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.
Corals, the foundation of ocean biodiversity, are threatened by climate change. But new research suggests that these organisms might be more resilient than previously thought.
Plants & Animals
Oct 1, 2025
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In about 30 acres of dense forest in the Litchfield Hills, a team of foresters and researchers are pioneering new forest management techniques that they say can be replicated throughout New England to make trees more resilient ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 25, 2025
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Humans are gambling on the very stability of Earth's life support systems, scientists said Wednesday, warning that ocean acidity was yet another key planetary threshold to be breached.
Environment
Sep 24, 2025
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The global food system contributes to multiple planetary crises—and is vulnerable to them. Climate change, other ecological degradation and socio-economic inequality are all linked to food.
Agriculture
Sep 22, 2025
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A new study published in Ecological Applications demonstrates that commercial fisheries function much like an investment portfolio: diversity brings stability. The research shows that when different fish species in the Chesapeake ...
Ecology
Sep 22, 2025
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Increasing tree species diversity is often regarded as a way to make forests more resilient to climate change. However, a new international study led by the University of Freiburg shows that diversity can have both positive ...
Ecology
Sep 18, 2025
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Lake Piburg, a popular alpine lake in the Ötztal region of Tyrol, Austria, has been under scientific observation for 50 years. A newly published study led by Innsbruck ecologist Ruben Sommaruga shows that while the lake initially ...
Ecology
Sep 11, 2025
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Indigenous knowledge and Western science are coming together to develop diverse, resilient and just fire restoration practices that support our forests, which are critically important in navigating a warming future with increased ...
Environment
Sep 10, 2025
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Resilience is a term often discussed in the face of a natural disaster such as a major earthquake, but the attributes of resilience and how they interact are rarely analyzed, researchers say in a new study published in the ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 8, 2025
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A new study by scientists at Bournemouth University (BU) in collaboration with the Wight Squirrel Project has confirmed that red squirrel populations across Europe are resilient to the effects of climate change.
Plants & Animals
Sep 3, 2025
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