Journal articles on the topic 'Ecosystem resiliency'

HighlightsWe provide context and perspectives on articles in the Wetland Ecosystem Resilience collection.Insights gained on wetland resilience to sea-level rise and climate change, land use and drainage, and nutrients. Abstract. The objective of this article is to introduce a collection of articles that explore current research and scientific thought on wetland ecosystem resilience. The collection contains articles on wetland resilience to climate change, agricultural land use-driven change, and recreational land use, along with evaluations of wetland resilience through high-resolution monitoring and modeling tools. Wetland settings in the U.S. span tidal marshes and coastal plain non-riverine wetlands in North Carolina, prairie potholes in Iowa, Appalachian floodplain wetlands, and floating treatment wetlands in the Midwest. The studies in this collection found vertical accretion rates of 0.7 to 4.0 mm year-1 in a tidal marsh, a wide range of potential wetland hydroperiod responses to climate change, substantial decreases in inundation period, crop yield, and surface-water nitrate (but increases in phosphorus) in artificially drained potholes, and nitrate removal in carbon-amended floating treatment wetlands. Further work is needed to better understand how to design and enhance wetland systems in agricultural regions, better preserve wetland ecosystem services in areas affected by land use and climate change, and provide technical standards for the wide range of designs currently used for wetland treatment systems. Keywords: Agricultural wetlands, Resiliency, Temporal data, Treatment wetlands, Water chemistry, Water quality, Water treatment

Ecosystem services depend on the interrelation between people and the environment, and people are increasingly recognizing the social value of ecosystem services. Based on humans needs related to the values of ecosystem services, riparian greenways, properly planned and managed for resiliency, could provide great opportunities for social ecological change and transformation toward sustainability. We focus on the ecosystem service values of such greenways based on resilience in urban communities. The purpose of this study is to assess the social value of ecosystem services for resilient riparian greenway planning and management based on a survey of residents living near the Yangjaecheon riparian greenway in Gwacheon, South Korea. First, cluster analysis was performed with data from 485 completed surveys to identify different groups of respondents. Importance-performance analysis (IPA) was then applied to develop planning and management guidance for the riparian greenway based on group characteristics. Two distinct groups were identified: the Strong Social Value of Ecosystem Services group and the Neutral Social Value of Ecosystem Services group. Different distributions were found between the two groups based on gender and residency period, and significant differences were also found for age and familiarity with the riparian greenway. The results show what each group perceived to be important and how well the riparian greenway met their expectations regarding ecosystem services. These results indicate the perceived value of ecosystem services on the basis of the group characteristics, helping establish the direction for resilient riparian greenway planning and management approaches.

This research was conducted to assess the social and ecological resiliences of mangrove ecosystem to sea level rise as a consequence of climate change. Resilience Index (RI) method was used range from 0 to 1. Sixteen resilience indicators, both ecological and social, are selected, developed, and evaluated. The indicators consist of mangrove coverage, density and diversity, aquatic fauna species, tidal flooding, salinity, sedimentation, land use, mangrove dependency and time allocation, conflicts potential, knowledge, the compliance rate, types of livelihood, institution cap, and level of education. Evaluation result indicate that the bay was divided into two categories of resilience; the majority has middle resilience because the mangrove coverage, density, and land use are high, with composite RI (CRI) range from 0.45 to 0.58. This was found in the villages of Muara, Langensari, Blanakan, Jayamukti, and Rawameneng. Only one village has high CRI of 0.69, such as the Cilamaya Girang. The main ecological factors that contribute to the high resilience of the area is the rate of sedimentation of 2 meters per year and rare tidal flooding, while the factor that contributes most to the impediment of social resilience is public knowledge about the importance of mangrove ecosystems©Penelitian ini merupakan penilaian parameter resiliensi ekologis-sosial ekosistem mangrove terhadap penaikan muka air laut sebagai konsekuensi dari perubahan iklim. Analisis yang dilakukan adalah untuk menghitung indeks resiliensi (Resiliency Index/RI) yang menggunakan skala 0-1. Enam belas parameter (ekologis-sosial) digunakan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: penutupan, kerapatan, keanekaragaman jenis mangrove, jenis fauna akuatik, salinitas, banjir pasang, penggunaan lahan, laju sedimentasi, ketergantungan masyarakat, alokasi waktu pemanfaatan ekosistem mangrove, potensi konflik, tingkat kepatuhan masyarakat, pemahaman fungsi mangrove, jenis mata pencaharian, kelembagaan, dan tingkat pendidikan. Hasil analisis RI menunjukkan, Teluk Blanakan hanya memiliki 2 tingkat resiliensi, yaitu Tingkat Menengah dan Tingkat Tinggi. Tingkat Menengah memiliki penutupan mangrove yang rendah, kerapatan mangrove yang rendah, dan ketergantungan pemanfaatan mangrove yang sangat tinggi dengan kisaran nilai RI 0.45-0.58 yang ditempati oleh Desa Rawameneng, Jayamukti, Blanakan, Langensari, dan Muara. Tingkat Tinggi dengan nilai RI 0.69 hanya ditempati oleh Desa Cilamaya Girang, karena memiliki laju sedimentasi dan ketergantungan masyarakat terhadap kawasan mangrove yang rendah©

Sustainable conservation aims to ensure the sustained conservation of landscape multi-functionality which in turn requires ensuring ecosystem service (ES) and habitat quality (HQ) sustainability with inclusive landscape-scale conservation planning. This study proposes a landscape conservation planning (LCP) framework for landscape-scale ES-HQ conservation and sustainability. Spatially explicit hotspots for five ESs and HQs are identified via InVEST and LISA software. Spatiotemporal changes in ES-HQ hotspots, in terms of stability and resilience, are delineated. The Zonation technique is applied to prioritize areas for conservation based on ES-HQ hotspot stability and resilience maps. High priority conservation areas are identified and are used as reserve area inputs for land use modeling with CLUE-S software to simulate future land use change under climate change scenarios. This study reports that varied rainfall and climate are major driving factors of ES-HQ sustainability disturbance in the study area. Furthermore, our proposed conservation Strategy 2 demonstrates that a larger extent of landscape multi-functionality can be sustained when the existing conservation area includes the total area of identified ES-HQ resilient hotspots. This study effectively identifies the stability and resiliency of ES-HQ hotspot areas affected by disturbances for high priority landscape conservation requirements to ensure ES-HQ sustainability and landscape multi-functionality in the study area.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) build upon the proven contribution of well-managed and diverse ecosystems to enhance resilience of human societies. They include alternatives to techno-industrial solutions that aim to enhance social-ecological integration by providing simultaneous benefits to nature (such as biodiversity protection and green/blue space) and society (such as ecosystem services and climate resiliency). Yet, many NbS exhibit aspects of a technological or engineered ecosystem integrated into nature; this techno-ecological coupling has not been widely considered. In this work, our aim is to investigate this coupling through a high-level and cross-disciplinary analysis of NbS for water security (quantity, quality, and/or water-related risk) across the spectrums of naturalness, biota scale, and benefits to nature and society. Within the limitations of our conceptual analysis, we highlight the clear gap between “nature” and “nature-based” for most NbS. We present a preliminary framework for advancing innovation efforts in NbS towards maximizing benefits to both nature and society, and offer examples in biophysical innovation and innovation to maximize techno-ecological synergies (TES).

Freshwater ecosystems and the fisheries they support are increasingly threatened by human activities. To aid in their management and protection, we outline nine key principles for supporting healthy and productive ecosystems based on the best available science, including laws of physics and chemistry apply to ecology; population dynamics are regulated by reproduction, mortality, and growth; habitat quantity and quality are prerequisites of fish productivity; connectivity among habitats is essential for movements of fishes and their resources; freshwater species and their habitats are tightly linked to surrounding watersheds; biodiversity can enhance ecosystem resiliency and productivity; global processes affect local populations; anthropogenic stressors have cumulative effects; and evolutionary processes can be important. Based on these principles, we provide general recommendations for managing and protecting freshwater ecosystems and the fisheries they support, with examples of successful implementation for each strategy. Key management strategies include engage and consult with stakeholders; ensure that agencies have sufficient capacity, legislation, and authority to implement policies and management plans; define metrics by which fisheries resources and management success or failure will be measured; identify and account for threats to ecosystem productivity; adopt the precautionary approach to management; embrace adaptive management; implement ecosystem-based management; account for all ecosystem services provided by aquatic ecosystems; protect and restore habitat as the foundation for fisheries; and protect biodiversity. Ecosystems are complex with many intertwined components and ignoring linkages and processes significantly reduces the probability of management success. These principles must be considered when identifying management options and developing policies aiming to protect productive freshwater ecosystems and sustainable fisheries.

