Environmental resource management

Ecosystem

Tipping point (physics)

Electrical engineering

Physics

Aerospace engineering

Resilience (materials science)

Biology

Engineering

Artificial intelligence

Ecology

Range (aeronautics)

Warning system

Computer science

Complex system

Earth system science

Environmental science

Telecommunications

Thermodynamics

Science

Resilience to tipping points in ecosystems Spatial pattern formation has been proposed as an early warning signal for dangerous tipping points and imminent critical transitions in complex systems, including ecosystems. Rietkerk et al . review how ecosystems and Earth system components can actually evade catastrophic tipping through various pathways of spatial pattern formation. With mathematical and real-world examples, they argue that evading tipping and enhancing resilience could be relevant for many ecosystems and Earth system components that until now were known as tipping prone. Many of these complex systems may be more resilient than currently thought because of overlooked spatial dynamics and multiple stable states, and may thus not undergo critical or catastrophic transitions with global change. —AMS

Evasion of tipping in complex systems through spatial pattern formation