What are complex social-ecological systems and what is Complex Systems Science?
Social-ecological systems involve the interaction between humans and the bio-physical world. Examples include: • agriculture • fisheries • climate change • exploitation of natural resources • the national economy • the workings of society itself. These are also examples of complex systems – large aggregations of many smaller interacting parts. Two properties set a complex system apart from one that is merely complicated: • emergence • self-organisation. Emergence is the appearance of behaviour that could not be anticipated from knowledge of the parts of the system alone.