River watersheds are among the most complex terrestrial features in Alaska, performing valuable ecosystem functions and providing services for human society. Rivers are vital to both estuarine and aquatic biota and play important roles in biogeochemical cycles and physical processes. The functions of watersheds have been used as vulnerability indicators for ecosystem and socioeconomic resilience. Despite a long history of human activity, the Yukon River has not received the holistic and interdisciplinary attention given to the other great American river systems. By using hypothesis-based monitoring of key watershed functions, we can gain insight to regime-shifting stresses such as fire, toxins, and invasive species development. Coupling adaptive risk management practices involving stakeholders with place-based education, especially contaminants and nutrition related, can maintain resilience within communities. The Yukon watershed provides a broadscale opportunity for communities to monitor the environment, manage resources, and contribute to stewardship policy formation. Monitoring keystone species and community activities, such as citizen science, are critical first steps to following changes to resiliency throughout the Yukon watershed. Creating a policy environment that encourages local experimentation and innovation contributes to resilience maintenance during development-imposed stress.

Introduced in ~59 countries and native across Europe and Asia, wild pigs, Sus scrofa, are the most wide-spread swine species in the world. As ecosystem engineers, wild pigs are a significant source of disturbance in introduced ecosystems due to their numerous, complex impacts on ecosystem processes. Wild pigs are often found in the resource-rich habitat of coastal forests. Coastal forests are complex, dynamic systems with tremendous biodiversity. Exposed to recurrent disturbances, the biophysical characteristics of coastal forests contribute to their ability to return to their original state post-disturbance. However, compounding disturbances can weaken this ability and threaten the health and function of the ecosystem. In this review, through the model of the forests of the southeastern United States Coastal Plain, we (1) describe conditions found across the forested coastal landscape, (2) describe wild pig disturbance, and (3) discuss how wild pig impacts can add to significant anthropogenic and climate-related disturbances threatening coastal forests. Through this review, we find that the impacts of wild pig disturbance on coastal forests often have similar effects as anthropogenic and climate change-related disturbances that may enhance these significant threats to coastal forest function and resiliency.

The number of IoT sensors and physical objects accommodated on the Internet is increasing day by day, and traditional Cloud Computing would not be able to host IoT data because of its high latency. Being challenged of processing all IoT big data on Cloud facilities, there is not enough study on automating components to deal with the big data and real-time tasks in the IoT–Fog–Cloud ecosystem. For instance, designing automatic data transfer from the fog layer to cloud layer, which contains enormous distributed devices is challenging. Considering fog as the supporting processing layer, dealing with decentralized devices in the IoT and fog layer leads us to think of other automatic mechanisms to manage the existing heterogeneity. The big data and heterogeneity challenges also motivated us to design other automatic components for Fog resiliency, which we address as the third challenge in the ecosystem. Fog resiliency makes the processing of IoT tasks independent to the Cloud layer. This survey aims to review, study, and analyze the automatic functions as a taxonomy to help researchers, who are implementing methods and algorithms for different IoT applications. We demonstrated the automatic functions through our research in accordance to each challenge. The study also discusses and suggests automating the tasks, methods, and processes of the ecosystem that still process the data manually.

Even in today’s modern electric grid infrastructure, the uncertainty in the power supply is more often seen and is mainly due to power outages. The reasons for power outages might be any of the following: extreme weather events, asset failure, natural disasters, power surges, acute accidents, and even operational errors by the workforce. Such uncertain situations are permitting us to think of it as a resilience problem. In most cases, the power outages may last from a few minutes to a few weeks, depending on the nature of the resilience issue and the power supply system (PSS) configuration. Therefore, it is imperative to understand and improve the resilience of a PSS. In this paper, a four-component resilience framework is proposed to study and compare the resilience of three different PSS configurations of residential electricity users (REUs) considering the realistic power outage conditions in the humid subtropical ecosystem. The proposed PSS configurations contain electric grid (EG), natural gas power generator (NGPG), battery energy storage (BES), and photovoltaics (PV) as the assets. The three PSS configurations of a REUs are EG + BES, EG + NGPG + BES, and EG + PV + BES, respectively, and in these, one REU is only the consumer and the other two REUs are prosumers. By using the proposed framework, simulations are performed on the three PSS configuration to understand the increasing load resiliency in the event of a power outage. Also, a comparative techno-economic and life cycle based environmental assessment is performed to select the most resilient PSS configuration among the EG + BES, EG + NGPG + BES, and EG + PV + BES for an REU. From the results, it was established that EG + PV + BES configuration would enhance the power resilience of an REU better than the other two PSS configurations. Besides, it is also observed that the identified resilient PSS configuration is cost-effective and environmentally efficient. Overall, the proposed framework will enable the REUs to opt for the PSS configuration that is resilient and affordable.

The valuation of ecosystem services has become an integral part of smart urban planning practices. Traditionally designed to bridge ecology and economy through economic language and logic (e.g., goods and services), this conceptual framework has developed into an effective tool for interdisciplinary work. The concept of ecosystem services is used to improve the management of ecosystems for human well-being. However, gaps in how to govern ecological benefits remain. Specifically, identifying which stakeholders benefit the most from the provision of ecosystem services remains largely unaddressed. This study examines the spatial discordance between ecosystem services and the residential stakeholders who may benefit. Using a landscape approach to quantify urban ecosystem services, an area-based composite index was developed for the City of Toronto, Canada, based on the three pillars of sustainability in order to identify potentially vulnerable populations. This method combines the use of principal component analysis (PCA) and spatial multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) to combine and weight a select grouping of socioeconomic and ecological indicators. In addition, two sets of enumeration units (i.e., dissemination areas and census tracts) were evaluated to assess the potential impact of measurement scale on subsequent decision or policy outcomes. Results indicate the spatial interdependencies between ecological and socioeconomic processes in an urban setting, offering a unique framework for novel planning and policy intervention strategies. The influence of measurement scale was demonstrated, creating an opportunity to assess an appropriate policy scale by which to measure and evaluate trends over time and space. This approach seeks to provide a flexible and intuitive planning tool that can help to achieve goals relating to urban sustainability, resiliency and equity.

We characterised the remarkable heterogeneity following the large, severe fires of 1988 in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), in the northern Rocky Mountains, Wyoming, USA, by focussing on spatial variation in post-fire structure, composition and ecosystem function at broad, meso, and fine scales. Ecological heterogeneity at multiple scales may enhance resilience to large, severe disturbances by providing structural, biological and functional redundancy. Post-fire heterogeneity in stand age, coarse wood abundance, microbial and understorey communities reflected interactions between existing pre-fire patterns and fire severity at different scales, suggesting that environmental context plays an important role in successional responses to large fires. In response to these post-fire patterns, heterogeneity in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage, N mineralisation, decomposition, and productivity was also evident at multiple scales and may confer resiliency to large fires. For example, at broad scales, C storage in YNP appears resistant to changes in age-class structure associated with large stand-replacing fires. In summary, the YNP landscape is recovering rapidly from the 1988 fires through natural mechanisms, owing to the abundance and spatial heterogeneity of post-fire residuals, but other systems with fewer biotic legacies may be less resilient to such large, severe fires.

Sponges are sessile invertebrates that belong to the class of primitive and simple metazoans.Slow mobility causing sponges to develop a high adaptability toward environmental changes. Asfilter feeder, sponges bioaccumulate pollutants from their surroundings. Therefore, they can beused as tools to detect heavy metals pollutions and non-biodegradable chemical wastes.Ecologically, every sponge species demonstrates different level of resiliency toward disturbances.Observation on their community structures, including species diversity, richness and abundance,provides information on the biological integrity of their inhabited ecosystem. Detection ofenvironmental stress also can be conducted by measuring the expression of stress indicatorprotein such as Heat Shock Protein (HSP) 70 as biomarker in sponges. These sensitive anddiverse stress responses make sponges as potential bioindicators for biomonitoring program ofcoral reef ecosystem.

Changes in biodiversity can severely affect ecosystem functioning, but the impacts of species loss on an ecosystem's ability to sustain multiple functions remain unclear. When considering individual functions, the impacts of biodiversity loss depend on correlations between species functional contributions and their extinction probabilities. When considering multiple functions, the impacts of biodiversity loss depend on correlations between species contributions to individual functions. However, how correlations between extinction probabilities and functional contributions determine the impact of biodiversity loss on multifunctionality (MF) is not well understood. Here, we use biodiversity loss simulations to examine the influence of correlations among multiple functions and extinction probabilities on the diversity–MF relationship. In contrast with random extinction, we find that the response of MF to biodiversity loss is influenced by the absence of positive correlations between species functional contributions, rather than by negative correlations. Communities with a high number of pairwise positive correlations in functional contributions achieve higher levels of MF, but are also less resilient to extinction. This work implies that understanding how species extinction probabilities correlate with their contribution to MF can help identify the degree to which MF will change with ongoing biodiversity loss and target conservation efforts to maximize MF resiliency.

