-273.
Milgroom MG, Cortesi P. 2004. Biological control of chestnut blight with hypovirulence: a critical analysis. Annual review of Phytopathology 42, 311-338.
Paillet FL. 2002. Chestnut: history and ecology of a transformed species. Journal of Biogeography 29, 1517-1530
Smock LA, MacGregor CM. 1988. Impact of the American chestnut blight on aquatic shredding macroinvertibrates, Journal of the North American Benthological Society 7, 212-221.
Ross Shackleton, Brendon Larson, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs. American chestnut dominant forests to red maple dominant forests. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2018-01-26 12:03:01 GMT.
Published in Case Studies
Primary Production in the Arctic Ocean
Written by Juan Carlos
Patricia Villarrubia Gomez, Helene Albinus Søgaard, Karl Samuelsson, Sophie Laggan
Thorsten Blenckner
Current shifts in Arctic phytoplankton phenology above the Arctic Circle (>66.58°N). (a) Histogram of different types of annual cycles for three periods (1998–2001, 2002–2006, and 2007–2012). (b) Map adapted from the World Wildlife Fund agency showing per
A shift from polar to temperate primary production (PP) patterns has been detected in the Arctic Ocean. Following a regime shift in the North Atlantic in 1995, similar structural changes are now occurring in Arctic waters. Rapid warming of atmospheric and oceanic temperatures has caused a near year-on-year decline in the extent and thickness of summer sea ice since 1979 (NSIDC 2014). Anthropogenic climatic change has extended the growing season and delayed August freeze-up through a decline in albedo reflectivity and enhanced wind-driven vertical mixing. Natural modes of variability at the lower latitudes has also led to poleward shifts of temperate marine species and caused pronounced phenological changes to primary producers. The difference in the temporal scale of these forcing mechanisms makes it hard to predict which event is causing changes to PP. It is uncertain what impact this change will have on the food web of this ecosystem.
View more info & key references RS Analysis
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Patricia Villarrubia Gomez, Helene Albinus Søgaard, Karl Samuelsson, Sophie Laggan, Thorsten Blenckner. Primary Production in the Arctic Ocean. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2017-10-16 18:30:40 GMT.
Arctic Benthos Borealisation
Sara Andersson, Noah Linder, Katharina Fryers Hellquist, Linn Järnberg
Thorsten Blenckner, Juan Carlos Rocha
Barents Sea maps of mean degree centrality (mean no. of feeding links) of 51 fish for the years (a) 2004 and (b) 2012. The dots indicate the position of sampling stations (approx. 400) and the size of the dots is proportional to the mean fish degree at th
A regime shift occurred on the west coast of Svalbard in 1996 and 2000; the former Arctic benthos was mainly constituted by red calcareous algae and filter feeders whereas the present subarctic benthos is dominated by macroalgae. The main drivers of this shift are increases in sea surface temperature and inflow of light that are both due to global warming and changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation. Changes in benthos could impact other trophic levels, potentially affecting commercial fisheries as well as tourism. The implications for ecosystem services and human well-being are highly uncertain. Management options are mainly to reduce greenhouse gases to combat global warming and an adaptive management approach is also proposed on a local scale.
Local/landscape (e.g. lake, catchment, community)
Svalvard
Holling, C. S. 1978. Adaptive Enviromental Assessment and Management. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Beuchel, Frank, Bjørn Gulliksen, and Michael L. Carroll. 2006. "Long-Term Patterns of Rocky Bottom Macrobenthic Community Structure in an Arctic Fjord (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard) in Relation to Climate Variability (1980–2003)." Journal of Marine Systems 63(1-2):35–48.
Bischoff, B., and C. Wiencke. 1993. "Temperature Requirements for Growth and Survival of Macroalgae from Disko Island (Greenland)." Helgoländer Meeresuntersuchungen 47(2):167–91.
Drinkwater, Kenneth F. 2006. "The Regime Shift of the 1920s and 1930s in the North Atlantic." Progress in Oceanography 68(2-4):134–51.
Grebmeier, Jacqueline M. et al. 2006. "A Major Ecosystem Shift in the Northern Bering Sea." Science (New York, N.Y.) 311(5766):1461–64.
IPCC. 2013. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Cambridge, United Kingdom andNew York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Johansen, H. W. 1981. Coralline Algae, A First Synthesis. CRC Press.
