Ecological systems are continually exposed to disturbance.
Environmental conditions fluctuate. Species interactions change. Resources become available or disappear. Perturbations occur at multiple scales.
Persistence therefore requires more than stability.
It requires resilience.
Ecological resilience is the capacity of ecological organisation to absorb, respond to, and recover from disturbances while maintaining continuity of function and viability.
APS treats resilience as a continuity-preserving property rather than simply a measure of resistance to change.
Resilient systems persist not because nothing changes but because change can be accommodated through reorganisation without loss of viability.
Ecological continuity depends upon this capacity.