The PAGES working group on Resistance, Recovery and Resilience in Long-term Ecological Systems was active from 2016 to 2020. They aimed to identify the properties that underpin ecosystem resilience in response to climate change and other disturbances. The Convention on Biological Diversity (Target 15) stated: "by 2020, ecosystem resilience and the contribution of biodiversity to carbon stocks have been enhanced through conservation and restoration". Yet despite its importance, there is no single approach that can be used to measure ecological resilience globally and depending on the study system and context, different "components of resilience" can be identified (Hodgson et al. 2015, Figure 1).
The goal was to develop methods which would enable comparison within and between different biomes.
Recent attempts have used satellite data to map some components of resilience at global scales (De Keersmaecker et al. 2015; Seddon et al. 2016). However, these ecological "snapshots" are based on measuring short-term ecological responses, and whether the patterns reflect fundamental properties of the systems, or are a result of historical disturbance legacies remains unknown. To fully understand the drivers and underlying dynamics resulting in ecological resilience requires a longer-term perspective beyond the scope normally provided using standard ecological datasets.
The biological and geochemical information preserved in sediments from lakes and bogs provides a unique opportunity to investigate the long-term dynamics related to resilience in ecological systems, since they can provide time series of past ecosystem dynamics and associated disturbances on timescales of decades to millennia (Cole et al. 2014; Willis et al. 2010). However, a current knowledge gap exists in how to move from qualitative descriptions to quantitative analyses for objective comparisons when using these data.
EcoRe3 was a network of paleoecologists, ecologists and ecological statisticians working to bridge this knowledge gap. They developed a set of standardized, quantitative approaches, focusing on measuring resistance (the amount of change following a disturbance), recovery (the speed to return to equilibrium following a disturbance) and how these components contribute to the resilience (the ability to tolerate disturbance and remain in the same state) in ecological systems using sediment data.
Kikundi cha kazi cha PAGES juu ya Upinzani, Kupona na Uvumilivu katika Mifumo ya Ikolojia ya Muda Mrefu kilikuwa kikifanya kazi kutoka 2016 hadi 2020. Walikuwa na lengo la kutambua mali ambazo huunga mkono uimara wa mazingira katika kukabiliana na mabadiliko ya hali ya hewa na usumbufu mwingine. "Mkataba wa Biolojia ya Utamaduni wa Biolojia (Mtazamo wa 15), unaoendelea kuendelezwa, unasema: ""Kufikia 2020, uwezo wa mfumo wa ikolojia na mchango wa bioanuwai kwa hifadhi za kaboni umeboreshwa kupitia uhifadhi na kurejesha.""" Hata hivyo, licha ya umuhimu wake, hakuna mbinu moja ambayo inaweza kutumika kupima ujasiri wa ikolojia ulimwenguni na kulingana na mfumo wa utafiti na muktadha, "vitu tofauti vya ujasiri" vinaweza kutambuliwa. 2015 (Figure 1) Lengo lilikuwa kuendeleza mbinu ambazo zingeweza kulinganisha ndani na kati ya biomes tofauti. Majaribio ya hivi karibuni yametumia data ya satelaiti kupanga ramani ya baadhi ya vipengele vya uimara kwa kiwango cha kimataifa (De Keersmaecker et al. 2015; Seddon et al. 2016) na Hata hivyo, hizi "snapshots" za ikolojia zinategemea kupima majibu ya ikolojia ya muda mfupi, na ikiwa mifumo hiyo inaonyesha mali za msingi za mifumo, au ni matokeo ya urithi wa usumbufu wa kihistoria bado haijulikani. Kuelewa kikamilifu madereva na nguvu za msingi zinazosababisha upinzani wa ikolojia inahitaji mtazamo wa muda mrefu zaidi ya wigo unaotolewa kwa kawaida kwa kutumia seti za data za ikolojia za kawaida. Taarifa za kibiolojia na kijiokemia zilizowekwa katika matope kutoka maziwa na mabwawa hutoa fursa ya kipekee ya kuchunguza nguvu za muda mrefu zinazohusiana na nguvu katika mifumo ya ikolojia, kwani zinaweza kutoa safu ya muda ya nguvu za mifumo ya ikolojia ya zamani na usumbufu unaohusiana na vipimo vya muda vya miongo hadi milenia. 2014; Willis et al. 2010) na Hata hivyo, pengo la sasa la maarifa lipo katika jinsi ya kuhamia kutoka maelezo ya ubora hadi uchambuzi wa kiasi kwa kulinganisha lengo wakati wa kutumia data hizi. EcoRe3 ni mtandao wa paleoecologists, ecologists na wataalamu wa takwimu za ikolojia wanaofanya kazi ya kuziba pengo hili la maarifa. Wameendeleza seti ya mbinu za kiwango, za kiasi, zikizingatia kupima upinzani (kiasi cha mabadiliko baada ya usumbufu), kupona (haraka kurudi kwa usawa baada ya usumbufu) na jinsi vipengele hivi vinavyochangia upinzani (uwezo wa kuvumilia usumbufu na kubaki katika hali ileile) katika mifumo ya ikolojia kwa kutumia data ya sediment.