Johansen, H. W. 1981. Coralline Algae, A First Synthesis. CRC Press. Kortsch, Susanne et al. 2012. "Climate-Driven Regime Shifts in Arctic Marine Benthos." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109(35):14052–57. Snelgrove, Paul V. R. 1999. "Getting to the Bottom of Marine Biodiversity : Sedimentary Habitats Ocean Bottoms Are the Most Widespread Habitat on Earth and Support High Biodiversity and Key Ecosystem Services." BioScience 49(2):129–38. Viken, Arvid. 2010. "Tourism, Research, and Governance on Svalbard: A Symbiotic Relationship." Polar Record 47(04):335–47. Weslawski, Jan M. et al. 2011. "Climate Change Effects on Arctic Fjord and Coastal Macrobenthic Diversity—observations and Predictions." Marine Biodiversity 41(1):71–85.
Kortsch, Susanne et al. 2012. "Climate-Driven Regime Shifts in Arctic Marine Benthos." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109(35):14052–57.
Snelgrove, Paul V. R. 1999. "Getting to the Bottom of Marine Biodiversity : Sedimentary Habitats Ocean Bottoms Are the Most Widespread Habitat on Earth and Support High Biodiversity and Key Ecosystem Services." BioScience 49(2):129–38. Viken, Arvid. 2010. "Tourism, Research, and Governance on Svalbard: A Symbiotic Relationship." Polar Record 47(04):335–47.
Snelgrove, Paul V. R. 1999. "Getting to the Bottom of Marine Biodiversity : Sedimentary Habitats Ocean Bottoms Are the Most Widespread Habitat on Earth and Support High Biodiversity and Key Ecosystem Services." BioScience 49(2):129–38. Viken, Arvid. 2010. "Tourism, Research, and Governance on Svalbard: A Symbiotic Relationship." Polar Record 47(04):335–47. Weslawski, Jan M. et al. 2011. "Climate Change Effects on Arctic Fjord and Coastal Macrobenthic Diversity—observations and Predictions." Marine Biodiversity 41(1):71–85.
Weslawski, Jan M. et al. 2011. "Climate Change Effects on Arctic Fjord and Coastal Macrobenthic Diversity—observations and Predictions." Marine Biodiversity 41(1):71–85.
Sara Andersson, Noah Linder, Katharina Fryers Hellquist, Linn Järnberg, Thorsten Blenckner, Juan Carlos Rocha. Arctic Benthos Borealisation. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2017-10-16 18:30:19 GMT.
Invasive floating to submerged plant dominance in South Africa
Written by Kristi Maciejewski
Emily Strange
Julie Coetzee, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs
The invasive flFloating Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) in South Africa
The invasive submerged Brazilian waterweed, Egeria densa, being removed mechanically from Liesbeek River in Cape Town, South Africa 2015
The host-specific biological control agent for Water lettuce, Neohydronomus affinis (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).
As naturally occurring large bodies of freshwater are rare in South Africa there are numerous man-made dams and lakes, these systems are highly vulnerable to colonization from non-native invasive plants due to multiple factors. Firstly, there is a lack of native aquatic plant species to occupy the water column and compete for resources. Secondly they are often eutrophic systems, caused by anthropogenic activity such as intensive agriculture and improper human waste disposal, and nutrient loading is a known driver of invasive plants. Also, it has been argued that the intrinsic nature of freshwater systems leads them to be disproportionately affected by non native invasive species when compared with terrestrial systems (Moorhouse and McDonald 2015).
This combination has lead to a long battle against floating invasive plants that dominate many of South Africa's freshwater resources.. These plants form dense mats on the waters surface, restricting light to other species, damaging hydroelectric equipment, limiting water quality and reducing biodiversity. They can also play host to vectors of disease such as malari and schistosomiasis (Mack and Smith, 2011). The implementation of classical biological control programs, using the natural enemies of the invasive plants, has proven to be a huge success when controlling detrimental invasive plants such as water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L. (Araceae)), Kariba weed (Salvinia molesta D.S. Mitchell (Salviniaceae)), parrots feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum (Vellozo Conceição) Verdcourt) and red water fern (Azolla filiculoides Lamarck (Azollaceae)) (Hill 2002)
The host-specific biological control agents (BCAs), typically insects and mites, have coevolved with the plants in their natural range and are intentionally introduced to manage invasive plant populations.
