Ecological resilience

Ecological resilience is an ecosystem’s capacity to absorb disturbance and reorganize while retaining its core structure, functions, and feedbacks. It describes persistence through change, not a return to an exact prior state.

Ecological feedback: A process in which ecological change alters conditions that affect subsequent ecological change. Reinforcing and balancing feedbacks help determine whether disturbance is absorbed or amplified.
Ecological resistance: An ecosystem’s ability to withstand disturbance with little change in its structure or functioning. Resistance limits immediate change; resilience also includes reorganization while core functions persist.
Resilience thinking: An approach to understanding linked social and ecological systems through change, feedback, and adaptation. It applies ecological resilience to coupled systems and management decisions.
Coral bleaching: The loss of symbiotic algae or their pigments from corals, often triggered by heat stress. Repeated bleaching can overwhelm reef resilience and alter reef structure and function.
Resilience measurement: The assessment of a system’s capacity to absorb disturbance and maintain important properties. Different measures capture different ecosystem features, timescales, and disturbance responses.
Regime shift: A large, persistent change in an ecosystem’s structure and functioning. A regime shift occurs when disturbance pushes an ecosystem beyond its capacity to retain its existing regime.
Ecological stability: The tendency of an ecological system to remain near a state or return toward it after change. Stability is a broader idea that includes several distinct responses to disturbance.
Social-ecological system: A system formed by interactions between people and ecosystems. Human livelihoods and institutions can influence ecosystem resilience, and depend on it in turn.
Caribbean coral reefs: Coral reef ecosystems of the Caribbean Sea and adjacent Atlantic waters. Their shifts toward algae-dominated states illustrate how interacting pressures can erode reef resilience.
Early warning signal: A measurable change that may indicate a system is approaching a critical transition. Researchers test whether signals can identify declining resilience before a regime shift.

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