The ecosystems in the arid inland areas of Central Asia are fragile and severely degraded. Understanding and assessing ecosystem resilience is a challenge facing ecosystems. Based on the net primary productivity (NPP) data estimated by the CASA model, this study conducted a quantitative analysis of the ecosystem’s resilience and comprehensively reflected its resilience from multiple dimensions. Furthermore, a comprehensive resilience index was constructed. The result showed that plain oasis’s ecosystem resilience is the highest, followed by deserts and mountainous areas. From the perspective of vegetation types, the highest resilience is artificial vegetation and the lowest is forest. In warm deserts, the resilience is higher in shrubs and meadows and lower in grassland vegetation. High coverage and biomass are not the same as the strong adaptability of the ecosystem. Moderate and slightly inelastic areas mainly dominate the ecosystem resilience of the study area. The new method is easy to use. The evaluation result is reliable. It can quantitatively analyze the resilience latitude and recovery rate, a beneficial improvement to the current ecosystem resilience evaluation.

The ecosystems in the arid inland areas of Central Asia are fragile and severely degraded. Understanding and assessing ecosystem resilience is a challenge facing ecosystems. Based on the net primary productivity (NPP) data estimated by the CASA model, this study conducted a quantitative analysis of the ecosystem’s resilience and comprehensively reflected its resilience from multiple dimensions. Furthermore, a comprehensive resilience index was constructed. The result showed that plain oasis’s ecosystem resilience is the highest, followed by deserts and mountainous areas. From the perspective of vegetation types, the highest resilience is artificial vegetation and the lowest is forest. In warm deserts, the resilience is higher in shrubs and meadows and lower in grassland vegetation. High coverage and biomass are not the same as the strong adaptability of the ecosystem. Moderate and slightly inelastic areas mainly dominate the ecosystem resilience of the study area. The new method is easy to use. The evaluation result is reliable. It can quantitatively analyze the resilience latitude and recovery rate, a beneficial improvement to the current ecosystem resilience evaluation.

Although many state and local transportation agencies recognize the need to make transportation assets more resilient in the face of a changing climate, there have been few methods and best practices they can draw on to determine which assets may be compromised under future conditions and how to evaluate and select adaptation measures. Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) Transportation Engineering Approaches to Climate Resiliency project sought to synthesize lessons learned and innovations from a variety of recent FHWA studies and pilots to help transportation agencies address changing climate conditions and extreme weather events at the asset level. This paper describes considerations for why, where, and how to integrate climate considerations into the project development process. It also discusses the types of climate information that should be considered, and summarizes lessons learned from FHWA’s studies and pilots—such as implementing adaptive designs, considering assets in a regional context, and exploring ecosystem-based adaptation solutions—that can be used to guide the process of developing adaptation strategies.

Abstract. Risk analyses indicate that more than 90% of the world's reefs will be threatened by climate change and local anthropogenic impacts by the year 2030 under "business-as-usual" climate scenarios. Increasing temperatures and solar radiation cause coral bleaching that has resulted in extensive coral mortality. Increasing carbon dioxide reduces seawater pH, slows coral growth, and may cause loss of reef structure. Management strategies include establishment of marine protected areas with environmental conditions that promote reef resiliency. However, few resilient reefs have been identified, and resiliency factors are poorly defined. Here we characterize the first natural, non-reef coral refuge from thermal stress and ocean acidification and identify resiliency factors for mangrove–coral habitats. We measured diurnal and seasonal variations in temperature, salinity, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and seawater chemistry; characterized substrate parameters; and examined water circulation patterns in mangrove communities where scleractinian corals are growing attached to and under mangrove prop roots in Hurricane Hole, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Additionally, we inventoried the coral species and quantified incidences of coral bleaching, mortality, and recovery for two major reef-building corals, Colpophyllia natans and Diploria labyrinthiformis, growing in mangrove-shaded and exposed (unshaded) areas. Over 30 species of scleractinian corals were growing in association with mangroves. Corals were thriving in low-light (more than 70% attenuation of incident PAR) from mangrove shading and at higher temperatures than nearby reef tract corals. A higher percentage of C. natans colonies were living shaded by mangroves, and no shaded colonies were bleached. Fewer D. labyrinthiformis colonies were shaded by mangroves, however more unshaded colonies were bleached. A combination of substrate and habitat heterogeneity, proximity of different habitat types, hydrographic conditions, and biological influences on seawater chemistry generate chemical conditions that buffer against ocean acidification. This previously undocumented refuge for corals provides evidence for adaptation of coastal organisms and ecosystem transition due to recent climate change. Identifying and protecting other natural, non-reef coral refuges is critical for sustaining corals and other reef species into the future.

Abstract. Risk analyses indicate that more than 90% of the world's reefs will be threatened by climate change and local anthropogenic impacts by the year 2030 under "business as usual" climate scenarios. Increasing temperatures and solar radiation cause coral bleaching that has resulted in extensive coral mortality. Increasing carbon dioxide reduces seawater pH, slows coral growth, and may cause loss of reef structure. Management strategies include establishment of marine protected areas with environmental conditions that promote reef resiliency. However, few resilient reefs have been identified, and resiliency factors are poorly defined. Here we characterize the first natural, non-reef, coral refuge from thermal stress and ocean acidification and identify resiliency factors for mangrove–coral habitats. We measured diurnal and seasonal variations in temperature, salinity, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and seawater chemistry; characterized substrate parameters; and examined water circulation patterns in mangrove communities where scleractinian corals are growing attached to and under mangrove prop roots in Hurricane Hole, St. John, US Virgin Islands. Additionally, we inventoried the coral species and quantified incidences of coral bleaching, mortality and recovery for two major reef-building corals, Colpophyllia natans and Diploria labyrinthiformis, growing in mangrove shaded and exposed (unshaded) areas. At least 33 species of scleractinian corals were growing in association with mangroves. Corals were thriving in low-light (more than 70% attenuation of incident PAR) from mangrove shading and at higher temperatures than nearby reef tract corals. A higher percentage of C. natans colonies was living shaded by mangroves, and no shaded colonies bleached. Fewer D. labyrinthiformis colonies were shaded by mangroves, however more unshaded colonies bleached. A combination of substrate and habitat heterogeniety, proximity of different habitat types, hydrographic conditions, and biological influences on seawater chemistry generate chemical conditions that buffer against ocean acidification. This previously undocumented refuge for corals provides evidence for adaptation of coastal organisms and ecosystem transition due to recent climate change. Identifying and protecting other natural, non-reef coral refuges is critical for sustaining corals and other reef species into the future.

Farmers and policy makers pursue management practices that enhance water quality, increase landscape flood resiliency, and mitigate agriculture’s contribution to climate change, all while remaining economically viable. This study presents a holistic assessment of how two practices influence the supply of these ecosystem services—the use of an aerator prior to manure application in haylands, and the stacked use of manure injection, cover crops, and reduced tillage in corn silage production. Field data are contextualized by semi-structured interviews that identify influences on adoption. Causal loop diagrams then illustrate feedbacks from ecosystem services onto decision making. In our study, unseen nutrient pathways are the least understood, but potentially the most important in determining the impact of a practice on ecosystem services supply. Subsurface runoff accounted for 64% to 92% of measured hydrologic phosphorus export. Average soil surface greenhouse gas flux constituted 38% to 73% of all contributions to the equivalent CO2 footprint of practices, sometimes outweighing carbon sequestration. Farmers identified interest in better understanding unseen nutrient pathways, expressed intrinsic stewardship motivations, but highlighted financial considerations as dominating decision making. Our analysis elevates the importance of financial supports for conservation, and the need for comprehensive understandings of agroecosystem performance that include hard-to-measure pathways.