The overall aim of this is to induce a regime shift into a functioning system with high native biodiversity and freshwater access. However, we propose that whilst the BCAs do lead to a dramatic reduction in the biomass and health of the floating plant, it can also act as a catalyst inducing a shift into a second degraded stable regime. This second regime is one that is dominated by submerged invasive plants. The establishment of the BCAs on the floating plants can lead to a rapid plant population crash and the nutrients they were locking up are released. At the same time submerged light levels are restored in the water column, enabling a new suite of submerged invasive plants to flourish. The increase in space, light and nutrients promotes the submerged plant growth and as they continue to photosynthesize the levels of dissolved oxygen in the water rise. This improvement in water quality, alongside a limited number of native submerged plants to compete with, helps to establish and maintain this second stable regime (invasive submerged plant dominance). These rooted plants can alter water flow, turbidity and sediment stabilization (Yarrow et al. 2009). They can also degrade water quality and biodiversity, restrict access to freshwater and damage hydro-electrical equipment.
Submerged to Floating Plants
Freshwater lakes & rivers
Charles H & Dukes JS. 2007. Impacts of invasive species on ecosystem services. Biological Invasions; Ecological Studies 193.
Coetzee et al. 2011 Prospects for the biological control of submerged macrophytes in South Africa. African Entomology : Biological control of invasive alien plants in South Africa (1999 - 2010): Special Issue 2.
Coetzee J & Hill MP. 2012. The role of eutrophication in the biological control of water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes, in South Africa. BioControl 57, 247-261.
Hill MP. 2002. The impact and control of alien aquatic vegetation in South African aquatic ecosystems. African Journal of Aquatic Science 28, 19-24
Mack RN & Smith MC. 2011. Invasive plants as catylsts for the spread of human parasites. NeoBiota 9, 13-29.
Martin GD & Coetzee JA. 2011. Pet stores, aquarists and the internet trade as modes of introduction and spread of invasive macrophytes in South Africa. Water SA [online] 37, pp. 371-380. ISSN 0378-4738
McConnachie J, de Wit, MP, Hill MP, Byrne MJ. Economic evaluation of the successful biological control of Azolla filiculoides in South Africa, Biological Control, 28 (1) ISSN 1049-9644.
Moorhouse and McDonald. 2015. Are invasives worse in freshwater than terrestrial ecosystems? Wiley Periodicals
Yarrow M, Marin VH, Finlayson M, Tironi A, Delgado LE & Fishcher F. 2009. The ecology of Egeria densa Planchon (Liliopsida: Alismatales): A wetland ecosystem engineer? Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 82, 299-313.
Emily Strange, Julie Coetzee, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs. Invasive floating to submerged plant dominance in South Africa. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2018-01-17 14:16:54 GMT.
Megadiverse fynbos shrublands to invasive wattle tree monoculture
Dave Richardson, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs
Large stand of invasive wattles being cleared to access grazing
Impenetrable wattle invasion
Wattle invasion to the right of the road and well managed fynbos to the left
The southwestern tip of Africa is home to the Fynbos biome (Cape Floristic Region), which is characterised by highly diverse plant groups, many of which are endemic and occur nowhere else in the world. Numerous species of Australian acacia (wattles) were introduced to South Africa for multiple reasons, including sand/dune stabilisation, ornamental purposes, and forestry. Many species have subsequently naturalised and some are widespread invaders. The Australian wattles have filled an empty niche (trees in a virtually treeless system) causing a regime shift. This shift has induced many negative impacts to the social-ecological system in the area. These include alterations to fire and hydrological systems, changes in soil nutrient cycles, biodiversity loss, and negative impacts on local livelihoods and human well-being through loss of grazing, water supply, ecotourism and increased exposure to natural hazards. Ongoing management interventions include mechanical and chemical control and the use of biological control agents.
Introduction of aline species (Biological invasions)
Mediterranean shrubs (egFynbos)
Western Cape, South Africa
Allsopp N. 2014. Fynbos: ecology, evolution and conservation of a megadiverse region. Oxford University Press, USA.
Blackburn T, et al. 2011. A proposed unified framework for biological invasions. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 26, 333-339.
Charles H, and Dukes JS. 2008. Impacts of invasive species on ecosystem services. In: Biological Invasions, Nentwig, W. (ed). Springer, Berlin. pp 217-237.
