A systematic review of terrestrial ecosystem resilience: Trends and adaptations over the past 50 years

Resilience plays a crucial role in maintaining desirable ecosystem states and is a key objective of sustainable ecosystem management. This study synthesizes the concepts and measurement approaches of terrestrial ecosystem resilience and expounded on its spatio-temporal changes and influencing factors based on the literature over the past 50 years. Arid regions exhibited the lowest levels of spatial resilience, and the global ecosystem resilience showed a downward trend. In the focal regions, ecological resilience in Amazonian and Southeast Asian rainforest regions declined primarily driven by human activities such as deforestation and cropland expansion. Precipitation and temperature exerted bidirectional influences the resilience of ecosystems, indicating that ecosystem responses to climatic factors were non-monotonic. Evidence concerning anthropogenic factors such as land management and deforestation on ecosystem resilience were predominantly negative. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive synthesis of large scale terrestrial ecosystem resilience assessments, offering valuable insights for ecosystem protection and restoration policy development.