Resource Transitions and Energy Gain: Contexts of Organization

Authors

Joseph A. Tainter, Utah State UniversityFollow
T. F. H. Allen
A. Little
T. W. Hoekstra

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title

Conservation Ecology

Publication Date

1-1-2003

Volume

7

Issue

3

First Page

4

Last Page

4

Abstract

Energy gain constrains resource use, social organization, and landscape organization in human and other living systems. Changes in energy gain have common characteristics across living systems. We describe these commonalities in selected case studies involving imperial taxation, fungus-farming ants, and North American beaver, and propose a suite of hypotheses for the organization of systems that subsist on different levels of energy gain. Organizational constraints arising from energy gain predict changes to settlement and organization in postcarbon societies.

Recommended Citation

Tainter, J. A., T. F. H. Allen, A. Little, and T. W. Hoekstra. Resource Transitions and Energy Gain: Contexts of Organization. Conservation Ecology 7(3): 4. [online] http://www.consecol.org/vol7/iss3/art4.