摘要：Research reported in this feature identifies a convergence of interpretations regarding thethreshold dynamics of complex ecological systems. This convergence has arisen from a diverse set ofinvestigations addressing rangeland ecosystem dynamics, disease transmission, and fluctuations in thepopulations of insect pests. Effective application of the threshold concept to ecosystem management willrequire development of more robust linkages between non-equilibrium theory and protocols to identifytriggers that initiate threshold conditions, feedback loops that establish system resilience, and developmentaltrajectories and attributes of potential alternative stable states. Successful implementation of these theory/application linkages has the potential to underpin an operational framework of resilience-based ecosystemmanagement that is founded upon the identification of structural indicators that are correlated withvulnerability or proximity to thresholds, rather than threshold identification per se. Several investigationsindicate that thresholds are strongly influenced by scale; multiple cross-scale interactions demonstrate theneed for greater knowledge and analyses to address scale-dependent processes, i.e., critical scales andscaling laws. This feature emphasizes the relevance of thresholds and non-equilibrium dynamics in multiplenatural resource management applications and in so doing demonstrates the need for a more comprehensiveand integrated ecological framework capable of quantitatively assessing dynamics at multiple scales toinform management and policy recommendations for optimal management and risk assessment
关键词：complexity science; ecological resilience; non-equilibrium ecology; self-organized systems;systems theory
