Climate-Forest-Water-People Relations: Seven System Delineations

In this chapter, we review current scientific understanding and hypotheses at seven system delineations that build up from the level of a ‘tree’ interacting with water, to that of a social-ecological system at the scale of landscapes. A system delineation separates internal entities that interact dynamically from external entities that may have a one-way influence but are not significantly influenced by feedback from within the system boundaries. Each system level has its characteristic outcomes or results.