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Topic · Global and Planetary Change

Ecosystem dynamics and resilience

Ecosystem dynamics and resilience is a research topic within Global and Planetary Change. Science Explorer counts 9.9k research works in it since 1950. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores early-warning signals and indicators for critical transitions, such as regime shifts and climate tipping points, in ecosystems. It focuses on spatial patterns, self-organization, and resilience in the face of catastrophic shifts, using concepts like bifurcations and ecosystem indicators.

  • Early-warning Signals
  • Regime Shifts
  • Spatial Patterns
  • Ecosystem Resilience
  • Climate Tipping Points
  • Self-Organization
  • Vegetation Patterning
  • Bifurcations
  • Catastrophic Shifts
  • Ecological Indicators
Research works
9.9k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+20%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Ecosystem dynamics and resilience

Which countries lead Ecosystem dynamics and resilience research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (727 and 429 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 727 works
  2. 2 United States 429 works
  3. 3 Germany 167 works
  4. 4 United Kingdom 151 works
  5. 5 India 127 works
  6. 6 France 124 works
  7. 7 Russia 81 works
  8. 8 Italy 80 works
  9. 9 Spain 71 works
  10. 10 Canada 68 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 35.9%United States: 21.2%Germany: 8.3%United Kingdom: 7.4%6 others listed: 27.2%36%largest
China727 · 35.9%United States429 · 21.2%Germany167 · 8.3%United Kingdom151 · 7.4%6 others listed551 · 27.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Ecosystem dynamics and resilience research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Ecosystem dynamics and resilience research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Russian Academy of Sciences.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 79 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 51 works
  3. 3 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 27 works
  4. 4 Leibniz AssociationGermany 25 works
  5. 5 Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 21 works
  6. 6 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 18 works
  7. 7 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasSpain 17 works
  8. 8 University of ExeterUnited Kingdom 16 works
  9. 9 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 16 works
  10. 10 Max Planck SocietyGermany 13 works

Who are the leading researchers in Ecosystem dynamics and resilience?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Ecosystem dynamics and resilience include Karl John Friston, Mark A. Bradford and Philippe Ciais.

  1. 1 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations
  2. 2 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations
  3. 3 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  4. 4 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  5. 5 David Tilman United States 209k citations
  6. 6 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  7. 7 Peter B. Reich United States 189k citations
  8. 8 F. Stuart Chapin United States 185k citations
  9. 9 Carl Folke Sweden 182k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Ecosystem dynamics and resilience?

The most cited paper in Ecosystem dynamics and resilience is "A safe operating space for humanity" (Johan Rockström et al., 2009), with 13,302 citations. Next come "A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems" (8,610) and "Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses" (7,678).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 A safe operating space for humanity Johan Rockström et al. · Nature Open access 23 Sep 2009 13,302
2 A General Framework for Analyzing Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems Элинор Остром · Science Open access 23 Jul 2009 8,610
3 Resilience: The emergence of a perspective for social–ecological systems analyses Carl Folke · Global Environmental Change 22 Jul 2006 7,678
4 Catastrophic shifts in ecosystems Marten Scheffer, Stephen R. Carpenter, Jonathan A. Foley et al. · Nature Open access Oct 2001 7,525
5 The Strategy of Ecosystem Development Eugene P. Odum · Science 18 Apr 1969 5,478
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Ecosystem dynamics and resilience research done?

The largest centres of Ecosystem dynamics and resilience research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Paris (France), Xi'an (China) and London (United Kingdom). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Potsdam and Utrecht.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 178 works
  2. 2 ParisFrance 50 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 44 works
  4. 4 LondonUnited Kingdom 38 works
  5. 5 NanjingChina 37 works
  6. 6 LanzhouChina 30 works
  7. 7 MoscowRussia 29 works
  8. 8 WuhanChina 25 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 25 works
  10. 10 UtrechtNetherlands 24 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PotsdamDE · 20.9 works17×
  2. UtrechtNL · 23.8 works7.9×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Ecosystem dynamics and resilience than the world average.

See Ecosystem dynamics and resilience on the map

Where is the best place to study Ecosystem dynamics and resilience?

Among universities, judged by research, Utrecht University, University of Exeter and Beijing Normal University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 17.21%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Beijing Normal Unive…Utrecht UniversityUniversity of ExeterUniversity of Chines…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 93.820.7%12.1×20 +34.4%
2University of ExeterUnited Kingdom 86.220.5%16.6×16 +14.3%
3Beijing Normal UniversityChina 78.024.1%8.4×16 +112.8%
4University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 72.517.4%4.7×18 +69.2%
5Stockholm UniversitySweden 71.417.7%15.3×12 -16.7%
6Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 61.711.4%10.7×9 -3.7%
7Lanzhou UniversityChina 60.118.9%7.9×13 +169.0%
8Technical University of MunichGermany 54.519.5%4.2×9 +108.9%
9University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 43.76.3%3.2×11 +25.8%
10Peking UniversityChina 42.515.6%2.0×10 +36.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Ecosystem dynamics and resilience, country by country

Is Ecosystem dynamics and resilience research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 20% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026. The fastest-growing topics are Ecosystem dynamics and resilience.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Ecosystem dynamics and resilience as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0084% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Ecosystem dynamics and resilience0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Ecosystem dynamics and resilience over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Ecosystem dynamics and resilience10.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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