Ecosystem resilience is the capacity of an ecological system to absorb disturbances, reorganize, and retain its essential structure, functions, feedbacks, and identity within a particular stability domain. It reflects the system’s ability to maintain key processes such as nutrient cycling, energy flow, and species interactions despite perturbations, including climatic extremes, biological invasions, or anthropogenic impacts. Resilience arises from mechanisms like functional redundancy, response diversity, spatial and temporal heterogeneity, and connectivity among habitat patches. In research, it is quantified through metrics such as recovery rates, persistence of functional groups, thresholds for regime shifts, and the magnitude of disturbance a system can withstand before transitioning to an alternative stable state.
A new study offers a research framework to help researchers "speak the same language" and protect the planet from unknown climate futures.
Environment
Apr 30, 2025
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Green spaces play an important role for urban populations, whether by protecting against extreme weather events or providing space for recreation. In two studies, researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) ...
Environment
Apr 29, 2025
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Climate breakdown poses immense threats to global economies, societies and ecosystems. Adapting to these impacts is urgent. But many cities and countries remain chronically unprepared in what the UN calls an "adaptation gap."
Environment
Apr 29, 2025
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Like farmland in Australia, native forests struggle with drought and flooding, so future management decisions need more sophisticated systems to monitor and manage their water needs.
Environment
Apr 24, 2025
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Earth Day often calls to mind the environmentalists and activists leading the charge for a sustainable planet. But researchers like Leonardo Schultz and José Maria Cardoso da Silva at the University of Miami College of Arts ...
Environment
Apr 17, 2025
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Once floodwaters subside, talk of planned retreat inevitably rises.
Environment
Apr 13, 2025
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If left unaddressed, many environmental changes in Aotearoa New Zealand could threaten livelihoods, health, quality of life and infrastructure for generations to come, according to the latest update on the state of the environment.
Environment
Apr 8, 2025
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Over the past decade, extreme events such as heat, drought, storms and pests have taken a heavy toll on Swiss forests. In order for forests to continue to fulfill their functions for people and the environment in the future, ...
Environment
Mar 19, 2025
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