Resilience is usually defined as the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance without shifting to an alternative state and losing function and services. The concept therefore encompasses two separate processes: resistance--the magnitude of disturbance that causes a change in structure--and recovery--the speed of return to the original structure--which are fundamentally different but rarely distinguished. Yet, resilience has become a central concept in the management of natural ecosystems. Many current management actions aim to alleviate local stressors in an effort to increase ecosystem resilience to global climate change. Such a management philosophy is premised on the belief that eliminating local drivers of ecological change will increase the ability of an ecosystem to resist future climate disturbances, its ability to recover from such disturbances, or both. Measuring resilience is fraught with difficulties. Nevertheless, assessing changes in resilience as a result of management action is critical because there is general agreement for the existence of a strong link between resilience and sustainability. Successfully increasing the resilience of natural systems may therefore have important implications for human welfare in the face of global climate change.