In the context of ecological stability, resistance is the property of communities or populations to remain "essentially unchanged"[1] when subject to disturbance.
Volker Grimm and Christian Wissel identified 70 terms and 163 distinct definitions of the various aspects of ecological stability, but found that they could be reduced to three fundamental properties: "staying essentially unchanged", "returning to the reference state...after a temporary disturbance" and "persistence through time of an ecological system."
Douglas Boucher and colleagues contrasted the resistant response of Qualea paraensis with the resilient response of Vochysia ferruginea; the mortality rate was low for Q. paraensis (despite extensive damage to the trees), but the growth rates of surviving trees were also low and few seedlings established.
[9] English ecologist Charles Elton applied the term resistance to the ecosystem properties which limit the ability of introduced species to successfully invade communities.
Higher species diversity and lower resource availability can also contribute to resistance.