RSDB case study template
Thank you for contributing to the regime shifts database! If you read a scientific paper that reports the occurrence of one regime shift somewhere in the world, please fill a few questions below that will help us understand how, where, and why are they occurring. Your contributions are very important for our science!

Questions marked with * are required fields and are the bare minimum we need for case studies to be included. All others are optional and should be marked only if the paper you read refer to it, for example the impacts on ecosystem services and human wellbeing. If there is no info available please leave the field empty.
Sign in to Google to save your progress. Learn more
Date *
MM
/
DD
/
YYYY
Case study name *

Short, succinct name for the case study (e.g. Lake Mendota)

Main contributor *

Names of those who primarily contributed to the text (comma separated if many)

Other contributors

Names of others who contributed to and reviewed the text (comma separated if many)

Basic information 
The following section summarises basic information about the regime shift case with short text and categorical variables. Most of them are multiple choice. If you do not know the answer or the paper you reviewed does not provide information, please leave empty.
Summary

Brief summary of the case study: the type of system (e.g. marine, savanna, urban) the alternate regimes, when the regime shift happened, key feedbacks maintaining each regime, key drivers that caused the regime shift to happen, main impacts on ecosystem services and human well-being, and management interventions. Note key features that make the regime shift in the particular case study different from the generic case of the regime shift (aim for max 250 words)

Type of regime shift

What type of regime shifts is this case study an example of (eg eutrophication)? A case study may be an example of more than one type of regime shift. If you don't know the type, mark "other". If you have a suggestion "add the option"

Clear selection
Type of regime shift - other

If the regime shift type is not listed above, you can choose "Proposed & new type" and enter below the type of regime shift
Ecosystem type

Ecosystem type in which case study is located

Land uses

Land uses in the case study

Spatial scale of the case study
Clear selection
Continent or Ocean
Region

Region where the specific case study lies (e.g. Wisconsin, southern Africa)

Countries

Countries in which the specific example lies. If multiple separate them by comma (e.g. USA, Sweden)

Drivers - Key direct drivers

Key direct drivers of the RS

Impacts - Key Ecosystem Processes

Impacts on Key Ecosystem Processes

Impacts on ecosystem services


Impacts - Provisioning services

Impacts - Regulating services

Impacts - Cultural services

Impacts on Human Well-being

Impacts - Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Key Attributes - Time scale of RS

Key Attributes - Reversibility
Clear selection

Key Attributes - Evidence

Key Attributes - Confidence: Existence of RS
Clear selection

Key Attributes - Confidence: Mechanism underlying RS
Clear selection

Year or duration
The year must be formatted as "YYYY" if only the starting date is known. If the duration or end date is known, it must be formatted as "YYYY to YYYY"
Longitude
If the article you read reports a case in a specific place, please check out their longitude and latitude coordinates if not already retrieved from the paper. You can use GoogleMaps or OpenStreetMaps to find the coordinates. Once you find the place, right click on the map and you will be able to copy and paste them here in numeric form. For example, if you search Stockholm the coordinates are 59.35950, 18.03270 where the first number is the latitude (South - North) and the second number the longitude (East-West). The number must be within the range of -180 to 180.
Latitude
If the article you read reports a case in a specific place, please check out their longitude and latitude coordinates if not already retrieved from the paper. You can use GoogleMaps or OpenStreetMaps to find the coordinates. Once you find the place, right click on the map and you will be able to copy and paste them here in numeric form. For example, if you search Stockholm the coordinates are 59.35950, 18.03270 where the first number is the latitude (South - North) and the second number the longitude (East-West). The number must be within the range of -90 to 90.

Threshold variable
If the paper you read reports a threshold (or tipping point), please fill here the variable on which it is reported. For example temperature or dissolved oxygen. If more than one variable is available, separate them with comma.

