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Is there a system to calculate ecosystem resistance and resilience considering species abundance and climate conditions?
We have long-term monitoring data on species abundance and local climate. The concepts of resistance and resilience are thrown around, but they feel vague. Are there established equations or indices that combine, say, functional diversity metrics with precipitation trends to output a numerical measure of an ecosystem's stability to droughts or fires?
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By Amy Answered 1 year ago
Yes, the field has moved beyond vague terms to more quantitative frameworks, though no single equation reigns supreme. I have used and recommend a multi-metric approach. Resistance is often proxied by measuring the deviation from a pre-disturbance baseline using multivariate statistics (e.g., distance in ordination space). Resilience is the rate of return to that baseline. You can model this by integrating your species abundance data into a state-space model, where climate variables are covariates influencing the recovery trajectory. The key is defining your "ecosystem state" clearly often a composite of key functional group abundances before and after a documented disturbance event.
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