title: Early-warning signals for critical transitions.
abstract: Complex dynamical systems, ranging from ecosystems to financial markets and the climate, can have tipping points at which a sudden shift to a contrasting dynamical regime may occur. Although predicting such critical points before they are reached is extremely difficult, work in different scientific fields is now suggesting the existence of generic early-warning signals that may indicate for a wide class of systems if a critical threshold is approaching.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, PO Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. marten.scheffer@wur.nl
authors.forename: Marten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scheffer
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bascompte
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brovkin
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Carpenter
authors.forename: Vasilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dakos
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Held
authors.forename: Egbert H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: van Nes
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rietkerk
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sugihara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000503:physiopathology; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D005068:Eutrophication; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D018803:Models, Economic; D012640:Seizures / Q000503:physiopathology; D013269:Stochastic Processes