Environmental myopia: a diagnosis and a remedy

Silvertown, Jonathan; Tallowin, J. R. B.; Stevens, Carly J.; Power, Sally A.; Morgan, Vicky; Emmett, Bridget A.; Hester, Alison J.; Grime, J. Philip; Morecroft, Michael D.; Buxton, R. D.; Poulton, P. R.; Jinks, Richard L.; Bardgett, Richard D.

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2010.06.015

Cited by 45 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Despite the fact that species loss and compositional change has been reported in nutrient addition experiments of varying duration [12, 31], the occurrence of a dramatic change in the vegetation community and species loss as observed here and at Park Grass [79] was potentially a consequence of very long-term fertilization. A dramatic change in plant community composition, also known as a regime shift, occurs once a critical environmental threshold has been surpassed causing a shift in the community to an alternative stable state.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Impacts of 120 years of fertilizer addition on a temperate grassland ecosystem

et al. 2017

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The widespread application of fertilizers has greatly influenced many processes and properties of agroecosystems, and agricultural fertilization is expected to increase even further in the future. To date, most research on fertilizer impacts has used short-term studies, which may be unrepresentative of long-term responses, thus hindering our capacity to predict long-term impacts. Here, we examined the effects of long-term fertilizer addition on key ecosystem properties in a long-term grassland experiment (Palace Leas Hay Meadow) in which farmyard manure (FYM) and inorganic fertilizer treatments have been applied consistently for 120 years in order to characterize the experimental site more fully and compare ecosystem responses with those observed at other long-term and short-term experiments. FYM inputs increased soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, hay yield, nutrient availability and acted as a buffer against soil acidification (>pH 5). In contrast, N-containing inorganic fertilizers strongly acidified the soil (

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Impacts of 120 years of fertilizer addition on a temperate grassland ecosystem

et al. 2017

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“…The BCCIL has been conducting one of the longestrunning studies about the effects of climate change on the calcareous grassland structure, composition and function; 29 in fact, this is the second longest-running experiment in the world about the impacts of climate alteration on semi-natural vegetation. 30 Annual rainfall and temperature regimes have been manipulated, since 1993, based on the predictions for climate change in the UK by 2080. 29 At the plot scale (9 m 2 ), the vegetation of this calcareous grassland showed resistance to precipitation shifts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Severe effects of long-term drought on calcareous grassland seed banks

et al. 2018

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Climate change models project shifts in precipitation patterns at regional and global scales. Increases in dry areas and the occurrence of drought predicted in future scenarios are likely to threaten grassland ecosystems. Calcareous grassland seed banks have proven to be resistant to short-term drought, but their responses to long-term drought are unknown. Here we show that 14 years of summer drought changed calcareous grassland seed bank composition, reducing its size and richness, and that these responses do not simply reflect patterns in the above-ground vegetation. Moreover, the effect of drought was larger on seed banks than on vegetation, and above-ground responses mediated by soil depth were less evident in the seed bank than in the vegetation. These results demonstrate that the severity of drought effects on calcareous grasslands is larger than previously thought, and show that this ecosystem is highly vulnerable and has low resilience to predicted decreases in soil moisture.

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“…Price et al, 2010). Long-term monitoring datasets from any ecosystem are rare but highly valued for their contribution to exploring ecological processes (Magurran et al, 2010;Prach and Walker, 2011;Silvertown et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%