Threshold value
For each variable above, please provide the value if available. For example 0.5 (decimals as points)

Threshold units
Please clarify here the units used by the researchers to quantify the thresholds. For example degrees Celsius or Kelvin for temperature? 
Reference: text
If the text you read does not have a DOI, please paste a complete reference of your source. We suggest you use Google Scholar to find the reference, click on cite, and copy and paste here the reference on APA format. For example the classic paper by Folke et al on regime shifts would be:

Folke, C., Carpenter, S., Walker, B., Scheffer, M., Elmqvist, T., Gunderson, L., & Holling, C. S. (2004). Regime shifts, resilience, and biodiversity in ecosystem management. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Evol. Syst.35, 557-581.

If you have more than one reference, please use IDs as follows to separate them "(#1) ...... (#2) ......". Those IDs must be the same between the reference text and DOI.
Reference: DOI

Please add the DOI (digital object identifier) of the paper you read. For example: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aat7850. To verify that the DOI works, you can paste it after the following address and it should take you to the original paper: https://doi.org/ 

The DOI must be a link (staring by https://doi.org/), alternatively, if no DOI is available, you can enter the OpenAlex ID or another link.


If you have more than one reference, please use IDs as follows to separate them "(#1) ...... (#2) ......". Those IDs must be the same between the reference text and DOI.

Regime shift analysis (Optional section)
This section is for detailed case studies where a narrative text is developed to better explain to the general public what are the regimes, causes, impacts and managerial options.
Introduction

Brief introduction/background to the case study. Where is it located? How big is it (km2)? What are the key features of the area? How connected or isolated is the system? When did the regime shift in the area take place? (max 200 words)


Alternate regimes

A description of the 2 or more alternate regimes that have been observed in the case study, as well as the key features that characterize each regime. Include key references (aim for ~300 words). Use the following structure:

Name for Regime 1

Para 1: Briefly describe what the regime looks like - what do you see in the field? (e.g., clear water, rooted plants on lake floor, limited agriculture in the catchment)

Name for Regime 2

Para 1: Briefly describe what the regime looks like - what do you see in the field? (e.g., turbid water, dense algal blooms, extensive agriculture in the catchment)


Drivers and causes of the regime shift

This section contains a description of the key drivers that caused the system to shift from Regime 1 to Regime 2. Include key references. We suggest the following structure:

Shift from Regime 1 to Regime 2

Para 1: Describe the main causes of the regime shift.

Para 2: Describe other important causes of the regime shift.

Where applicable, do the same for the shift from regime 2 to regime 1. Aim for ~300 words


How the regime shift worked

This section describes in lay terms how the drivers and feedbacks interacted to cause the system to shift from Regime 1 to Regime 2. Include key references (max 400w per shift). 

We suggest the following structure for this section:

Shift from Regime 1 to Regime 2

Para 1: Describe how Regime 1 worked: under which conditions dis it occur, and what feedbacks maintained the regime?

Para 2: Describe how the key drivers caused the system to cross key thresholds and move into Regime 2.

Para 3: Describe how Regime 2 works, and the key feedbacks that maintain the regime and make it difficult to reverse.


Impacts on ecosystem services and human well-being

This section describes the impacts of the regime shift on ecosystems, ecosystem services (provisioning, regulating, cultural) and human well-being.

Shift from Regime 1 to Regime 2

Para 1: Which ecosystem services were lost and gained with this regime shift?

Para 2: What impacts did this have on human well-being? Who benefitted and lost?

Where applicable, do the same for the shift from regime 2 to regime 1. Aim for max 200w per shift.


Management options

Describe what actions were taken to prevent a shift to an undesirable regime or restore/encourage a shift to a desirable regime. Use the following structure to write this section (max 300w):

Para 1: Actions taken to prevent the regime shift (ie, to enhance resilience). What management actions or interventions were taken to maintain desirable regimes and avoid undesirable regime shifts?

Para 2: Actions for restoration of desirable regimes (ie, reducing resilience to encourage restoration or transformation). What management actions or interventions were taken to transform to or restore desirable regimes? 

Diagrams and photos

Please suggest diagrams or photographs that illustrate the regime shift in the particular case study if available. You can include a link to a creative commons resource that  can be freely distributed. 

Observations or comments
Is there any remarks you would like to share that will help us better code this case?
Submit
Clear form
Never submit passwords through Google Forms.
This content is neither created nor endorsed by Google.