Disproportionality as a Framework for Linking Social and Biophysical Systems

ABSTRACT Interdisciplinary research is capable of investigating questions that no single or independent collection of disciplines can address. This interdisciplinary approach was used to investigate why nonpoint source pollution to a lake had not changed even though the often cited social drivers of this situation had changed significantly. The concept of disproportionality was adapted to examine social and biophysical interactions at different spatial and temporal scales to address this situation. Rather than using social and biophysical variable as contextual or additive relative to each other, we examined their interactive or multiplicative effects at coarse and fine spatial and temporal scales. Limited occurrence of inappropriate behaviors in vulnerable biophysical settings resulted in disproportionate environmental impacts. The concept of disproportionality implies that the environmental meaning placed on any social behavior requires accounting for where and when it occurs in a biophysical setting, and that a few outliers can determine system performance and outcomes.

[1]  R. Claassen,et al.  Agri-Environmental Policy at the Crossroads: Guideposts on a Changing Landscape , 2001 .

[2]  Robert Gramling,et al.  Oil in Troubled Waters: Perceptions, Politics, and the Battle Over Offshore Drilling , 1994 .

[3]  Paul R. Ehrlich,et al.  Managing Earth's Ecosystems: An Interdisciplinary Challenge , 1999, Ecosystems.

[4]  W. Cochrane,et al.  Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis , 1979 .

[5]  D. Gill,et al.  Units of analysis and the environmental justice hypothesis: The case of industrial hog farms , 2002 .

[6]  Warren M. Lee.  National Resources Conservation Service , 1997 .

[7]  R. G. Gilbert,et al.  The Concept and Need for a Phosphorus Assessment Tool , 1993 .

[8]  L. Downey.  Environmental injustice : Is race or income a better predictor? : Research on the environment , 1998 .

[9]  R. Naiman.  A Perspective on Interdisciplinary Science , 1999, Ecosystems.

[10]  S. Carpenter,et al.  A Phosphorus Budget for the Lake Mendota Watershed , 1999, Ecosystems.

[11]  P. Nowak,et al.  Planned versus actual outcomes as a result of animal feeding operation decisions for managing phosphorus. , 2005, Journal of environmental quality.

[12]  Stephen R. Carpenter,et al.  Resilience and Restoration of Lakes , 1997 .

[13]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[14]  S. Levin.  THE PROBLEM OF PATTERN AND SCALE IN ECOLOGY , 1992 .

[15]  S. Carpenter,et al.  Hares and Tortoises: Interactions of Fast and Slow Variablesin Ecosystems , 2000, Ecosystems.

[16]  K. Holden,et al.  The economic costs of marital dissolution: why do women bear a disproportionate cost? , 1991, Annual review of sociology.

[17]  Ravi Prabhu,et al.  Assessing the Performance of Natural Resource Systems , 2002 .

[18]  Paul Mohai,et al.  Race and the Incidence of Environmental Hazards , 1992 .

[19]  What Ecologists Can Learn from Nuclear Scientists , 1999, Ecosystems.

[20]  R. Thwaites.  The State historical society of Wisconsin , 1898 .

[21]  Val H. Smith,et al.  Cultural Eutrophication of Inland, Estuarine, and Coastal Waters , 1998 .

[22]  Stephen R. Carpenter,et al.  Ecological and Social Dynamics in Simple Models of Ecosystem Management , 1999 .

[23]  C. S. Holling,et al.  Barriers and bridges to the renewal of ecosystems and institutions , 1997 .

[24]  A. Wolf.  Rural nonpoint source pollution control in Wisconsin : the limits of a voluntary program ? , 1995 .

[25]  Chris M. Golde,et al.  The Challenges of Conducting Interdisciplinary Research in Traditional Doctoral Programs , 1999, Ecosystems.

[26]  P. Nowak,et al.  The human dimension of resource management programs , 2004 .

[27]  R. Lal.  Soil and water conservation policies and programs—successes and failures , 2001 .

[28]  Jan E. Leighley,et al.  Mobilizing Institutions and Class Representation in U.S. State Electorates , 1994 .

[29]  Stephen R. Carpenter,et al.  Phosphorus Flow in a Watershed-Lake Ecosystem , 2000, Ecosystems.

[30]  A. Ferguson,et al.  The Assumptions Underlying Eco-Footprinting , 2002 .

[31]  R. Bullard.  Environmental justice : It's more than waste facility siting , 1996 .

[32]  R. Hunt,et al.  Use of a watershed-modeling approach to assess hydrologic effects of urbanization, North Fork Pheasant Branch basin near Middleton, Wisconsin , 2001 .

[33]  R. Shepard,et al.  Nitrogen and phosphorus management on Wisconsin farms: Lessons learned for agricultural water quality programs , 2000 .

[34]  S. Carpenter,et al.  NONPOINT POLLUTION OF SURFACE WATERS WITH PHOSPHORUS AND NITROGEN , 1998 .

[35]  Andrew Abbott.  Department and Discipline: Chicago Sociology at One Hundred , 1999 .

[36]  S. Levin.  The problem of pattern and scale in ecology , 1992 .

[37]  A. Sharpley,et al.  Hydrologic Controls on Phosphorus Loss from Upland Agricultural Watersheds , 1998 .

[38]  Gene Bazan.  Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth , 1997 .

[39]  D. W. Hall,et al.  Soil erosion from two small construction sites, Dane County, Wisconsin , 2000 .

[40]  T. Logan.  Animal Waste Utilization: Effective Use of Manure as a Soil Resource , 1998 .

[41]  David J. Tongway,et al.  A Scaling Rule for Landscape Patches and How It Applies to Conserving Soil Resources in Savannas , 2000, Ecosystems.

[42]  Moti Nissani.  Ten cheers for interdisciplinarity: The case for interdisciplinary knowledge and research , 1997 .

[43]  D. Schindler.  Evolution of phosphorus limitation in lakes. , 1977, Science.

[44]  W. Stahel,et al.  Log-normal Distributions across the Sciences: Keys and Clues , 2001 .

[45]  T. Allen,et al.  Toward a Unified Ecology. , 1994 .

[46]  Stephen R. Carpenter,et al.  Temporal Variation in a Paleolimnological Record Arising from a Trophic Cascade , 1991 .

[47]  Thomas S. Serwatka,et al.  Disproportionate Representation of African Americans in Emotionally Handicapped Classes , 1995 .

[48]  B. A. Stewart,et al.  Farmers and manure management: a critical analysis. , 1998 .

[49]  Michael F. Goodchild,et al.  Spatially integrated social science , 2004 .

[50]  Glenn Firebaugh,et al.  Empirics of World Income Inequality1 , 1999, American Journal of Sociology.