Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Multilevel processes and cultural adaptation

Examples From Past and Present Small-Scale Societies

Bibliographic Data

ID4238698
AuthorsReyes‐garcía (0000-0002-2914-8055, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats), Victoria Reyes-García, Andrea L Balbo (0000-0002-3906-375X, Universität Hamburg), Erik Gomez‐baggethun (0000-0003-2690-2101, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research), Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Maximilien Guèze (0000-0002-1402-6004, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona), Alex Mesoudi (0000-0002-7740-1625, University of Exeter), Peter J Richerson (0000-0002-7233-358X, University College London), Xavier Rubio-Campillo (0000-0003-4428-4335, Barcelona Supercomputing Center), Isabel Ruíz-Mallén (0000-0002-9679-3329, Universitat Autonòma de Barcelona), Shennan (0000-0001-6605-064X, University College London), Stephen Shennan
Year2016
Volume21
Issue4
Publication date2016-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueConservation Ecology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1195-5449 • E-ISSN: 1708-3087
PublisherResilience Alliance (PUBLISHER • CA)
DOI10.5751/es-08561-210402
PMID27774109
OpenAlexW2530795694
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited49

Cultural adaptation has become central in the context of accelerated global change with authors increasingly acknowledging the importance of understanding multilevel processes that operate as adaptation takes place. We explore the importance of multilevel processes in explaining cultural adaptation by describing how processes leading to cultural (mis)adaptation are linked through a complex nested hierarchy, where the lower levels combine into new units with new organizations, functions, and emergent properties or collective behaviours. After a brief review of the concept of "cultural adaptation" from the perspective of cultural evolutionary theory and resilience theory, the core of the paper is constructed around the exploration of multilevel processes occurring at the temporal, spatial, social and political scales. We do so by examining small-scale societies' case studies. In each section, we discuss the importance of the selected scale for understanding cultural adaptation and then present an example that illustrates how multilevel processes in the selected scale help explain observed patterns in the cultural adaptive process. We end the paper discussing the potential of modelling and computer simulation for studying multilevel processes in cultural adaptation

Geography · Hierarchy · Multilevel model · Political science · Psychological resilience · Sociology · Computer Science · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Psychology · Social Psychology

  • The role of women in Brazilian ethnobiology

    Open Access•T C Da Silva, Patrícia Muniz De Medeiros et al.•Journal of Ethnobiology and…•2019

  • Use of mammals in a semi-arid region of Brazil

    Open Access•Suellen Da Silva Santos, Reinaldo Farias Paiva De Lucena et al.•Journal of Ethnobiology and…•2019

  • Small-scale societies and environmental transformations

    Open Access•Reyes‐garcía, Victoria Reyes-García et al.•Conservation Ecology•2017

  • Integration across a metacoupled world

    Open Access•Jianguo Liu•Conservation Ecology•2017

  • Socio-hydrology

    Open Access•David J Yu, Heejun Chang et al.•Conservation Ecology•2020

  • New evidence regarding the role of previous disease experiences on people’s knowledge and learning of medicinal plants and biomedical drugs

    Open Access•Sâmara Da Silva Santos, Flávia Rosa Santoro et al.•Ethnobotany Research and…•2023

  • El Antropoceno como proceso, no como estado

    Open Access•José Luis Lanata, Nicolás Tanos et al.•Relaciones•2021

  • Towards culturally sustainable scuba diving tourism

    Nurdina Prasetyo, Sebastian Filep et al.•Tourism Recreation Research•2023

  • Social Transformations during Infancy

    Open Access•Marjorie Murray, Gilda Morelli•Cambridge Handbook of Psychological…•2025

  • Higher-order interactions shape collective human behaviour

    Open Access•Federico Battiston, Valerio Capraro et al.•Nature Human Behaviour•2025

  • Adult knowledge of wild plants associated with limited delayed health and nutritional benefits for children or adults in the face of external change

