摘要:Migration is arguably one of the most important processes that link ecological and socialsystems across scales. Humans (and other organisms) tend to move in pursuit of better resources (bothsocial and environmental). Such mobility may serve as a coping mechanism for short-term local-scaledilemmas and as a means of distributing organisms in relation to resources. Movement also may be viewedas a shift to a larger scale; that is, while it may solve short-term local problems, it may simultaneously havelonger term and larger scale consequences. We conduct a quantitative analysis using dynamic modelingmotivated by an archaeological case study to explore the dynamics that arise when population movementserves as a link between spatial scales. We use the model to characterize how ecological and social factorscan lead to spatial variation in resource exploitation, and to investigate the circumstances under whichmigration may enhance or reduce the capacity of the system to absorb shocks at different scales