The term ‘resilience’ is applied so widely across a multitudes of disciplines that it faces its own extinction. Unless, that is, we can get a clear handle on what it is we are describing.

The key question for me is this: Is ‘resilience’ a matter of retaining a steady state and present level of functioning? Or is it about growth, development and thriving?

Ecological science is grappling with this question as well.

An historic definition of eco-system resilience is this;

"Resilience is the capacity of a social-ecological system to absorb or withstand perturbations and other stressors such that the system remains within the same regime, essentially maintaining its structure and functions. It describes the degree to which the system is capable of self-organisation, learning and adaptation" (Holling 1973, Gunderson & Holling 2002, Walker et al. 2004).

http://www.resalliance.org/resilience

Another way to describe resilience is found here; 

"Ecological resilience refers to the ability of an ecosystem to maintain key functions and processes in the face of stresses or pressures, either by resisting or adapting to change." (Holling, 1973)

http://www.reefresilience.org/resilience/what-is-resilience/ecological-resilience/

This description is based largely on a maintenance understanding of resilience. The ability of an ecosystem to maintain a steady state, essentially weathering the storm. Although these definitions do include the idea of ‘adaption’ the focus is really on remaining the same. 

But, this idea of the ‘sameness’ does not reflect biological history or evolutionary change and some ecological scientists are suggesting different ways to describe resilience.

Isabelle M. Côté and Emily S. Darling in a 2010 article titled "Rethinking Ecosystem Resilience in the Face of Climate Change", suggest that there is more to resilience than maintenance of a steady state. Their view is that the evidence from coral reef studies indicates that as environments change there is an increase in species that are tolerant to the changes. Without going into the details (see the source link below) it appears that their proposal is that a coral reef, per se, can flourish or thrive despite environmental changes.

They state;

"This alternative view, which is more consistent with the majority of empirical observations…..with continued degradation caused by local stressors, altered communities become composed of disturbance-tolerant species and the tipping point in response to climate change will shift to… make the ecosystem more resilient to climate disturbance." (Emphasis mine)

http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000438

This is interesting! From a systems perspective it might be that environmental changes may result in individual (one specific coral) extinction but ecosystem (the whole coral reef) growth. 

Of course, if you are the individual coral this may not be good news. 

But let’s consider, for a moment, the ecosystem of your whole life. Your life consists of a huge range of factors, all under pressure, all changing and adapting. Some factors might be diminishing. Others may be expanding. 

If our objective in resilience is to maintain a steady state we are heading for failure. If we define our resilience as the ‘way we once were’ then we will be disappointed. 

However, if we define resilience as the capacity to flourish, the ability to thrive, then we will build on the resources we already have to ensure success. We will engage with the networks of strength that we are part of, and we will change and grow. 

References

Holling, C.S. 1973. Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Institute of Resource Ecology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada 4: 1-23.

Gunderson, L. H. and C. S. Holling, eds. 2002. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Systems of Humans and Nature. Island Press, Washington DC.

Walker, B., C. S. Holling, S. R. Carpenter, and A. Kinzig. 2004. Adaptability and Transformability in Social-Ecological Systems. Ecology and Society 9:5.