Linking social -ecological systems and land -use land -cover change through a complex adaptive systems approach: A cross -border study of Sisaket, Thailand and Ordar Mean Chey, Cambodia

The social-ecological systems (SESs) and land-use land-cover change (LULCC) research programs represent two responses to our need to understand the complexity of human-environment interactions that are driving change at a global level. SESs research has, however, struggled to find ways to quantify broad-scale system processes, while LULCC research has been unable to express its patterns of change in a way that allows cross-site comparison. This dissertation argues that complex adaptive systems (CASs) theory can be used to link SESs and LULCC research. It shows that LULCC, when considered as the tangible expression of an SES, presents an opportunity to measure and quantify the effect of system processes. CASs theory, as used in SESs research, provides the abstraction necessary for extrapolating and predicting LULCC, even in highly dissimilar systems. The concept of diversity, among other CAS characteristics, can be applied to LULCC, allowing systems to be represented as landscapes of land-use land-cover (LULC) diversity, which can then be mapped, measured and contrasted in different study sites.;This research introduces the concept of LULC diversity, as embedded in the framework of CASs, and defines the methodology needed to show how LULC diversity has the potential to allow researchers to find commonalities across a range of different social-ecological systems (SESs). A case study of the adjacent, but different landscapes of Sisaket province, Thailand, and Ordar Mean Chey province, Cambodia is used to test whether the spatial and temporal patterns, as well as the frequency distributions of LULC diversity provide meaningful information of the landscape. Finally, known factors influencing LULC change are used to predict change in LULC diversity instead of in actual LULC types, to determine whether there are general trends in the response patterns of LULC diversity regardless of system type.;Results show that not only is LULC diversity visible as distinct patterns on the landscape, but also that these patterns relate to known features and areas of change -- regardless of system type. While the two SESs do indeed exhibit the same directionality in the responses of their levels of LULC diversity to the different factors, the differences in their biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics result in different strengths of relationship. The findings of this research suggest that LULC diversity reflects the dynamic complexity of the human-dominated landscape. It responds in measurable ways to different factors influencing LULCC. The spatial arrangement of LULC diversity can be used as a means to quantify change in SESs. As such, it provides a means of abstracting landscapes so that comparisons can be made between landscapes and SESs that would otherwise be context-dependent.