Ecosystems influence human societies, leading people to manage ecosystems for human benefit. Poor environmental management can lead to reduced ecological resilience and social–ecological collapse. We review research on resilience and collapse across different systems and propose a unifying social–ecological framework based on (i) a clear definition of system identity; (ii) the use of quantitative thresholds to define collapse; (iii) relating collapse processes to system structure; and (iv) explicit comparison of alternative hypotheses and models of collapse. Analysis of 17 representative cases identified 14 mechanisms, in five classes, that explain social–ecological collapse. System structure influences the kind of collapse a system may experience. Mechanistic theories of collapse that unite structure and process can make fundamental contributions to solving global environmental problems.

生态系统影响着人类社会，导致人们为了人类的利益而管理生态系统。不良的环境管理会导致生态适应力下降和社会生态崩溃。我们回顾了关于不同系统的弹性和崩溃的研究，并基于（i）系统身份的清晰定义，提出了一个统一的社会生态框架。（ii）使用定量阈值来定义崩溃；（iii）将崩溃过程与系统结构相关联；（iv）明确比较备选假设和崩溃模型。对17个代表性案例的分析确定了五类的14种机制，这些机制解释了社会生态崩溃。系统结构影响系统可能会崩溃的类型。