ABSTRAKELOK HIDAYATI. Dinamika Kelompok dalam Resiliensi Komunitas Nelayan Menghadapi Kerusakan Ekosistem Laut. Di bawah bimbingan NURMALA K. PANDJAITAN.Rusaknya ekosistem laut akibat aktivitas manusia dan perubahan iklim membawa dampak pada rusaknya terumbu karang dan punahnya berbagai jenis ikan. Komunitas nelayan yang paling dirugikan dengan bencana ini karena terancamnya sumber mata pencarian mereka. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah menganalisis dinamika kelompok dan resiliensi komunitas nelayan dalam menghadapi ancaman kerusakan ekosistem laut. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode survei dengan teknik pengumpulan data secara accidental dengan jumlah responden sebanyak 30 orang. Data primer diperoleh melalui wawancara berstruktur dengan menggunakan kuesioner dan wawancara mendalam pada beberapa informan untuk mendapatkan data kualitatif sebagai penunjang data kuantitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa komunitas nelayan mampu beradaptasi atau resilien baik pada komponen sosial (social resilience), ekonomi (economic resilience) maupun infrastruktur (infrastructure resilience) dalam menghadapi bencana kerusakan ekosistem laut. Hal ini ditopang oleh adanya kekuatan dalam dinamika kelompok terutama pada komunikasi kelompok dan kohesi kelompok sehingga dapat terbangun aksi kolektif untuk mengatasi berbagai permasalahan yang dihadapi.Kata kunci: aksi kolektif, dinamika kelompok, kepemimpinan dalam kelompok, resiliensi komunitas ABSTRACTELOK HIDAYATI. Group Dynamic in Fishing Community Resilience towards Marine Ecosystem Damage. Supervised by NURMALA K. PANDJAITAN.Marine ecosystem damage due to human activities and climate change has had an impact on the destruction of coral reefs and the extinction of various types of fish. The fishing community is the most affected by this disaster because their livelihood sources are threatened. The purpose of this study was to analyze group dynamic and the resilience of fishing communities in facing the threat of marine ecosystem damage. The method used in this research is a survey method with accidental data collection techniques with a total of 30 respondents. Primary data were obtained through structured interviews using questionnaires and in-depth interviews with several informants to obtain qualitative data to support quantitative data. The results showed that the fishing community was able to adapt or be resilient both to the social (social resilience), economy (economic resilience) and infrastructure (infrastructure resilience) components towards marine ecosystem damage. This is supported by the existence of strength in group dynamics, especially in group communication and group cohesion so that collective action can be built to overcome various problems faced.Keywords: collective action, community resilience, group dynamic, leadership in group

With the falling costs of solar arrays and battery storage and reduced reliability of the grid due to natural disasters, small-scale local generation and storage resources are beginning to proliferate. However, very few software options exist for integrated control of building loads, batteries and other distributed energy resources. The available software solutions on the market can force customers to adopt one particular ecosystem of products, thus limiting consumer choice, and are often incapable of operating independently of the grid during blackouts. In this paper, we present the “Solar+ Optimizer” (SPO), a control platform that provides demand flexibility, resiliency and reduced utility bills, built using open-source software. SPO employs Model Predictive Control (MPC) to produce real time optimal control strategies for the building loads and the distributed energy resources on site. SPO is designed to be vendor-agnostic, protocol-independent and resilient to loss of wide-area network connectivity. The software was evaluated in a real convenience store in northern California with on-site solar generation, battery storage and control of HVAC and commercial refrigeration loads. Preliminary tests showed price responsiveness of the building and cost savings of more than 10% in energy costs alone.

Risks from human intervention in the climate system are raising concerns with respect to individual species and ecosystem health and resiliency. A dominant approach uses global climate models to predict changes in climate in the coming decades and then to downscale this information to assess impacts to plant communities, animal habitats, agricultural and urban ecosystems, and other parts of the Earth’s life system. To achieve robust assessments of the threats to these systems in this top-down, outcome vulnerability approach, however, requires skillful prediction, and representation of changes in regional and local climate processes, which has not yet been satisfactorily achieved. Moreover, threats to biodiversity and ecosystem function, such as from invasive species, are in general, not adequately included in the assessments. We discuss a complementary assessment framework that builds on a bottom-up vulnerability concept that requires the determination of the major human and natural forcings on the environment including extreme events, and the interactions between these forcings. After these forcings and interactions are identified, then the relative risks of each issue can be compared with other risks or forcings in order to adopt optimal mitigation/adaptation strategies. This framework is a more inclusive way of assessing risks, including climate variability and longer-term natural and anthropogenic-driven change, than the outcome vulnerability approach which is mainly based on multi-decadal global and regional climate model predictions. We therefore conclude that the top-down approach alone is outmoded as it is inadequate for robustly assessing risks to biodiversity and ecosystem function. In contrast the bottom-up, integrative approach is feasible and much more in line with the needs of the assessment and conservation community. A key message of our paper is to emphasize the need to consider coupled feedbacks since the Earth is a dynamically interactive system. This should be done not just in the model structure, but also in its application and subsequent analyses. We recognize that the community is moving toward that goal and we urge an accelerated pace.

Increasing our understanding of the tidal dynamics, the extent of tidal reach, and storm surge impacts on near-coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina rivers is a significant research opportunity. It has the potential to yield benefits to sustainable planning, ecosystem protection, and risk management for regulators and state agencies, local municipalities, coastal residents, and other regional stakeholders. This study leveraged existing United States Geological Survey (USGS) water level data for the Savannah River, added additional water level gauges in key areas for less than one year, and analyzed these combined large data sets with modified wavelet analysis and Fourier analysis. One significant outcome of the research included confirmation of river mile 45, historically referred to as Ebenezer Landing, as the head of tide. We also provide information on the dynamics of wave propagation through the near-coastal area of the Savannah River, give indication of critical areas of concern for flooding resulting from interactions between the interconnected factors affecting elevated upstream flows and storm tides, and discuss relevance of study results for various stakeholders.

Highly productive coastal wetlands play an essential role in storing blue carbon as one of their ecosystem services, but they are increasingly jeopardized by intensive reclamation activities to facilitate rapid population growth and urbanization. Coastal reclamation causes the destruction and severe degradation of wetland ecosystems, which may affect their abilities to store blue carbon. To assist with international accords on blue carbon, we evaluated the dynamics of blue carbon storage in coastal wetlands under coastal reclamation in China. By integrating carbon density data collected from field measurement experiments and from the literature, an InVEST model, Carbon Storage and Sequestration was used to estimate carbon storage across the reclamation area between 1990 and 2015. The result is the first map capable of informing about blue carbon storage in coastal reclamation areas on a national scale. We found that more than 380,000 hectares of coastal wetlands were affected by reclamation, which resulted in the release of ca. 20.7 Tg of blue carbon. The carbon loss from natural wetlands to artificial wetlands accounted for 72.5% of total carbon loss, which highlights the major task in managing coastal sustainability. In addition, the top 20% of coastal wetlands in carbon storage loss covered 4.2% of the total reclamation area, which can be applied as critical information for coastal redline planning. We conclude that the release of blue carbon due to the conversion of natural wetlands exceeded the total carbon emission from energy consumption within the reclamation area. Implementing the Redline policy could guide the management of coastal areas resulting in greater resiliency regarding carbon emission and sustained ecosystem services.

The present synthesis addresses key questions about several extreme fire events that occurred in the Nothofagus forest region of southern Argentina and Chile in the late 1990s and early 2000s: (1) are there historical precedents for the extent and severity of these recent wildfires? (2) To what extent can large, severe fires be attributed to influences from modern humans, either indirectly through land-use practices or directly through ignition? (3) What are the relationships of these fire events to interannual climatic variability and trends? (4) What are the medium-term ecological consequences of these fire events, particularly in terms of the resiliency of the burned ecosystems? Historic fire regimes vary greatly across the different ecosystem types in the southern Andean region, and the tree-ring record shows that before the 20th century, large severe fires also played a significant ecological role in shaping even the wettest forests. Recent severe droughts at an annual time scale have been facilitated by a trend towards higher temperatures since the mid-1970s. In large parts of the region, the risk of wildfire ignition and spread has been exacerbated by increases in lightning associated with higher temperatures, increased ignitions associated with exurban development, and conversion of less flammable native vegetation to more flammable plantations of exotic conifers.

Purpose Vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems, systems of inter-related forces that promote and sustain regional entrepreneurship, are increasingly viewed as sources of innovation, economic development and community revitalization. Regions with emerging, underdeveloped or depressed economies are attempting to develop their nascent entrepreneurial ecosystems in the hopes of experiencing the positive benefits of entrepreneurial activity. For nascent entrepreneurial ecosystems to grow requires resources. However, how nascent entrepreneurial ecosystems manage their resource dependencies and the tensions that exist between creating and attracting resources are not clear. The purpose of this paper is to propose a theory of nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem resource dependence. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual paper analyzes entrepreneurial ecosystems as meta-organizations and builds on resource dependence theory to explain how nascent ecosystems respond to environmental dependencies and their resource needs through internal and external strategies. Findings Two specific strategies used by nascent entrepreneurial ecosystems to manage resource dependence – bridging and buffer – are explored. It is proposed that there is a positive relationship between the resource dependence of a nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem and its use of bridging and buffering activities. Two ecosystem characteristics that influence the pursuit of bridging and buffering – ecosystem size and the presence of collaborative values – are also identified. In addition, it is theorized that resource dependence strategies influence a key, system-level characteristic of entrepreneurial ecosystems: resilience, the ecosystem’s ability to respond and adapt to internal and external disruptions. Originality/value The theory presented generates insights into how nascent entrepreneurial ecosystems create and obtain resources when ecosystems are unmunificent, resource-constrained or underdeveloped. The theorizing addresses which resource dependence strategy – buffering or bridging – has a stronger link to resource dependence (and resilience) and under what conditions these linkages occur. The theoretical model generates insights for research on entrepreneurship in emerging and developed economies and produces practical implications for ecosystem participants, policymakers and economic development organizations.

