Resilience is defined as "the ability of a social or ecologic system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organization, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change" (Baede et al. 2007).
This essay is about the organization of ecologic systems of all kinds from individual organisms and their functional parts up to regional ecosystems and on to the entire biosphere.
In doing this, they have provided one of the clearest windows on hierarchy theory as it applies to organization of ecologic systems.
Considering the hierarchical organization of evolutionary and ecologic systems increases the possibility of detecting and correctly interpreting more processes and patterns than a strictly reductionist program would allow.
Considering hierarchical organization as a general feature of ecologic systems could reinvigorate theoretical ecology, provide a realistic scaling framework for paleoecologic studies, and – most importantly – forge new and productive connections between ecology and evolutionary theory.
To fully measure the complexities of coastal systems, we must develop a new set of ecologic indicators that span the realm of biological organization from genetic markers to entire ecosystems and are broadly applicable across geographic regions while integrating stressor types.
In short, the previous regional ecosystem would be replaced by a new one having different ecologic properties (in terms of species composition, relative abundances, and organization of food webs).
The growing number of scientists has brought forth new levels of biological organization (i.e., molecular, cellular, organismal, and ecologic) in which hormesis is studied, leading to new and evolving perspectives.
The community level of organization has not been adequately considered as an end point in either human or ecologic risk assessment.