    Open Access•Ricardo Godoy, T Huanca et al.•Evolution and Human Behavior•2024

  • Effects of development interventions on biocultural diversity

    Open Access•L Jamila Haider, Wiebren J Boonstra et al.•Agriculture and Human Values•2019

  • Re-examining balinese subaks through the lens of cultural multilevel selection

    Open Access•Jeremy Brooks, Reyes‐garcía et al.•Sustainability Science•2017

  • Young adults in eastern Germany know dandelion and sparrows but few farmland species

    Open Access•Naaf Tobias, Maria Lee Kernecker•Journal of Ethnobiology and…•2026

  • Evolving the Anthropocene

    Open Access•Erle C Ellis, Nicholas R Magliocca et al.•Sustainability Science•2018

  • Reflections on the theoretical advance in ethnobiology

    Open Access•Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior•Ethnobiology and Conservation•2020

  • Nigerian Diasporic Masculinities

    Open Access•Omotayo Jemiluyi•Journal of International…•2025

  • The Agricultural Revolution in Prehistory

    G Barker•AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION IN…•2006

  • Navigating Social-Ecological Systems

    Open Access•Fikret Berkes, Johan Colding et al.•Navigating Social-Ecological…•2001

  • The relationship between academic and practical intelligence

    Open Access•R Sternberg•intelligence•2001

  • Ethnobotanical knowledge is associated with indices of child health in the Bolivian Amazon

    Open Access•T W Mcdade, Reyes‐garcía et al.•Proceedings of the National…•2007

  • Averting biodiversity collapse in tropical forest protected areas

    Open Access•William F Laurance, D Carolina Useche et al.•Nature•2012

  • Adaptation to Environmental Change

    Open Access•Donald R Nelson, W Neil Adger et al.•Annual Review of Environment and…•2007

  • A reservoir of ethnobotanical knowledge informs resilient food security and health strategies in the Balkans

    Open Access•Cassandra L Quave, Andrea Pieroni•Nature Plants•2015

  • Origins and Genetic Legacy of Neolithic Farmers and Hunter-Gatherers in Europe

    Open Access•Peter Skoglund, Pontus Skoglund et al.•Science•2012

  • Evidence of traditional knowledge loss among a contemporary indigenous society

    Open Access•Reyes‐garcía, Victoria Reyes-García et al.•Evolution and Human Behavior•2013

  • When the World’s Population Took Off

    Open Access•Jean-Pierre Bocquet-Appel, Jean‐pierre Bocquet‐appel•Science•2011

  • Increasing Isolation of Protected Areas in Tropical Forests Over the Past Twenty Years

    Open Access•Ruth Defries, Andrew Hansen et al.•Ecological Applications•2005

  • Multi-Agent Systems for the Simulation of Land-Use and Land-Cover Change

    Dawn C Parker, Spero Manson et al.•Annals of the Association of…•2003

  • Regional population collapse followed initial agriculture booms in mid-Holocene Europe

    Open Access•Shennan, Stephen Shennan et al.•Nature Communications•2013

  • Land Use Change Around Protected Areas

    Open Access•Ruth Defries, Andrew Hansen et al.•Ecological Applications•2007

  • Connectivity and the Governance of Multilevel Social-Ecological Systems

    Open Access•E S Brondizio, Elinor Ostrom et al.•Annual Review of Environment and…•2009

  • The Struggle to Govern the Commons

    Open Access•Thomas Dietz, Elinor Ostrom et al.•Science•2003

  • Complexity of Coupled Human and Natural Systems

    Open Access•Jianguo Liu, Thomas Dietz et al.•Science•2007

  • Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation in Archaeology

    Open Access•Gabriel Wurzer, Kerstin Kowarik et al.•Agent-Based Modeling and…•2014

