01697nas a2200145 4500008004100000245008600041210006900127300001400196490000700210520115900217100002001376700001701396700001501413856012301428 2018 eng d00aAdvancing theories of ecosystem development through Long-Term Ecological Research0 aAdvancing theories of ecosystem development through LongTerm Eco a554–5620 v683 a
Decades of place-based, long-term ecological research have generated important insights into patterns and processes among ecosystems. Here, we extend a theoretical framework based on Odum's “strategy of ecosystem development”—which predicted distinct attributes of developing and mature ecosystems—in the context of more recent theoretical advancements that predict how long-term changes in the presses (long-term, gradual changes) and pulses (abrupt changes) of drivers that regulate ecosystem functions (press–pulse regimes) can influence their trajectories of development. Our modifications to ecosystem development theories (a) illustrate how press–pulse regimes can cause ecosystems to continue to develop or oscillate around a stable state (pulsed stability) or cause them to decline if the press–pulse regime changes faster than species and communities can adapt, (b) use examples from long-term ecological research of how attributes interact to affect development, and (c) suggest how revised and new theoretical frameworks can integrate long-term ecological research and observatory networks.
1 aKominoski, J.S.1 aGaiser, E.E.1 aBaer, S.G. uhttps://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/biosci/biy070/5051780?redirectedFrom=fulltext