Theses and Dissertations Collection

As large-scale environmental issues, such as climate change and its effects, become more pressing, there is growing recognition that they cannot be solved through strictly bounded disciplinary approaches. Many scientists have responded by calling for solutions developed through integrated, interdisciplinary research and application. Social Ecological Systems (SES) approaches attempt to do this through combining ecological and social science methods and perspectives. Using the Mountain Social Ecological Observatory Network, a SES-oriented Research Coordination Network, as an ethnographic case study, this thesis analyzes the interdisciplinarity of SES and provides suggestions for how anthropologists may contribute to its continued development and integration.