Gaertner M, et al. 2014. Invasive plants as drivers of regime shifts: identifying high-priority invaders that alter feedback relationships. Diversity and Distributions 20,733-744.
Le Maitre D, et al 1996. Invasive plants and water resources in the Western Cape province, South Africa; Modeling and the consequences of a lack of management. Journal of Applied Ecology 33, 161-172.
Le Maitre D, et al. 2011 Impacts of invasive Australian acacias: implications for management and restoration. Diversity and Distributions 17, 1015-1029.
Richardson DM, et al. 1989. Reductions in plant species richness under stands of alien trees and shrubs in the fynbos biome. South African Forestry Journal 149,1-8.
Shackleton CM, et al 2007. Assessing the effects of alien species on rural livelihoods; case examples and a framework from South Africa. Human Ecology 35, 113-127.
Turpie J, et al. 2003. Economic value of terrestrial and marine biodiversity in the Cape Floristic Region: implications for defining effective and socially optimal conservation strategies. Biological Conservation 122, 233-251.
van Wilgen BW, et al 2012. An assessment of the effectiveness of a large national-scale invasive alien plant control strategy in South Africa. Biological Conservation 148, 28-38.
van Wilgen BW, et al. 2011. National-scale strategic approaches for managing introduced plants: Insights from Australian acacias in South Africa. Diversity and Distributions 17, 1060-1075.
Wilson JRU, et al. 2013. A new national unite for invasive species detection, assessment and eradication planning. South African Journal of Science 109, 1-13.
Ross Shackleton, Dave Richardson, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs. Megadiverse fynbos shrublands to invasive wattle tree monoculture. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2018-05-30 08:50:01 GMT.
Mediterranean Basin - fire regime
Written by Juli Pausas
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Juli Pausas, Ross Shackleton
In the European region of the Mediterranea Basin there was an abrupt fire regime shift in such a way that fires increased in annual frequency (doubled) and area burned (by about an order of magnitude). The main driver of this shift was the increase in fuel amount and continuity due to rural depopulation (vegetation and fuel build-up after farm abandonment) suggesting that fires were fuel-limited previous to the shift. Climatic conditions are poorly related to wildfire activity during the pre-shift period and strongly related during the to post-shift period, suggesting that fires are currently less fuel limited and more drought-driven than before. Thus, the fire regime shift implies also a shift in the main driver for fire activity. This shift was dated in the 1970s in Spain but this may varies in other countries.
Fire regime shift
Mediterranean Basin
Pausas J.G. & Fernández-Muñoz S. 2012. Fire regime changes in the Western Mediterranean Basin: from fuel-limited to drought-driven fire regime. Climatic Change 110: 215-226.
Pausas J.G. & Fernández-Muñoz S. 2012. Fire regime changes in the Western Mediterranean Basin: from fuel-limited to drought-driven fire regime. Climatic Change 110: 215-226. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0060-6
Juli Pausas, Ross Shackleton, Dave Richardson, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs. Mediterranean Basin - fire regime. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2018-01-17 14:28:25 GMT.
Vegetation regime shifts in Yamal-Nenets
Written by Hanna Ahlström
Jonas Gren, Fernando Remolina, Hanna Ahlström, Ashley Perl
Juan Carlos Rocha
Nenets reindeer sledge
Nenets in the tundra near Dudikna
The Yamal-Nenets social-ecological system comprises about 5000 nomadic reindeer herders and 300 000 semi-domestic reindeers, moving with the seasons in 21 different brigades from the southern tree limit up north, across the Arctic tundra. Shrub encroachment has been observed during the last three decades, but has been controlled by reindeer grazing. These changes have produced two regime states: shrubland without reindeer herding, and open land with reindeer herding. The first regime is mainly caused by temperature increase, which has produced warmer winters, summers and extended growing seasons. These temperature changes have altered the controlling feedbacks of the tundra, such as slow growth of shrubs, microbial activity, and decomposition litter rates. This regime is hence seen as the undesirable regime for the Yamal-Nenets social-ecological system.
Bush Encroachment
Agro-ecosystems
Yamal Peninsula, Northwest Siberia
Aune, S., Hofgaard, A., & Söderström, L. 2011. Contrasting climate- and land-use-driven tree encroachment patterns of subarctic tundra in northern Norway and the Kola. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 41(3), 437–449.
