Adaptation or Extinction

Dear Colleagues,

Change is inevitable. To be a sustainable system is to adapt. In other words, adaptation is the mechanism or process by which a system maintains sustainability. Failure to adapt threatens system viability. This special issue of Sustainability addresses this question: On balance, are the world’s most important systems adapting to become more sustainable or are the risks of their extinction increasing over time? This special issue will publish papers that describe specific adaptation successes and failures, and syntheses of trends which may describe whether important systems are heading toward successful adaptation or extinction. Systems under study could range from human civilizations to ecosystems. Papers that address the intersection between human systems adaptations and ecosystems adaptations are encouraged, as are papers that discuss limitations and barriers to adaptation, and characteristics of social/economic and environmental systems that facilitate sustainable adaptation. It is a goal of this special issue to publish papers that explore these issues through multiple perspectives (e.g., social/cultural/political versus genetic/species adaptation, individual versus group adaptation). Papers that explore and describe adaptation and extinction through modeling exercises and simulation in virtual environments are encouraged. This special issue will not publish papers that only provide technical descriptions of models, algorithms, data analysis methods, and/or virtual environments or merely describe enhancements thereof.

Dr. Bruce E. Tonn
Guest Editor