Resistance (ecology)

resilience, Brian Walker and colleagues considered resistance to be a component of resilience in their expanded definition of resilience,^[6] while Fridolin Brand used a definition of resilience that he described as "close to the stability concept 'resistance', as identified by Grimm and Wissel (1997)".^[7] The inverse of resistance is sensitivity - sensitive species or communities show large changes when subject to environmental stress or disturbance.^[1]

resilient response of Vochysia ferruginea; the mortality rate was low for Q. paraensis (despite extensive damage to the trees), but the growth rates of surviving trees were also low and few seedlings established. Despite the disturbance, populations were essentially unchanged. In contrast, V. ferruginea experienced very high rates of mortality in the hurricane but showed very high rates of seedling recruitment. As a result, population densities of the species increased.^[8] In their study of Jamaican montane forests affected by Hurricane Hugo in 1988, Peter Bellingham and colleagues used the degree of hurricane damage and the magnitude of the post-hurricane response to categorise tree species into four groups – resistant species (those with limited storm damage and low response), susceptible species (greater damage but low response), usurpers (limited damage but high response) and resilient species (greater damage and high response).^[9]

biotic factors including competition, parasitism, predation and the lack of necessary mutualists. Higher species diversity and lower resource availability can also contribute to resistance.^[10]