A new study suggests a framework for scientists to set more useful spatial boundaries when researching social ecological systems.

Social ecological systems (SES) are ecosystems in which humans depend on the services provided by properly functioning habitats such as access to clean water and land for recreation, but that also are impacted by human development and the use of those resources.

“If you’re using a model that combines both social and ecological processes, it can be tricky to choose a boundary for your study system, and the boundary that you choose could impact results,” shares Christina Perella, 2022-23 Global Change Research Fellow and lead author on the article.

Spatial boundaries are important for this type of study because they help determine the types of questions you can address and the relevance they have to local communities. When studying SES, there are a few ways to go about drawing the spatial boundaries of the system. The new framework provides tradeoffs for different ways of setting boundaries and offers guiding questions to incorporate local knowledge and values that can strengthen research collaborations and address concerns at the community level.

“The framework is intended to help with research collaborations that might have a lot of different interests, priorities, or cultural considerations,” says Perella. “We’re not providing methods, we’re laying out the considerations that someone would think about to design a good project.”

The authors examined 79 studies that chose a spatial boundary for their study and found that the majority used pre-existing social or ecological boundaries, like county lines or a watershed, and others combined existing boundaries to create a study area. As an example of the framework in action, the authors present their work on a collaborative, SE CASC-funded project that brings together university, federal, and Tribal scientists from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians to develop a social–ecological climate adaptation plan. In it, they consider the tradeoffs of different types of boundaries that could be applied based on the goals of the project and planned modeling efforts. Initial conversations with community members made it clear that going beyond current tribal boundaries is important for maintaining access to a wider set of culturally important habitats and resources, and that this workflow provides distinct options for the community to give input.

“Scientists want to work with communities in ways that are meaningful to them,” says Perella, “we are thinking about not just the impacts of climate to a certain species of bird for example, but also how this might impact the way that we live our lives and what decisions can be made to mitigate or adapt to the issues they’re facing.”

The paper, “An Overview and Participatory Framework for Choosing Spatial Boundaries in Social–Ecological Systems Modeling” was published in the International Journal on Geo-Information on May 1, 2026. The paper was co-authored by Jelena Vukomanovic, Caleb R. Hickman, Adam J. Terando, Mitchell J. Eaton, and Marie Schaefer.