Effective management of ecological resilience – are we there yet?

Spears, Bryan M.; Ives, Stephen C.; Angeler, David G.; Allen, Craig R.; Birk, Sebastian; Carvalho, Laurence; Cavers, Stephen; Daunt, Francis; Morton, R. Daniel; Pocock, Michael J.O.; Rhodes, Glenn; Thackeray, Stephen J.

Spears, Bryan M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0876-0405; Ives, Stephen C.; Angeler, David G.; Allen, Craig R.; Birk, Sebastian; Carvalho, Laurence ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9768-9902; Cavers, Stephen ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2139-9236; Daunt, Francis ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4638-3388; Morton, R. Daniel; Pocock, Michael J.O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4375-0445; Rhodes, Glenn ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0488-3843; Thackeray, Stephen J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3274-2706. 2015 Effective management of ecological resilience – are we there yet? Journal of Applied Ecology, 52 (5). 1311-1315. 10.1111/1365-2664.12497

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Abstract

1. Ecological resilience is developing into a credible paradigm for policy development and environmental management for preserving natural capital in a rapidly changing world. However, resilience emerges from complex interactions, limiting the translation of theory into practice.
2. Main limitations include the following: (i) difficulty in quantification and detection of changes in ecological resilience, (ii) a lack of empirical evidence to support preventative or proactive management and (iii) difficulties in managing processes operating across socio-ecological systems that vary in space and time.
3. We highlight recent research with the potential to address these limitations including new and/or improved indicators of resilience and tools to assess scale as a driver of resilience.
4. Synthesis and applications. Effective resilience-based management must be adaptive in nature. To support this, we propose an operational model using resilience-based iterative management actions operating across scales.

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