Patches and pulses as fundamental characteristics for matching ecological and cultural diversity: the Baltic Sea archipelago

Focusing on the Baltic archipelago, we address the questions: to what exten t are the rhythms of natural and social systems compatible and under which criteria can we make them coincide? Existing mismatches between resource av ailability and human demand are identified as well as human attempts to dam pen ecosystem fluctuations. By means of examples from forestry and fisherie s, we illustrate how changes in property rights and technology have altered the diversity and resilience of the archipelago system. Our results sugges t that intermediate scale processes of years up to a century are most criti cal for bringing natural and cultural systems in concordance. The time fram e relevant to management and policy in the archipelago seems to correlate w ith eutrophication processes and the regrowth of forests. In fisheries, a s hift from traditional to recreational fisheries has created fishery pattern s badly adapted to the dynamics of the coastal ecosystem in disregard of tr aditional ecological knowledge. A multipurpose and adaptive management of n atural resources is advocated as the most appropriate approach for promotin g ecological and cultural diversity in the Baltic archipelago. Existing mis matches between the two have to be addressed by governing institutions at m any hierarchical levels.