Toward a Universal Theoretical Framework to Understand Robustness and Resilience: From Cells to Systems

Jason E Davis,Bo Zhang,Karolina M Pajerowska-Mukhtar,Mary Beth Kolozsvary

doi:10.3389/fevo.2020.579098

Abstract

Research across a range of biological subdisciplines and scales, ranging from molecular to ecosystemic, provides ample evidence that living systems generally exhibit both a degree of resistance to disruption and an ability to recover following disturbance. Not only do mechanisms of robustness and resilience exist across and between systems, but those mechanisms exhibit ubiquitous and scalable commonalities in pattern and function. Mechanisms such as redundancy, plasticity, interconnectivity, and coordination of subunits appear to be crucial internal players in the determination of stability. Similarly, factors external to the system such as the amplitude, frequency, and predictability of disruptors, or the prevalence of key limiting resources, may constrain pathways of response. In the face of a rapidly changing environment, there is a pressing need to develop a common framework for describing, assessing, and predicting robustness and resilience within and across living systems.

Highlights

Most ecosystems are subject to periodic disturbances by natural stresses, such as flood, fire, drought, excessive heat or cold, predation, pathogen infection, and insect infestation, which exist within continua of intensity and duration and often interact with each other (Johnstone et al, 2016; Stevens-Rumann et al, 2018)
The concepts of biological robustness and resilience are widely used in the scientific literature (Holling, 1973; Standish et al, 2014), there is considerable confusion about their meanings
We argue that with the advancement of cross-scalar modeling approaches and network science, coupled with improved communication and collaboration among scientists from various biological subdisciplines, significant progress in understanding key underlying mechanisms and pathways that drive ecosystem robustness and resilience can be achieved

Summary

Introduction

Most ecosystems are subject to periodic disturbances by natural stresses, such as flood, fire, drought, excessive heat or cold, predation, pathogen infection, and insect infestation, which exist within continua of intensity and duration and often interact with each other (Johnstone et al, 2016; Stevens-Rumann et al, 2018). In the face of a rapidly changing environment, there is a pressing need to develop a common framework for describing, assessing, and predicting robustness and resilience within and across living systems.

Results

Conclusion