摘要：Adaptation is a key feature of sustainable social–ecological systems. As societies traverse various temporal andspatial scales, they are exposed to differing contexts and precursors for adaptation. A cursory view of the response to thesediffering contexts and precursors suggests the particular ability of persistent societies to adapt to changing circumstances. Yeta closer examination into the meaning of adaptation and its relationship to concepts of resilience, vulnerability, and sustainabilityillustrates that, in many cases, societies actually manipulate their social–ecological contexts rather than adapt to them. It couldbe argued that manipulative behaviors are a subset of a broader suite of adaptive behaviors; however, this paper suggests thatmanipulative behaviors have fundamentally different intentions and outcomes. Specifically, adaptive behaviors are respectfulof the intrinsic integrity of social–ecological systems and change is directed toward internal or self-regulating modification. Byway of contrast, manipulative behaviors tend to disregard the integrity of social–ecological systems and focus on external changeor manipulating the broader system with the aim of making self-regulation unnecessary. It is argued that adaptive behaviorsrepresent long-term strategies for building resilience, whereas manipulative behaviors represent short-term strategies withuncertain consequences for resilience, vulnerability, and the sustainability of social–ecological systems. Of greatest significance;however, is that manipulative strategies have the potential to avoid authentic experiences of system dynamics, obscure valuablelearning opportunities, create adverse path dependencies, and lessen the likelihood of effective adaptation in future contexts.
