The purpose of this essay is to define and refine the concepts of stability and resilience and to demonstrate their value in understanding the behavior of exploited systems. Some ecological systems display several possible stable states. They may also show a hysteresis effect in which, even after a long time, the state of the system may be partly determined by its history. The concept of resilience depends upon our objectives, the types of disturbances that we anticipate, control measures that are available, and the time scale of interest.
A major problem worldwide is the potential loss of fisheries, forests, and water resources. Understanding of the processes that lead to improvements in or deterioration of natur...
Human well-being depends on ecosystem services such as food and clean water. Yet ecosystems and the services they provide are changing, often in ways we cannot anticipate. How c...
To see whether real ecosystems (as opposed to model ones) are stable, i.e., whether they exhibit resistance to short-term perturbations or adjustment following them, stable equi...
This article defines social resilience as the ability of groups or communities to cope with external stresses and disturbances as a result of social, political and environmental...
In a world increasingly modified by human activities, the conservation of biodiversity is essential as insurance to maintain resilient ecosystems and ensure a sustainable flow o...
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