Unifying the concepts of stability and resilience in ecology

Koenraad Van Meerbeek; Tommaso Jucker; Jens Christian Svenning

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13651

Unifying the concepts of stability and resilience in ecology

Koenraad Van Meerbeek^*, Tommaso Jucker, Jens Christian Svenning

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Characterizing how ecosystems are responding to rapid environmental change has become a major focus of ecological research. The empirical study of ecological stability, which aims to quantify these ecosystem responses, is therefore more relevant than ever. Based on a historical review and bibliometric mapping of the field of ecological stability, we show that the two main schools relating to the study of stability—one focusing on systems close to their equilibrium and the other on non-equilibrium behaviour—have developed in parallel leading to divergence in both concepts and definitions. We synthesize and expand previous frameworks and capitalize on the latest developments in the field to build towards an integrated framework by elaborating the overarching concept of ecological stability and its properties. Finally, the broad applicability of our work is demonstrated in two empirical cases. Synthesis. With rapidly changing environmental conditions, the stability of ecosystems has become a major focus of ecological research. Still, the concept of stability remains a major source of confusion and disagreement among ecologists. The conceptual framework presented here provides a basis to integrate currently diverging views on the study of ecological stability.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3114-3132
Number of pages	19
Journal	Journal of Ecology
Volume	109
Issue number	9
Early online date	19 Mar 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13651
Publication status	Published - Sept 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Ellen Desie and Rita Sousa-Silva for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript and for the Belgian data on SPEI. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on the original manuscript. J.-C.S. considers this work a contribution to his VILLUM Investigator project ?Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World' funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549). The FunDivEUROPE project was funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013; grant no. 265171). T.J. was supported by a UK NERC Independent Research Fellowship (grant number: NE/S01537X/1).

Funding Information:
We would like to thank Ellen Desie and Rita Sousa‐Silva for comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript and for the Belgian data on SPEI. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on the original manuscript. J.‐C.S. considers this work a contribution to his VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World' funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549). The FunDivEUROPE project was funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007‐2013; grant no. 265171). T.J. was supported by a UK NERC Independent Research Fellowship (grant number: NE/S01537X/1).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 British Ecological Society

Keywords

alternative stable states
equilibrium
latitude
perturbations
recovery
regime shift
resistance
tolerance

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10.1111/1365-2745.13651

Van Meerbeek et al. JEcol 2021 AAM
This is the accepted author manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Wiley at 10.1111/1365-2745.13651. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 1.49 MB

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title = "Unifying the concepts of stability and resilience in ecology",

abstract = "Characterizing how ecosystems are responding to rapid environmental change has become a major focus of ecological research. The empirical study of ecological stability, which aims to quantify these ecosystem responses, is therefore more relevant than ever. Based on a historical review and bibliometric mapping of the field of ecological stability, we show that the two main schools relating to the study of stability—one focusing on systems close to their equilibrium and the other on non-equilibrium behaviour—have developed in parallel leading to divergence in both concepts and definitions. We synthesize and expand previous frameworks and capitalize on the latest developments in the field to build towards an integrated framework by elaborating the overarching concept of ecological stability and its properties. Finally, the broad applicability of our work is demonstrated in two empirical cases. Synthesis. With rapidly changing environmental conditions, the stability of ecosystems has become a major focus of ecological research. Still, the concept of stability remains a major source of confusion and disagreement among ecologists. The conceptual framework presented here provides a basis to integrate currently diverging views on the study of ecological stability.",

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EP - 3132

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ER -

Unifying the concepts of stability and resilience in ecology

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Forecasting the impacts of drought on human-modified tropical forests by integrating models with data

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Unifying the concepts of stability and resilience in ecology

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Forecasting the impacts of drought on human-modified tropical forests by integrating models with data

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