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Collapse of Newfoundland cod fisheries, Northwest Atlantic
Written by Roweena Patel
Roweena Patel, Kate Williman, Viveca Mellegard, Philipp Siegel
Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, Juan Carlos Rocha
Change Islands Fisheries, Newfoundland 1921. Source: Unknown.
Distribution of Atlantic cod
Newfoundland Cod Fishery socio-ecological system
The Newfoundland cod fishery is a social-ecological system that is centered upon Arctic cod, Gadus morhua populations in the waters off Newfoundland and Labrador in the Northwest Atlantic. High fishing pressure, along with regional climatic variability that delivered colder water to the Northwest Atlantic ocean, disturbed the cod spawning grounds and led to a dramatic cod fishery collapse. Recovery in the fishery has been minimal and very slow, partly because cod population growth will take time to replenish the amount of stock that was lost. This regime shift has impacted ecosystem services by reducing the food source both at the local and the global scale. There has also been a loss of income from cod fishing at the local scale that affects human wellbeing among Newfoundland fishers and the communities relying directly and indirectly on the fishing industry. Actions taken to restore the cod regime shift includes banning of the commercial fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic, tighter regulations and dock-side monitoring programs.
Fisheries collapse
Northern North Atlantic
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Roweena Patel, Kate Williman, Viveca Mellegard, Philipp Siegel, Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, Juan Carlos Rocha. Collapse of Newfoundland cod fisheries, Northwest Atlantic. In: Regime Shifts Database, www.regimeshifts.org. Last revised 2017-02-07 12:18:06 GMT.
Arctic mobility
Written by Cláudia Florêncio
Tove Björklund, Cláudia Florêncio, Rawaf al Rawaf, Rawaf al Rawaf
Inuit hunter jumping ice gap
An Inuit boy untangles dogsled harnesses
Due to anthropogenic climate change and diminishing navigable ice, the Inuit's mobility and available livelihoods are currently undergoing a regime shift. Inuit communities are increasingly relying on both wage employment and traditional subsistence harvesting, indicating we are probably witnessing the transition between these two livelihood regimes. The main drivers for this transition are anthropogenic climate change and increasing access to store-bought goods through trade and import. The necessity to secure access to food (either traditional or store-bought), and the erosion of traditional knowledge and shifting cultural norms are the key processes impacted by these drivers, as evidenced by the state of human well-being and ecosystem services in Inuit communities today.
Arctic Sea-Ice Loss
Arctic Region
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Potential Salmon Collapse
Written by Linnéa Joandi
Daniele Crimella, Linnéa Joandi, Hanna Kylin, Kavita Oehme
Reinette (Oonsie) Biggs, Jennifer Griffiths, Garry Peterson, Juan Carlos Rocha
Pacific salmon fish underwater oncorhynchus
Causal Loop Diagram - Potential Salmon Collapse in the North Pacific Ocean
The potential regime shift in Alaska occurs in the marine system of the North Pacific Ocean. The present regime is characterised by a high abundance of salmon while a potential regime would be characterised by a low abundance of salmon. This is a speculative shift that has not yet occurred. The key feedbacks that maintains the current regime is the reinforcing loop of salmon population dynamics. Feedback mechanism are also present between the local communities´ needs, fishery regulation, salmon population and hatcheries´ effect. The key drivers that could cause the regime shift include climatic anomalies and extremes, fishing pressure, reduced population heterogeneity, variations in primary production, demand for food, the use of hatcheries, global warming, and changes in salmon population structure. Some possible leverage points for intervention to prevent this regime shift involves management concerned with fisheries, hatcheries and global warming.
Potential salmon fishery collapse
Alaska, North East Pacific Ocean
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[Untitled photograph1 of Fisherman with salmon catch]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2014, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Unidentified_Oncorhynchus#mediaviewer/File:Sternfull.JPG
[Untitled photograph2 of Salmon that migrate]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2014, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Oncorhynchus_tshawytscha#mediaviewer/File:Chinook_salmon,_Oncorhynchus_tshawytscha.jpg
[Untitled photograph3 of Adult salmon]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2009, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Oncorhynchus_tshawytscha#mediaviewer/File:Chinook_salmon1.jpg
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Tokaj wine region socialization
Zululand Wetlands
Northern Benguela Marine System


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