摘要：Many rural communities are vulnerable social-ecological systems (SES) that must do more than become resilientto future environmental and social shocks: they must transform to achieve sustainability. We aimed first to conceptually explorethe proposition that SES characteristics (identity, feedbacks, structure, and functions) necessary for transformation may bedistinct from those necessary for adaptive maintenance or resilience, and second, to propose metrics that may be used to assessthese two types of system changes. We did this by interrogating literature and by investigating two rural towns in Australiausing a combination of quantitative methods and focus groups to interrogate community social networks, capitals (human,natural, built, and social) and future scenarios. Results indicated that (1) it is practicable to carry out a holistic assessment ofSES characteristics (identity, feedbacks, structure, and functions), and (2) purposeful, positive transformation is supported byvision, identification with place, unhappiness (with the status quo), high personal contribution to social capital, open socialnetworks, and latent capital(s). We conclude that rural communities possess capacities for adaptive maintenance (resilience)and for system-wide transformation, and that the metrics used to assess each are sometimes discrete, sometimes common
