Managing for resilience with ecological structure: Portfolio effects in the Laurentian Great Lakes

Led by Dr. Kayla R. S. Hale and co-authored by Dr. Kevin McCann alongside an interdisciplinary team, this paper tackles how human-driven global change is eroding the natural stabilizing structures of the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin. The authors highlight "portfolio effects"—where diverse biological components and variable habitats fluctuate asynchronously to stabilize the aggregate ecosystem—as a critical target for conservation. By tracking how mobile consumers adaptively switch resources across space, the research advocates for a shift from single-species management toward structured, landscape-scale restoration of habitat heterogeneity and the implementation of whole-ecosystem resilience indices.

https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.70057