We compared two biogeomorphic models that postulate how vegetation is intertwined in the response and recovery of barrier island dunes. Each model was developed in a separate coastal region using different methods. Both relied on simple elevational representations of topography. By comparing topographies among more islands of these two regions and by linking multiple representations of topographic pattern to resistance and resilience, we provide a synthesis that shows the validity of both models and the consequences of reifying one over the other. Using airborne LiDAR, topographic metrics based on point, patch, and gradient representations of topography were derived for fifty-two sites across eleven islands along the Georgia Bight and Virginia. These seventeen metrics were categorized in terms of resistance and resilience to disturbance from storm-forced high water levels and overwash. Resistance refers to intrinsic properties that directly counter expressions of power from disturbance. Resilience refers to the degrees of freedom to adjust and adapt to disturbance. Using a cross-scale data modeling approach, these data were visualized as topographic state space using multidimensional scaling. In this state space, similarity in topography as well as resistance and resilience were inferred through a site’s position along low-dimension axes representing geomorphic resistance and high-dimension axes representing the spatial landscape properties of biogeomorphic resilience. The two models overlap in how they account for barrier dune resistance and resilience along the U.S. south Atlantic coast. Islands of the Georgia Bight have a propensity for higher resistance and resilience. The Virginia islands have lower resistance and resilience. Key Words: barrier islands, biogeomorphology, cross-scale structure, dunes, resilience.

我们比较了两个生物地貌模型，这些模型假定植被如何与屏障岛沙丘的响应和恢复交织在一起。每个模型都是使用不同的方法在独立的沿海地区开发的。两者都依赖于地形的简单高程表示。通过在这两个区域的更多岛屿之间比较地形，并将地形模式的多种表示与抗力和弹性联系起来，我们提供了一种综合方法，该方法显示了这两种模型的有效性以及彼此验证的结果。使用机载LiDAR，得出了沿格鲁吉亚海岸线和弗吉尼亚州的11个岛屿上的52个站点的基于地形的点，面和梯度表示的地形度量。电阻是指直接对抗干扰产生的功率的内在特性。弹性指调整和适应干扰的自由度。使用跨尺度数据建模方法，使用多维尺度将这些数据可视化为地形状态空间。在此状态空间中，通过沿着代表地貌阻力的低维轴和代表生物地貌弹性的空间景观特性的高维轴的位置，可以推断出地形的相似性以及阻力和复原力。这两种模型在解释美国南大西洋沿岸的屏障沙丘抵抗力和复原力的方式上存在重叠。格鲁吉亚湾的岛屿有更高的抵抗力和复原力。弗吉尼亚群岛的抵抗力和复原力较低。关键词：屏障岛，生物地貌，跨尺度结构，沙丘，复原力。