Ecology and the Tragedy of the Commons

Peter Roopnarine
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Peter Roopnarine: Department of Invertebrate Zoology & Geology, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA

Sustainability, 2013, vol. 5, issue 2, 1-25

Abstract: This paper develops mathematical models of the tragedy of the commons analogous to ecological models of resource consumption. Tragedies differ fundamentally from predator–prey relationships in nature because human consumers of a resource are rarely controlled solely by that resource. Tragedies do occur, however, at the level of the ecosystem, where multiple species interactions are involved. Human resource systems are converging rapidly toward ecosystem-type systems as the number of exploited resources increase, raising the probability of system-wide tragedies in the human world. Nevertheless, common interests exclusive of exploited commons provide feasible options for avoiding tragedy in a converged world.

Keywords: tragedy of the commmons; ecological model; mathematical model; ecosystems; mutualism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:5:y:2013:i:2:p:749-773:d:23620

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