The go-to data point used to indicate whether an institution is helping students reach success has tended to be its graduation rate. Post-graduation employment is another indicator but the definition of student success has evolved to include many more areas.
However, many examples exist of non-linear and sometimes abrupt changes in ecosystems. A change may be gradual until a particular pressure on the ecosystem reaches a threshold, at which point rapid shifts to a new state occur. Some non-linear changes can be very large and have substantial impacts on human well-being.
Other changes are more difficult to predict, because they are gradual only until they reach a certain threshold, at which large changes occur suddenly. Examples of abrupt changes include the start of epidemics, the collapse of a fish population, and bursts of algae growth. More... 7.3 Human interventions in ecosystems make abrupt changes more likely. Loss of biodiversity, for instance, makes it more difficult for ecosystems to recover from damage. Once an ecosystem has undergone an abrupt change, recovery to the original state is slow, costly, and sometimes even impossible.