Long‐Term Ecological Research and Network‐Level Science

Collins, Scott L.; Childers, Daniel L.

doi:10.1002/2014eo330001

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Ecological networks can shed light on the effects of episodic and chronic disturbance on ecosystems (hurricane or fire vs. nitrogen deposition) (26). Cross-site comparisons showed that, during drought years, all ecosystems exhibited a ratio of net primary productivity (NPP) to rainfall (water use efficiency), similar to arid ecosystems where water stress is the normal condition (24). This understanding can help predict ecosystem response to increasing climate extremes and aridity.…”

Section: Observing Changes In Plant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Research networks inform understanding of vegetation change by synthesizing long-term data (Table S1). The 25 sites of the US Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network (23), for example, use both monitoring and experiments to understand mechanisms of ecological response to environmental change (24). Existing ecological research networks will need to become more integrated, and multiscale monitoring more extensive, to meet the challenge of understanding the ecological consequences of global change at large spatial scales (25).…”

Section: Observing Changes In Plant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Global change and terrestrial plant community dynamics

Franklin

Serra‐Diaz

Syphard

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

303

225

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This contribution is part of a special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2014.Contributed by Janet Franklin, February 2, 2016 (sent for review October 8, 2015; reviewed by Gregory P. Asner, Monica G. Turner, and Peter M. Vitousek)Anthropogenic drivers of global change include rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses and resulting changes in the climate, as well as nitrogen deposition, biotic invasions, altered disturbance regimes, and land-use change. Predicting the effects of global change on terrestrial plant communities is crucial because of the ecosystem services vegetation provides, from climate regulation to forest products. In this paper, we present a framework for detecting vegetation changes and attributing them to global change drivers that incorporates multiple lines of evidence from spatially extensive monitoring networks, distributed experiments, remotely sensed data, and historical records. Based on a literature review, we summarize observed changes and then describe modeling tools that can forecast the impacts of multiple drivers on plant communities in an era of rapid change. Observed responses to changes in temperature, water, nutrients, land use, and disturbance show strong sensitivity of ecosystem productivity and plant population dynamics to water balance and long-lasting effects of disturbance on plant community dynamics. Persistent effects of land-use change and human-altered fire regimes on vegetation can overshadow or interact with climate change impacts. Models forecasting plant community responses to global change incorporate shifting ecological niches, population dynamics, species interactions, spatially explicit disturbance, ecosystem processes, and plant functional responses. Monitoring, experiments, and models evaluating multiple change drivers are needed to detect and predict vegetation changes in response to 21st century global change.climate change | drought | forests | global change | land-use change T errestrial plant communities include forests, woodlands, shrublands, and grasslands; they support economic activities including forestry and grazing and provide other ecosystem services (1) such as carbon sequestration and water delivery. Plant communities play a key role in global biogeochemical cycles of carbon, oxygen, water, and nitrogen, with feedbacks to the oceans, atmosphere, and climate. The distribution of animals on land is often influenced by the distribution of vegetation, and therefore, plant community dynamics affect biodiversity. Changes in the Earth's vegetation in response to climate change, and associated faunal changes, may have played a role in the evolution of the human lineage (2, 3). Thus, human populations have a vested interest in understanding rapid global change effects on terrestrial plant communities.Anthropogenic drivers of global change include rising atmospheric concentrations of CO 2 and other greenhouse gasses and associated changes in the climate, as well...

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Section: Observing Changes In Plant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Observing Changes In Plant Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global change and terrestrial plant community dynamics

Franklin

Serra‐Diaz

Syphard

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

303

225

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Human activities have caused environmental changes at an accelerated pace (Collins and Childers, 2014). This tendency propels geomorphologists to explore the human impact on environment, a future direction of geomorphology (Church, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The water-level fluctuation zone of Three Gorges Reservoir — A unique geomorphological unit

Bao

Gao

2015

Earth-Science Reviews

225

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“…Today the concept of the small research catchment seems more and more relevant to a diversity of environmental issues beyond hydrology, and as noted by Tetzlaff et al (2017), some wellmonitored catchments have been included in national or international networks including: the LongTerm Ecological Research (LTER) network, with sites distributed in the USA (Knapp et al, 2012;Collins and Childers, 2014) and Europe (Mirtl, 2010); the Critical Zone observatories in the USA (White et al, 2015); and the German Terrestrial Environmental Observatories (TERENO) network (Forschungszentrum Jülich et al, 2016). Through their multiple roles including as field laboratories, long-term observatories, sites for method and model validation, and places for training young researchers (Leclerc, 1992;Ambroise, 1994), small research catchments constitute an essential tool in the study and management of the natural environment.…”

Section: P a P E R A C C E P T E D P R E -P R I N T V E R S I O Nmentioning

confidence: 99%