  • The Origin and Evolution of Cultures

    Robert Boyd, Robert W Boyd et al.•The Origin and Evolution of…•2005

  • Evolution and the Theory of Games

    Open Access•John Maynard Smith•Evolution and the Theory of Games•1982

  • Cultural group selection, coevolutionary processes and large-scale cooperation

    Open Access•J Henrich•Journal of Economic Behavior &…•2003

  • Cultural transmission and evolution

    Open Access•G Ainsworth Harrison•Endeavour•1982

  • Evolutionary Ecology and Human Behavior

    Eric Alden Smith, Bruce Winterhalder•Evolutionary Ecology and Human…•2017

  • Not By Genes Alone

    Peter J Richerson, Robert Boyd et al.•Not by Genes Alone•2004

  • The Logic of Collective Action

    Mancur Olson•Logic of Collective Action•1965

  • When in Rome… An Evolutionary Perspective on Conformity

    Open Access•Julie C Coultas•Group Processes & Intergroup…•2004

  • An investigation of local scale human/landscape dynamics in the endorheic alluvial fan of the Murghab River, Turkmenistan

    Open Access•S Markofsky, A Ninfo et al.•Quaternary International•2017

  • The ultrasocial origin of the Anthropocene

    Open Access•John Gowdy, John M Gowdy et al.•Ecological Economics•2013

  • Multiscale system dynamics of humans and nature in The Bahamas

    Open Access•Arnd Holdschlag, Beate Ratter•Sustainability Science•2013

  • Cooperation and Collective Action in the Cultural Evolution of Complex Societies

    Open Access•D M Carballo, P Roscoe et al.•Journal of Archaeological Method…•2012

  • How do biosphere reserves influence local vulnerability and adaptation? Evidence from Latin America

    Open Access•Isabel Ruíz-Mallén, Esteve Corbera et al.•Global Environmental Change•2015

  • Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability

    Open Access•Barry Smit, Johanna Wandel•Global Environmental Change•2006

  • The concept of scale and the human dimensions of global change

    Open Access•Clark C Gibson, Elinor Ostrom et al.•Ecological Economics•2000

  • Indigenous land reconfiguration and fragmented institutions

    Open Access•Reyes‐garcía, Jaime Paneque-Gálvez et al.•Journal of Rural Studies•2014

  • On the road through the Bolivian Amazon

    Open Access•P Bottazzi, Hy Dao•Land Use Policy•2013

  • How long does it take to become a proficient hunter? Implications for the evolution of extended development and long life span

    Open Access•M Gurven, H Kaplan et al.•Journal of Human Evolution•2006

  • Trends in Archaeological Simulation

    Open Access•Mark Lake, M W Lake•Journal of Archaeological Method…•2013

  • Resilience

    Open Access•Carl Folke•Global Environmental Change•2006

  • The Evolution of Conformist Transmission and the Emergence of Between-Group Differences

    Open Access•Joe Henrich, Robert Boyd•Evolution and Human Behavior•1998

  • A Handful of Heuristics and Some Propositions for Understanding Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

    Open Access•Brian Walker, Lance Gunderson et al.•Conservation Ecology•2006

  • Shepherds and karst

    Diego E Angelucci, Giovanni Boschian et al.•World Archaeology•2009

  • Scale Mismatches in Social-Ecological Systems

    Open Access•Graeme S Cummings, David H M Cummings et al.•Conservation Ecology•2006

  • A multilevel evolutionary framework for sustainability analysis

    Open Access•Timothy M Waring, Michelle A Kline et al.•Conservation Ecology•2015

  • Scale and Cross-Scale Dynamics

    Open Access•David W Cash, W Neil Adger et al.•Conservation Ecology•2006

  • Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources

    Open Access•Álvaro Fernández‐llamazare, Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares et al.•Conservation Ecology•2016

  • Cultural Transmission and the Diffusion of Innovations

    Open Access•J Henrich•American Anthropologist•2001

  • Historical Dynamics

    Peter Turchin•Historical Dynamics•2004

  • Complex Adaptive Systems

    J S Lansing•Annual Review of Anthropology•2003

  • The Adaptive Nature of Culture

    Reyes‐garcía, Victoria Reyes‐garcía et al.•Current Anthropology•2016

Unique citing works17
Citations per year1,89
Citation span2017 - 2026 (10)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 9
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae