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Resilience of aquatic systems: Review and management implications
Citation:
Pelletier, Peg, Joe Ebersole, K. Mulvaney, B. Rashleigh, M. Gutierrez, Marty Chintala, A. Kuhn, M. Molina, M. Bagley, AND C. Lane. Resilience of aquatic systems: Review and management implications. AQUATIC SCIENCES. Birkhaeuser Verlag AG, Basel, Switzerland, 82(2):44, (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-020-00717-z
Impact/Purpose:
When the Clean Water Act was implemented in 1972, it was believed that if we could remove contaminants, degraded systems would be restored to their previous pristine condition. We now know that removal of stressors (including contaminants) is necessary but not sufficient, and that systems may not return to their previous state. Given this, to achieve the ecological integrity goals of the Clean Water act, we must understand resilience, or the ability of systems to maintain their current state in the face of disturbance and change. This paper explores how resilience concepts have been identified and interpreted in a variety of aquatic habitats as well as their associated socioecological systems to help address its application to restoration and management.
Description:
Our understanding of how ecosystems function has changed from an equilibria-based view to one that recognizes the dynamic, fluctuating, nonlinear nature of aquatic systems. This new understanding requires that we manage systems for resilience – the ability of systems to maintain their current state in the face of disturbance or change. In this review, we examine how resilience has been defined, measured and applied in aquatic systems, and more broadly, in the socioecological systems in which they are embedded. Our review reveals the importance of managing stressors adversely impacting aquatic system resilience, as well as understanding the environmental and climatic cycles and changes impacting aquatic resources. Aquatic resilience may be enhanced by maintaining and enhancing habitat connectivity as well as physical and biological diversity. Resilience in aquatic socioecological system may be enhanced by understanding and fostering linkages between the social and ecological subsystems, and understanding how the system is impacted by factors within and outside the area of immediate interest. Management for resilience requires implementation of adaptive and preferably collaborative management. Implementation of adaptive management for resilience will require an effective monitoring framework to detect key changes in the coupled socioecological system. Research is needed to 1) develop sensitive indicators and monitoring designs 2) disentangle complex multi-scalar interactions and feedbacks, and 3) generalize lessons learned across aquatic ecosystems and apply them in new contexts.
