Bridging Data and Theory for Monitoring Resilience Changes in Tropical Forests | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Bridging Data and Theory for Monitoring Resilience Changes in Tropical Forests Lana L. Blaschke, Sebastian Bathiany, Marina Hirota, Niklas Boers This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7264282/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Given ongoing climate and land use change, the resilience of tropical forests is crucial for maintaining ecosystem services and for preventing potential forest loss and associated greenhouse gas emissions. Recent studies have attempted to quantify tropical forest resilience changes using satellite vegetation products and resilience metrics. However, it has not been assessed to what extent the data satisfies the theoretical assumptions of the metrics. Here, we propose a framework to determine the most reliable combination of vegetation data and metrics to monitor resilience from space. We apply our framework to select the best combinations from 16 vegetation products and nine resilience metrics. Based on these, we show that although tropical forests in South America, Africa, and Asia have lost resilience in recent decades, this loss is less widespread than previously thought. Our robust assessment of resilience changes in tropical forests has important implications for targeted actions to prevent forest loss. Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Climate change Earth and environmental sciences/Ecology/Tropical ecology Tropical Forests Resilience Critical Slowing Down Remote Sensing Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files rs.pdf Reporting Summary Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7264282","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":532448230,"identity":"a66a95ba-d9bb-481e-a8bf-7c021050a781","order_by":0,"name":"Lana L. 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