AbstractThe important and no longer novel insight from ecology that ecosystems are dynamic and ever-changing along immensely complex causal pathways prompts the further insight that environmental protection regimes should promote not a particular ecosystemic end state, but rather ecosystem resilience, or the capacity to absorb and adapt to stress without compromising essential function. For law to embrace resilience as an objective, it is argued, it must itself be dynamic and flexible, capable of learning and adaptation. This poses potentially serious challenges to law’s resilience: to what extent are flexibility and adaptability at odds with what Niklas Luhmann argues is an essential feature of normative systems, namely, resistance to learning in the face of disappointment? The potentially rapid rate of change expected of a law oriented to ecosystem resilience could overwhelm law’s capacity to provide the measure of order, stability, and predictability that are core to its contribution, or prestation, to society. This paper takes this challenge seriously, but also explores another possible implication of law in the pursuit of ecosystem resilience: if environmental law is no longer conceived of in primarily instrumental terms, as a means to bring about a specific set of ecosystem objectives, there may be some possibility for its own resilience to be enhanced.

Understanding the response of vegetation and ecosystem resilience to climate variability and drought conditions is essential for ecosystem planning and management. In this study, we assessed the vegetation changes and ecosystem resilience in the Horn of Africa (HOA) since 2000 and detected their drivers based mainly on analysis of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products. We found that the annual and seasonal trends of NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) generally increased during the last two decades over the Horn of Africa particularly in western parts of Ethiopia and Kenya. The weakest annual and seasonal NDVI trends were observed over the grassland cover and tropical arid agroecological zones. The NDVI variation negatively correlated with Land Surface Temperature (LST) and positively correlated with precipitation at a significant level (p < 0.05) account for 683,197 km2 and 533,385 km2 area, respectively. The ecosystem Water Use Efficiency (eWUE) showed overall increasing trends with larger values for the grassland biome. The precipitation had the most significant effect on eWUE variation compared to LST and annual SPEI (Standardized Evapotranspiration Index). There were about 54.9% of HOA resilient to drought disturbance, whereas 32.6% was completely not-resilient. The ecosystems in the humid agroecological zones, the cropland, and wetland were slightly not-resilient to severe drought conditions in the region. This study provides useful information for policy makers regarding ecosystem and dryland management in the context of climate change at both national and regional levels.

ABSTRACTDisasters are potentially traumatic that are collectively experienced. Marine ecosystem damage causes the productivity of fishermen to be disturbed so that the welfare of fishermen decreases. The purpose of this study are to analyze the adaptive capacity and collective action through fishing community resilience towards marine ecosystem damage. The approach used in this study is quantitative approach supported by qualitative data with an online survey method. Data collection was done online due to the corona virus pandemic. The respondents were selected by accidental sampling with 30 respondents. The results of the study show that community adaptive capacity is high towards marine ecosystem damage in the form of collective action. There are still some community members who do not understand the purpose of carrying out activities, but they have already participated so that they are resilient in the form of increasing welfare, closeness of community relation and supporting facilities for fishermen productivity. Keywords: adaptive capacity, collective action, community resilience ABSTRAKBencana merupakan peristiwa yang berpotensi traumatis yang secara kolektif dialami. Kerusakan ekosistem laut menyebabkan produktivitas nelayan terganggu sehingga kesejahteraan nelayan ikan menurun. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah menganalisis kapasitas adaptif dan aksi kolektif dalam resiliensi komunitas nelayan menghadapi kerusakan ekosistem laut. Pendekatan yang digunakan adalah pendekatan kuantitatif didukung data kualitatif dengan metode survei secara online. Pemilihan responden dilakukan secara accidental sampling dengan jumlah responden sebanyak 30 orang. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kapasitas adaptif komunitas nelayan tinggi dalam menghadapi kerusakan ekosistem laut dengan melakukan perubahan dalam bentuk aksi kolektif. Masih ada sebagian anggota komunitas yang kurang memahami tujuan pelaksanaan kegiatan namun mereka sudah berpatisipasi sehingga resilien dalam bentuk peningkatan kesejahteraan, keeratan hubungan dalam komunitas dan perbaikan sarana penunjang produktivitas nelayan. Kata kunci: aksi kolektif, kapasitas adaptif, resiliensi komunitas

Mesophotic coral reefs, currently defined as deep reefs between 30 and 150 m, are linked physically and biologically to their shallow water counterparts, have the potential to be refuges for shallow coral reef taxa such as coral and sponges, and might be a source of larvae that could contribute to the resiliency of shallow water reefs. Mesophotic coral reefs are found worldwide, but most are undescribed and understudied. Here, we review our current knowledge of mesophotic coral reefs and their functional ecology as it relates to their geomorphology, changes in the abiotic environment along depth gradients, trophic ecology, their reproduction, and their connectivity to shallow depths. Understanding the ecology of mesophotic coral reefs, and the connectivity between them and their shallow water counterparts, is now a primary focus for many reef studies as the worldwide degradation of shallow coral reefs, and the ecosystem services they provide, continues unabated.

We review the concept of ecosystem resilience in its relation to ecosystem integrity from an information theory approach. We summarize the literature on the subject identifying three main narratives: ecosystem properties that enable them to be more resilient; ecosystem response to perturbations; and complexity. We also include original ideas with theoretical and quantitative developments with application examples. The main contribution is a new way to rethink resilience, that is mathematically formal and easy to evaluate heuristically in real-world applications: ecosystem antifragility. An ecosystem is antifragile if it benefits from environmental variability. Antifragility therefore goes beyond robustness or resilience because while resilient/robust systems are merely perturbation-resistant, antifragile structures not only withstand stress but also benefit from it.

