2.5.8—Ecosystem disturbance tolerance

Resilience is the capacity to recover after disturbance; diversity can support it by providing overlapping functions, but outcome depends on disturbance conditions.

Assess magnitude, frequency, duration and which functions were lost. A diverse system may resist change or recover through response variety; simplification can remove those options.

After one species declines, several pollinators can keep pollination going; after repeated drought removes all drought-sensitive species, recovery may fail.

Greater diversity can add functional options that support resilience and stability, but extreme or repeated disturbance can still push the ecosystem beyond recovery.

Stability and resilience are related but not identical; a system can resist change yet recover poorly after collapse.