Ecological thresholds in marine communities: theory, experiments and management

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the resilience of marine and estuarine populations, communities and ecosystems, and their rapid change when stresses reach some threshold or tipping point. Current research on thresholds is altering our understanding of these systems, the processes by which they change, and our approach to their management and restoration. In this Theme Section conceptual, modeling, and empirical studies explore threshold dynamics in marine coastal systems in a variety of habitats and across different scales. The contributions provide a window on present research, highlight some of the issues being debated, and point to some of the potential applications of threshold dynamics to resource management issues.