The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
In ecology, resilience refers to the rate at which a community returns to some state of development after it has been displaced from that state. Ecosystems comprised of communities with high inherent resilience are, over time, relatively stable in the face of environmental stress. These communities return to their original structure and functions, or similar ones, relatively quickly in response to a disturbance. Of course, there are thresholds for resilience. If a perturbation is too intense, then the inherent resilience of the community may be exceeded, and the previous state of ecological development may not be rapidly reattained, if at all. Populations of species that are smaller in size, poor competitors, short-lived, with short generation times and the ability to spread quickly are relatively resilient. Those that are larger in size, competitive, longer-lived, with longer generation times and high investment in offspring have a higher threshold, or resistance, to a stress factor, but have less resilience, and regenerate more slowly.