Title | Ecosystem antifragility: beyond integrity and resilience |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 2020 |
Authors | Equihua, M, Aldama, MEspinosa, Gershenson, C, López-Corona, O, Munguía, M, Pérez-Maqueo, O, Ramírez-Carrillo, E |
Journal | PeerJ |
Volume | 8 |
Pagination | e8533 |
ISSN | 2167-8359 |
Keywords | Antifragility, Complexity, Ecosystem integrity, Resilience |
Abstract | We review the concept of ecosystem resilience in its relation to ecosystem integrity from an information theory approach. We summarize the literature on the subject identifying three main narratives: ecosystem properties that enable them to be more resilient; ecosystem response to perturbations; and complexity. We also include original ideas with theoretical and quantitative developments with application examples. The main contribution is a new way to rethink resilience, that is mathematically formal and easy to evaluate heuristically in real-world applications: ecosystem antifragility. An ecosystem is antifragile if it benefits from environmental variability. Antifragility therefore goes beyond robustness or resilience because while resilient/robust systems are merely perturbation-resistant, antifragile structures not only withstand stress but also benefit from it. |
URL | https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8533 |
DOI | 10.7717/peerj.8533 |