Ecological resistance refers to the biotic and abiotic factors in a recipient ecosystem that limit the population growth of an invading species. Although there is interest in applying this concept to the management and restoration of habitats influenced by damaging, invasive species, practical difficulties in restoring resistance have inhibited its broad-scale incorporation. Also, some ecologists have argued that resistance is unimportant in generating landscape pattern casting doubt on its potential usefulness in large-scale management. In this study, we argue that despite temporal and spatial fluctuations in resistance being the norm, the concept provides a valuable foundation for a more sustainable approach to long-term weed management. This goal should be achievable through identification and manipulation of successional processes in natural communities.

Additional index words: Biotic resistance, community invasibility, ecological restoration, weed control.