1. Introduction This Special Issue (Part 2) expands upon the theme “Building Local Capacity for Long-term Disaster Resilience” presented in Special Issue Part 1 (JDR Volume 5, Number 2, April 2010) by examining the evolving concept of disaster resilience and providing additional reflections upon various aspects of its meaning. Part 1 provided a mixed set of examples of resiliency efforts, ranging from administrative challenges of integrating resilience into recovery to the analysis of hazard mitigation plans directed toward guiding local capability for developing resiliency. Resilience was broadly defined in the opening editorial of Special Issue Part 1 as “the capacity of a community to: 1) survive a major disaster, 2) retain essential structure and functions, and 3) adapt to post-disaster opportunities for transforming community structure and functions to meet new challenges.” In this editorial essay we first explore in Section 2 the history of resilience and then locate it within current academic and policy debates. Section 3 presents summaries of the papers in this issue. 2. Why is Resilience a Contemporary Theme? There is growing scholarly and policy interest in disaster resilience. In recent years, engineers [1], sociologists [2], geographers [3], economists [4], public policy analysts [5, 6], urban planners [7], hazards researchers [8], governments [9], and international organizations [10] have all contributed to the literature about this concept. Some authors view resilience as a mechanism for mitigating disaster impacts, with framework objectives such as resistance, absorption, and restoration [5]. Others, who focus on resiliency indicators, see it as an early warning system to assess community resiliency status [3, 8]. Recently, it has emerged as a component of social risk management that seeks to minimize social welfare loss from catastrophic disasters [6]. Manyena [11] traces scholarly exploration of resilience as an operational concept back at least five decades. Interest in resilience began in the 1940s with studies of children and trauma in the family and in the 1970s in the ecology literature as a useful framework to examine and measure the impact of assault or trauma on a defined eco-system component [12]. This led to modeling resilience measures for a variety of components within a defined ecosystem, leading to the realization that the systems approach to resiliency is attractive as a cross-disciplinary construct. The ecosystem analogy however, has limits when applied to disaster studies in that, historically, all catastrophic events have changed the place in which they occurred and a “return to normalcy” does not occur. This is true for modern urban societies as well as traditional agrarian societies. The adoption of “The Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015” (also known as The Hyogo Declaration) provides a global linkage and follows the United Nations 1990s International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction effort. The 2005 Hyogo Declaration’s definition of resilience is: “The capacity of a system, community or society potentially exposed to hazards to adapt by resisting or changing in order to reach and maintain an acceptable level of functioning and structure.” The proposed measurement of resilience in the Hyogo Declaration is determined by “the degree to which the social system is capable of organizing itself to increase this capacity for learning from past disasters for better future protection and to improve risk reduction measures.” While very broad, this definition contains two key concepts: 1) adaptation, and 2) maintaining acceptable levels of functioning and structure. While adaptation requires certain capacities, maintaining acceptable levels of functioning and structure requires resources, forethought, and normative action. Some of these attributes are now reflected in the 2010 National Disaster Recovery Framework published by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) [13]. With the emergence of this new thinking on resilience related to disasters, it is now a good time to reflect on the concept and assess what has recently been said in the literature. Bruneau et al. [1] offer an engineering sciences definition for community seismic resilience: “The ability of social units (e.g., organizations, communities) to mitigate hazards, contain the effects of disasters when they occur, and carry out recovery activities in ways that minimize social disruption and mitigate the effects of future earthquakes.” Rose [4] writes that resiliency is the ability of a system to recover from a severe shock. He distinguishes two types of resilience: (1) inherent – ability under normal circumstances and (2) adaptive – ability in crisis situations due to ingenuity or extra effort. By opening up resilience to categorization he provides a pathway to establish multi-disciplinary approaches, something that is presently lacking in practice. Rose is most concerned with business disruption which can take extensive periods of time to correct. In order to make resource decisions that lower overall societal costs (economic, social, governmental and physical), Rose calls for the establishment of measurements that function as resource decision allocation guides. This has been done in part through risk transfer tools such as private insurance. However, it has not been well-adopted by governments in deciding how to allocate mitigation resources. We need to ask why the interest in resilience has grown? Manyena [11] argues that the concept of resilience has gained currency without obtaining clarity of understanding, definition, substance, philosophical dimensions, or applicability to disaster management and sustainable development theory and practice. It is evident that the “emergency management model” does not itself provide sufficient guidance for policymakers since it is too command-and-control-oriented and does not adequately address mitigation and recovery. Also, large disasters are increasingly viewed as major disruptions of the economic and social conditions of a country, state/province, or city. Lowering post-disaster costs (human life, property loss, economic advancement and government disruption) is being taken more seriously by government and civil society. The lessening of costs is not something the traditional “preparedness” stage of emergency management has concerned itself with; this is an existing void in meeting the expanding interests of government and civil society. The concept of resilience helps further clarify the relationship between risk and vulnerability. If risk is defined as “the probability of an event or condition occurring [14]#8221; then it can be reduced through physical, social, governmental, or economic means, thereby reducing the likelihood of damage and loss. Nothing can be done to stop an earthquake, volcanic eruption, cyclone, hurricane, or other natural event, but the probability of damage and loss from natural and technological hazards can be addressed through structural and non-structural strategies. Vulnerability is the absence of capacity to resist or absorb a disaster impact. Changes in vulnerability can then be achieved by changes in these capacities. In this regard, Franco and Siembieda describe in this issue how coastal cities in Chile had low resilience and high vulnerability to the tsunami generated by the February 2010 earthquake, whereas modern buildings had high resilience and, therefore, were much less vulnerable to the powerful earthquake. We also see how the framework for policy development can change through differing perspectives. Eisner discusses in this issue how local non-governmental social service agencies are building their resilience capabilities to serve target populations after a disaster occurs, becoming self-renewing social organizations and demonstrating what Leonard and Howett [6] term “social resilience.” All of the contributions to this issue illustrate the lowering of disaster impacts and strengthening of capacity (at the household, community or governmental level) for what Alesch [15] terms “post-event viability” – a term reflecting how well a person, business, community, or government functions after a disaster in addition to what they might do prior to a disaster to lessen its impact. Viability might become the definition of recovery if it can be measured or agreed upon. 3. Contents of This Issue The insights provided by the papers in this issue contribute greater clarity to an understanding of resilience, together with its applicability to disaster management. In these papers we find tools and methods, process strategies, and planning approaches. There are five papers focused on local experiences, three on state (prefecture) experiences, and two on national experiences. The papers in this issue reinforce the concept of resilience as a process, not a product, because it is the sum of many actions. The resiliency outcome is the result of multiple inputs from the level of the individual and, at times, continuing up to the national or international organizational level. Through this exploration we see that the “resiliency” concept accepts that people will come into conflict with natural or anthropogenic hazards. The policy question then becomes how to lower the impact(s) of the conflict through “hard or soft” measures (see the Special Issue Part 1 editorial for a discussion of “hard” vs. “soft” resilience). Local level Go Urakawa and Haruo Hayashi illustrate how post-disaster operations for public utilities can be problematic because many practitioners have no direct experience in such operations, noting that the formats and methods normally used in recovery depend on personal skills and effort. They describe how these problems are addressed by creating manuals on measures for effectively implementing post-disaster operations. They develop a method to extract priority operations using business impact analysis (BIA) and project management based business flow diagrams (BFD). Their article effectively illustrates the practical aspects of strengthening the resiliency of public organizations. Richard Eisner presents the framework used to initiate the development and implementation of a process to create disaster resilience in faith-based and community-based organizations that provide services to vulnerable populations in San Francisco, California. A major project outcome is the Disaster Resilience Standard for Community- and Faith-Based Service Providers. This “standard” has general applicability for use by social service agencies in the public and non-profit sectors. Alejandro Linayo addresses the growing issue of technological risk in cities. He argues for the need to understand an inherent conflict between how we occupy urban space and the technological risks created by hazardous chemicals, radiation, oil and gas, and other hazardous materials storage and movement. The paper points out that information and procedural gaps exist in terms of citizen knowledge (the right to know) and local administrative knowledge (missing expertise). Advances and experience accumulated by the Venezuela Disaster Risk Management Research Center in identifying and integrating technological risk treatment for the city of Merida, Venezuela, are highlighted as a way to move forward. L. Teresa Guevara-Perez presents the case that certain urban zoning requirements in contemporary cities encourage and, in some cases, enforce the use of building configurations that have been long recognized by earthquake engineering as seismically vulnerable. Using Western Europe and the Modernist architectural movement, she develops the historical case for understanding discrepancies between urban zoning regulations and seismic codes that have led to vulnerable modern building configurations, and traces the international dissemination of architectural and urban planning concepts that have generated vulnerability in contemporary cities around the world. Jung Eun Kang, Walter Gillis Peacock, and Rahmawati Husein discuss an assessment protocol for Hazard Mitigation Plans applied to 12 coastal hazard zone plans in the state of Texas in the U.S. The components of these plans are systematically examined in order to highlight their respective strengths and weaknesses. The authors describe an assessment tool, the plan quality score (PQS), composed of seven primary components (vision statement, planning process, fact basis, goals and objectives, inter-organizational coordination, policies & actions, and implementation), as well as a component quality score (CQS). State (Prefecture) level Charles Real presents the Natural Hazard Zonation Policies for Land Use Planning and Development in California in the U.S. California has established state-level policies that utilize knowledge of where natural hazards are more likely to occur to enhance the effectiveness of land use planning as a tool for risk mitigation. Experience in California demonstrates that a combination of education, outreach, and mutually supporting policies that are linked to state-designated natural hazard zones can form an effective framework for enhancing the role of land use planning in reducing future losses from natural disasters. Norio Maki, Keiko Tamura, and Haruo Hayashi present a method for local government stakeholders involved in pre-disaster plan making to describe performance measures through the formulation of desired outcomes. Through a case study approach, Nara and Kyoto Prefectures’ separate experiences demonstrate how to conduct Strategic Earthquake Disaster Reduction Plans and Action Plans that have deep stakeholder buy-in and outcome measurability. Nara’s plan was prepared from 2,015 stakeholder ideas and Kyoto’s plan was prepared from 1,613 stakeholder ideas. Having a quantitative target for individual objectives ensures the measurability of plan progress. Both jurisdictions have undertaken evaluations of plan outcomes. Sandy Meyer, Eugene Henry, Roy E. Wright and Cynthia A. Palmer present the State of Florida in the U.S. and its experience with pre-disaster planning for post-disaster redevelopment. Drawing upon the lessons learned from the impacts of the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, local governments and state leaders in Florida sought to find a way to encourage behavior that would create greater community resiliency in 2006. The paper presents initial efforts to develop a post-disaster redevelopment plan (PDRP), including the experience of a pilot county. National level Bo-Yao Lee provides a national perspective: New Zealand’s approach to emergency management, where all hazard risks are addressed through devolved accountability. This contemporary approach advocates collaboration and coordination, aiming to address all hazard risks through the “4Rs” – reduction, readiness, response, and recovery. Lee presents the impact of the Resource Management Act (1991), the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act (2002), and the Building Act (2004) that comprise the key legislation influencing and promoting integrated management for environment and hazard risk management. Guillermo Franco and William Siembieda provide a field assessment of the February 27, 2010, M8.8 earthquake and tsunami event in Chile. The papers present an initial damage and life-loss review and assessment of seismic building resiliency and the country’s rapid updating of building codes that have undergone continuous improvement over the past 60 years. The country’s land use planning system and its emergency management system are also described. The role of insurance coverage reveals problems in seismic coverage for homeowners. The unique role of the Catholic Church in providing temporary shelter and the central government’s five-point housing recovery plan are presented. A weakness in the government’s emergency management system’s early tsunami response system is noted. Acknowledgements The Editorial Committee extends its sincere appreciation to both the contributors and the JDR staff for their patience and determination in making Part 2 of this special issue possible. Thanks also to the reviewers for their insightful analytic comments and suggestions. Finally, the Committee wishes to again thank Bayete Henderson for his keen and thorough editorial assistance and copy editing support.

