On underestimation of global vulnerability to tree mortality and forest die‐off from hotter drought in the Anthropocene
Craig D. Allen, David D. Breshears, Nate G. McDowell · 1 Aug 2015
Patterns, mechanisms, projections, and consequences of tree mortality and associated broad‐scale forest die‐off due to drought accompanied by warmer temperatures—“hotter drought”, an emerging characteristic of the Anthropocene—are the focus of rapidly expanding literature. Despite recent observational, experimental, and modeling studies suggesting increased vulnerability of trees to hotter drought and associated pests and pathogens, substantial debate…
Grasslands—more important for ecosystem services than you might think
Jan Bengtsson, James M. Bullock, Benis N. Egoh et al. · 1 Feb 2019
Abstract Extensively managed grasslands are recognized globally for their high biodiversity and their social and cultural values. However, their capacity to deliver multiple ecosystem services (ES) as parts of agricultural systems is surprisingly understudied compared to other production systems. We undertook a comprehensive overview of ES provided by natural and semi‐natural grasslands, using southern Africa…
Using null models to disentangle variation in community dissimilarity from variation in α-diversity
Jonathan M. Chase, Nathan J. B. Kraft, Kevin G. Smith et al. · 1 Feb 2011
β-diversity represents the compositional variation among communities from site-to-site, linking local (α-diversity) and regional (γ-diversity). Researchers often desire to compare values of β-diversity across localities or experimental treatments, and to use this comparison to infer possible mechanisms of community assembly. However, the majority of metrics used to estimate β-diversity, including most dissimilarity metrics (e.g., Jaccard's…
Climate change and disruptions to global fire activity
Max A. Moritz, Marc‐André Parisien, Enric Batllori et al. · 1 Jun 2012
Future disruptions to fire activity will threaten ecosystems and human well‐being throughout the world, yet there are few fire projections at global scales and almost none from a broad range of global climate models (GCMs). Here we integrate global fire datasets and environmental covariates to build spatial statistical models of fire probability at a 0.5°…
A global perspective on wetland salinization: ecological consequences of a growing threat to freshwater wetlands
Ellen R. Herbert, Paul I. Boon, Amy J. Burgin et al. · 1 Oct 2015
Salinization, a widespread threat to the structure and ecological functioning of inland and coastal wetlands, is currently occurring at an unprecedented rate and geographic scale. The causes of salinization are diverse and include alterations to freshwater flows, land‐clearance, irrigation, disposal of wastewater effluent, sea level rise, storm surges, and applications of de‐icing salts. Climate change…
