RT Journal Article
T1 Monitoring Terrestrial Ecosystem Resilience Using Earth Observation Data: Identifying Consensus and Limitations Across Metrics
A1 Runge, Katharina
A1 Tucker, Marlee
A1 Crowther, Thomas W.
A1 Fournier de Laurière, Camille
A1 Guirado, Emilio
A1 Bialic‐Murphy, Lalasia
A1 Berdugo Vega, Miguel
AB Resilience is a key feature of ecosystem dynamics reflecting a system's ability to resist and recover from environmental perturbations. Slowing down in the rate of recovery has been used as an early-warning signal for abrupt transitions. Recent advances in Earth observation (EO) vegetation data provide the capability to capture broad-scale resilience patterns and identify regions experiencing resilience loss. However, the proliferation of methods for evaluating resilience using EO data has introduced significant uncertainty, leading to contradictory resilience estimates across approximately 73% of the Earth's land surface. To reconcile these perspectives, we review the range of methods and associated metrics that capture aspects of ecosystem resilience using EO data. Using a principal component analysis, we empirically test the relationships between the most widely used resilience metrics and explore emergent patterns within and among the world's biomes. Our analysis reveals that the 10 resilience metrics aggregate into four core components of ecosystem dynamics, highlighting the multidimensional nature of ecosystem resilience. We also find that ecosystems with slower recovery are more resistant to drought extremes. Furthermore, the relationships between resilience metrics vary across the world's biomes and vegetation types. These results illustrate the inherent differences in the dynamics of natural systems and highlight the need for careful consideration when evaluating broad-scale resilience patterns across biomes. Our findings provide valuable insights for identifying global resilience patterns, which are critically needed to inform policy decisions and guide conservation efforts globally.
PB Wiley
SN 1354-1013
YR 2025
FD 2025
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120136
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120136
LA eng
NO Runge, K., Tucker, M., Crowther, T.W., Fournier de Laurière, C., Guirado, E., Bialic-Murphy, L. and Berdugo, M. (2025), Monitoring Terrestrial Ecosystem Resilience Using Earth Observation Data: Identifying Consensus and Limitations Across Metrics. Glob Change Biol, 31: e70115. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70115
NO This research was supported by a grant from DOB Ecology to Thomas W. Crowther, funding from the Bernina Initiative through the ETH Foundation to the Global Ecosystem Ecology Lab, and funding from the Ramon y Cajal fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science (RYC2021-031797-I) to Miguel Berdugo.
NO ETH Foundation to the Global Ecosystem Ecology Lab
NO DOB Ecology
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 16 dic 2025