Abstract. In July 2, 2018, the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) adopted a resolution of the strategic framework of disaster risk reduction. Many seismic countries have experienced challenges with natural hazards, such as earthquakes every year. Seismic safety monitoring and infrastructures, including building vulnerability assessment of earthquake are significant means to protect the safety of people and reduce the loss of property. We present cloud-based Geospatial Information Technologies in this study to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 in earthquake disaster loss reduction, mitigation, and resilience. The authors investigated and programmed the instruction building codes of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We developed sophisticated algorithms to construct a geospatial cloud-based system to support the implementation of disaster risk reduction for strengthening infrastructures and resiliency of pre and post-earthquakes. However, the content is entirely based on the understanding of geospatial knowledge, engineering, and services to the people for a better world for future generations. The objectives of this study are to (1) participate in global sharing of experiences on utilizing geospatial information technologies to address disasters resilience and challenging issues of determining the vulnerability of buildings and estimation of risk as well as recommendation for retrofitting; and (2) developing Geospatial Infrastructure Management Ecosystem (GeoIME) including, Geospatial Rapid Visual Screening (GeoRVS) cloud-based platform. They enable the determination of the vulnerability of infrastructures, such as buildings and the estimation of risk for disaster reduction and management. This study shows that we reduced the cost and time for inspecting a building by 75% and %80, respectively. The application of this study can be used for retrofitting and rehabilitation of infrastructures like buildings and bridges for before and after earthquakes. Finally, we propose recommendations that might be helpful to countries having similar issues, and it has great potential for scalability and customization in other disasters such as floods.

Abstract Key message Plant–soil feedbacks in mangrove ecosystems are important for ecosystem resilience and can be investigated by establishing links between empirical and modelling studies. Abstract Plant–soil feedbacks are important as they provide valuable insights into ecosystem dynamics and ecosystems stability and resilience against multiple stressors and disturbances, including global climate change. In mangroves, plant–soil feedbacks are important for ecosystem resilience in the face of sea level rise, carbon sequestration, and to support successful ecosystem restoration. Despite the recognition of the importance of plant–soil feedbacks in mangroves, there is limited empirical data available. We reviewed empirical studies from mangrove ecosystems and evaluate numerical models addressing plant–soil feedbacks. The empirical evidence suggests that plant–soil feedbacks strongly influence ecological processes (e.g. seedling recruitment and soil elevation change) and forest structure in mangrove ecosystems. Numerical models, which successfully describe plant–soil feedbacks in mangrove and other ecosystems, can be used in future empirical studies to test mechanistic understanding and project outcomes of environmental change. Moreover, the combination of both, modelling and empirical approaches, can improve mechanistic understanding of plant–soil feedbacks and thereby ecosystem dynamics in mangrove ecosystems. This combination will help to support sustainable coastal management and conservation.

It is theorized that a mutualistic ecosystem's resilience against perturbations (e.g. species extinction) is determined by a single macroscopic parameter (network resilience), calculable from the network. Given that such perturbations occur owing to environmental changes (e.g. climate change and human impact), it has been predicted that mutualistic ecosystems that exist despite extensive environmental changes exhibit higher network resilience; however, such a prediction has not been confirmed using real-world data. Thus, in this study, the effects of climate change velocity and human activities on mutualistic network resilience were investigated. A global dataset of plant–animal mutualistic networks was used, and spatial analysis was performed to examine the effects. Moreover, the potential confounding effects of network size, current climate and altitude were statistically controlled. It was demonstrated that mutualistic network resilience was globally influenced by warming velocity and human impact, in addition to current climate. Specifically, pollination network resilience increased in response to human impact, and seed-dispersal network resilience increased with warming velocity. The effect of environmental changes on network resilience for plants was remarkable. The results confirmed the prediction obtained based on the theory and imply that real-world mutualistic networks have a structure that increases ecosystem resilience against environmental changes. These findings will enhance the understanding of ecosystem resilience.

Natural disasters, wars, economic collapses, or some combination of these stretch far back in history. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic downturn is the latest example of a globally unsettling event. However, while the crisis is global not every region will react, and most importantly, recover in the same way. Examples of resilience to such events can be found and studied at local levels, such as municipalities, all the way up to the differences in responses by nations. Learning the lessons from previous challenges is key to mitigating future ones. Focusing locally on cities and their resiliency in the face of economic and social upheaval is an important foundation for this type of research. In Japan, Professors Takashi Yamamoto, Masaaki Takemura and Mayuri Ishida are now collaborating to investigate how to increase the economic resilience of regional cities within the country. Together they developed and have been conducting a series of research projects, which ultimately intend to increase the number and strength of economically resilient regional cities in Japan.

SUMMARYIn response to the current needs of humanity with regard to food production, environmental disasters and climate change, it is important to define (livestock) production systems and management practices that are both productive and ecologically sustainable. We qualitatively assessed advanced silvopastoral experiences in five ecologically and culturally distinct regions in Chiapas, Mexico, given their ability to provide key services: internal (productivity and productive resiliency) and external (climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation). We propose 20 indicators that reflect management, resources, use of external inputs, availability of food, commercial products and animal feed and trees in grazing and forest areas. Sets of some indicators form criteria for dependence on external inputs, productive diversification with emphasis on food security, soil conservation, tree cover and landscape connectivity, among others. Indicators and thresholds were adjusted to critical (traffic light) levels, based on field data. Comparing the levels reached by the studied experiences, we found that most of the resulting services go hand in hand; so ‘win–win’ situations are possible to be achieved. The elements and practices that affect both internal and external services were explored. The red light critical points in each production unit were identified so that they could be attended. Experiences that presented higher levels in assessment criteria could serve as examples to enable the improvement of livestock systems under similar conditions. We propose this assessment as a tool for rapid intervention that can be widely applied to livestock systems, from conventional to organic or diversified, because of the criteria used. However, it can be more flexible, as new criteria can be added and thresholds can be adjusted for other types of production systems, always reflecting local and desired conditions. The proposed indicators can be also used as a basis for a quantitative agroecosystem assessment.

Abstract Tropical cyclones play an increasingly important role in shaping ecosystems. Understanding and generalizing their responses is challenging because of meteorological variability among storms and its interaction with ecosystems. We present a research framework designed to compare tropical cyclone effects within and across ecosystems that: a) uses a disaggregating approach that measures the responses of individual ecosystem components, b) links the response of ecosystem components at fine temporal scales to meteorology and antecedent conditions, and c) examines responses of ecosystem using a resistance–resilience perspective by quantifying the magnitude of change and recovery time. We demonstrate the utility of the framework using three examples of ecosystem response: gross primary productivity, stream biogeochemical export, and organismal abundances. Finally, we present the case for a network of sentinel sites with consistent monitoring to measure and compare ecosystem responses to cyclones across the United States, which could help improve coastal ecosystem resilience.

Context Protection of natural ecosystems undoubtedly safeguards ecological communities, with positive benefits for ecosystem processes and function. However, ecosystems are under threat from anthropogenic stressors that reduce the resilience both of component species and the system as a whole. Aims To determine how anthropogenic stressors (land use and climate change) could impact the diversity and resilience of a small mammal community in the greater Serengeti ecosystem, an East African savanna comprising Serengeti National Park (SNP) and adjacent agro-ecosystems, at local (SNP) and Africa-wide geographic scales. Methods We recorded small mammal species in 10 habitats in the greater Serengeti ecosystem, including the agro-ecosystem, over 48 years (1962–2010). We calculated richness and diversity for each habitat type, and used an index of similarity to quantify differences in the community among habitats. Species accumulation curves were also generated for each habitat type. Key results We recorded 40 species of small mammals in the greater Serengeti ecosystem. At the local scale, restricted habitat types in SNP (each <1% of the total area) made a disproportionately large contribution to diversity. Agro-ecosystems had lower richness and were less likely to contain specialist species. At regional and Africa-wide scales, local endemics were less likely to be recorded in the agro-ecosystem (57% species loss) compared with those with regional (33% loss) or Africa-wide (31%) geographic distributions. Conclusions At the local scale, the variety of habitats in SNP contributed to overall diversity. However, the ability to maintain this diversity in the adjacent agro-ecosystem was compromised for localised endemics compared with species with Africa-wide ranges. Land use intensification adjacent to SNP and projected changes in rainfall patterns for East Africa under global climate scenarios may compromise the future resilience of the small mammal community in this tropical savanna ecosystem. Implications The loss of rare or specialised species from protected areas and human-modified ecosystems could be mitigated by: (1) increasing habitat complexity and maintaining specialist habitats in the agro-ecosystem; and (2) creating buffers at the boundary of protected natural ecosystems that accommodate regime shifts in response to climatic change. These measures would increase the resilience of this coupled human–natural savanna ecosystem.

