The adaptive cycle and the ecosystem services: a social-ecological analysis of Chiloé Island, southern Chile

Abstract

We used the adaptive cycle as a heuristic to conceptualize the changes in ecosystem services between its phases (growth, conservation, collapse, and reorganization) for Chiloé Island (southern Chile), analyzed as a social-ecological system. We generated hypothetical relationships between services and phases based on literature articles, testing them with secondary databases for 1826-2016 and interviews with local actors. Results show that the island is currently either in a late conservation phase or already in a collapse phase. Only provisioning ecosystem services corresponded with the proposed phases' relationships, while regulation-maintenance and cultural services showed long-term decreasing trends. We discuss cross-scale interactions and political centralism as the main factors preventing a local adaptive scheme that may start a reorganization phase.

Keywords

• adaptive cycle
• chiloé island
• collapse
• ecosystem services
• panarchy