Understanding and applying biological resilience, from genes to ecosystems

Area of Science:

• Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Environmental Science

Background:

• The natural world faces accelerating environmental pressures.
• Current resilience research primarily focuses on ecosystems, neglecting component parts.
• Understanding system behavior necessitates knowledge of its constituents and their interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To advocate for increased research into 'biological resilience'.
• To define biological resilience as the capacity of biological components across levels to resist or recover from perturbations.
• To bridge the gap between ecosystem-level resilience and the study of genes, organisms, and communities.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual synthesis of ecological and evolutionary principles.
• Call for integration of diverse biological data, including big data (genomic, ecological).
• Examination of existing tool-boxes for studying form and function across biological levels.

Main Results:

• Current efforts to integrate knowledge across biological levels and utilize big data are nascent.
• A framework combining eco-evolutionary knowledge with ecosystem resilience is proposed.
• Identifying challenges in achieving a comprehensive understanding of biological resilience.

Conclusions:

• Integrating biological resilience across levels is essential for effective ecosystem management.
• A mechanistic understanding of biological resilience will improve management of human, natural, and agricultural systems.
• Further research is needed to overcome challenges in studying biological resilience comprehensively.