Kemampuan ekosistem hutan di wilayah gunungapi pasca erupsi dapat kembali berfungsi seperti sebelumnya sangat dipengaruhi oleh resiliensi atau daya lentur/lembam ekosistem tersebut. Resiliensi suatu ekosistem dalam studi ini didefinisikan sebagai kemampuan ekosistem untuk bangkit kembali setelah guncangan/gangguan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk memodelkan sebaran resiliensi spasial ekosistem hutan di kawasan Taman Nasional Gunung Merapi (TNGM) lima tahun pasca erupsi dan intervensi restorasi. Analisis dilakukan dengan pendekatan penginderaan jauh multi temporal dan analisis spasial menggunakan sistem informasi geografis untuk menggambarkan perubahan kondisi ekosistem gunungapi sebelum dan pasca erupsi dan kegiatan restorasi. Hasil pemodelan menunjukkan bahwa setelah lima tahun pasca erupsi, telah terjadi transisi resiliensi/perbaikan ekosistem dari lahan terbuka ke lahan dengan tutupan vegetasi berupa rumput, semak belukar, dan hutan sekunder. Transisi resiliensi ini terjadi baik secara suksesi alami maupun campur tangan manusia dalam bentuk tindakan restorasi. Salah satu catatan hasil dari penelitian ini antara lain adalah keberhasilan kegiatan restorasi untuk mengembalikan kondisi ekosistem seperti sebelum erupsi tidak selalu dapat dideteksi dalam jangka lima tahun setelah erupsi.Kata kunci: resiliensi spasial, Gunungapi Merapi, penginderaan jauh, multi temporal, sistem informasi geografis AbstractThe ability of volcano ecosystem to recover post an eruption to the pre eruption status is affected by its ecological resilience. Resilience of an ecosystem can be defined as the ability of an ecosystem to bounch back after (a) disturbance(s). This study aimed to model spatial resilience of Merapi volcano ecosystem within the area of National Park of Merapi Volcano (TNGM) five years post 2010 eruption and restoration intervention. Analysis was conducted using multi temporal remote sensing and spatial analysis using geographic information system to draw the changes of the ecosystem over time, particularly post eruption and restoration actions. The modelling resulted that five years post eruption, there was resilience transisition/ recovery in volcano ecosystem in TNGM post 2010 eruption. The resilience was shown by the changes from open area to vegetation covers as grass, shrubs, and secondary forests. The transitions occured in term of natural succession as well as human intervention in restoration programs. However, the success of restoration actions to recover the ecosystem to the pre eruption status was not always able to be detected within the period of five years post eruption.

Protected areas provide major benefits for humans in the form of ecosystem services, but landscape degradation by human activity at their edges may compromise their ecological functioning. Using multiple lines of evidence from 40 years of research in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem, we find that such edge degradation has effectively “squeezed” wildlife into the core protected area and has altered the ecosystem’s dynamics even within this 40,000-square-kilometer ecosystem. This spatial cascade reduced resilience in the core and was mediated by the movement of grazers, which reduced grass fuel and fires, weakened the capacity of soils to sequester nutrients and carbon, and decreased the responsiveness of primary production to rainfall. Similar effects in other protected ecosystems worldwide may require rethinking of natural resource management outside protected areas.

Abstract Accurate understanding of plant responses to water stress is increasingly important for quantification of ecosystem carbon and water cycling under future climates. Plant water-use strategies can be characterized across a spectrum of water stress responses, from tight stomatal control (isohydric) to distinctly less stomatal control (anisohydric). A recent and popular classification method of plant water-use strategies utilizes the regression slope of predawn and midday leaf water potentials, σ, to reflect the coupling of soil water availability (predawn leaf water potential) and stomatal dynamics (daily decline in leaf water potential). This type of classification is important in predicting ecosystem drought response and resiliency. However, it fails to explain the relative stomatal responses to drought of Acer sacharrum and Quercus alba, improperly ranking them on the spectrum of isohydricity. We argue this inconsistency may be in part due to the cuticular conductance of different species. We used empirical and modeling evidence to show that plants with more permeable cuticles are more often classified as anisohydric; the σ values of those species were very well correlated with measured cuticular permeance. Furthermore, we found that midday leaf water potential in species with more permeable cuticles would continue to decrease as soils become drier, but not in those with less permeable cuticles. We devised a diagnostic parameter, Γ, to identify circumstances where the impact of cuticular conductance could cause species misclassification. The results suggest that cuticular conductance needs to be considered to better understand plant water-use strategies and to accurately predict forest responses to water stress under future climate scenarios.

An in vivo compartmental pot greenhouse experiment involving “dwarf” sunflower and an arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus was designed to assess the contribution of non-AM roots (rhizosphere), AM roots and extraradical hyphae (mycorrhizosphere), or strictly extraradical hyphae (hyphosphere) on plant growth, plant metal uptake, and soil parameters using the micronutrient zinc (Zn) as a typical metal contaminant. We observed that, at high soil-Zn concentrations, the mycorrhizosphere treatments had lower Zn concentrations (especially in shoots and flowers) and a lower incidence of leaf chlorosis than the rhizosphere treatments. These phytoprotective effects are believed to be related to AM-induced biosorption processes that reduce soil metal bioavailability to delay the onset of plant metal toxicity. We also observed that the presence of extraradical hyphae causes a slight alkalinisation of the proximal soil environment whereas roots tended to acidify it, this having significant consequences toward metal bioavailability. Altogether, the AM symbiosis is considered to be a key component of ecosystem function involved in buffering plant growth conditions due to the processes of metal biosorption and hyphal alkalinisation which could contribute in enhancing the soil's resiliency.

Climate change is occurring around us and impacting on our daily lives, meaning that we have to deal with our cities in a different way. There is also increasing awareness of the need for daily contact with green spaces and the natural environment in order to live a happy, productive and meaningful life. This reflective essay tells the narrative of how urbanisation has been disconnecting humans from nature. Non-sustainable, non-resilient patterns of urbanisation, along with the neglect of inner-city areas, have resulted in fragmentation and urban decline, led to a loss of biodiversity, and caused the deterioration of ecosystems and their services. Urban regeneration projects allow us to ‘repair’ and restore some of this damage whilst enhancing urban resilience. Connecting existing and enhanced ecosystems, and re-establishing ecosystems both within cities and at the peri-urban fringe is vital for strengthening ecosystem resilience and building adaptive capacity for coping with the effects of climate change. Cities worldwide need to look for suitable solutions to increase the resilience of their urban spaces in the face of climate change. This essay explores how this can be achieved through the integration of nature-based solutions, the re-greening of neighbourhoods and by correctly attributing value to natural capital. Transforming existing cities and neighbourhoods in this way will enable ecosystems to contribute their services towards healthier and more liveable cities.

The dichotomy of the earliest ecosystems into deltaic and floodplain forests was a long-standing view in paleobotany. The morphological traits such as nonbranching rootlets, bifurcating rhizomes, and bulbous bases of the primitive trees such as Eospermatopteris and lycopsids were considered adaptations to the lowland deltaic environments. In contrast, the traits of Archaeopteris trees such as wood, hierarchical branching networks of roots, and true leaves are an adaptation to the upland floodplain environments. The discovery of the Town of Cairo Highway Department (TCHD) fossil site in Upstate New York, where all major clades occupied a floodplain environment casts doubt on the validity of the environmental partition by the earliest trees at the higher taxonomic levels. This study aims to test the hypothesis of the environmental partition at the local scale by reconstructing the fossilized forest-floor landscape, the changes in the landscape over time, and the distribution patterns of the trees along the local environmental gradient at the TCHD site. To reconstruct the fossilized forest floor and to determine the environmental variations at the local scale, seven parallel cross-sections were drawn from south to north at THCH. The outcrop at the quarry floor measured 300 m in the north-south, and varied around 100–150 m in east-west direction. Primary sedimentary structures, the thickness of the sedimentary deposits that formed the forest floor and the surrounding quarry walls, paleosol features, and mega-fossils were measured, recorded, described, and mapped. Up to 3 meters deep drill-cores were extracted from the forest floor. The data was used to correlate the sedimentary deposits, and reconstruct the preserved landscape. Three dominant landscape features including an abandoned channel, an old-grown forest, and a local depression were recognized. These landscape features influenced greatly the pattern of local drainage, slope-gradients, patterns and durations of seasonal water pooling, paleosol developments, fossil distribution, and depositional environments. There is no evidence of environmental partitioning by trees at higher taxonomic levels at the local scale. The size and morphology of the root systems didn’t determine the distribution of the trees along the local environmental gradient such as drainage patterns but played important roles in tree stabilization. Forests would go through self-thinning as they matured. Upon comparison, it was found that the forests in unstable environments showed greater resiliency compared to forests established in the stable environments.