%0 Journal Article %J Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences %D 2019 %T Global change effects on plant communities are magnified by time and the number of global change factors imposed %A Kimberly J. Komatsu %A M.L. Avolio %A Lemoine, Nathan P. %A Isbell, Forest %A Grman, Emily %A Houseman, Gregory R. %A Koerner, Sally E. %A Johnson, D.S. %A K.R. Wilcox %A Juha M. Alatalo %A Anderson, J.P. %A Aerts, R. %A S.G. Baer %A Baldwin, Andrew H. %A Bates, J. %A Beierkuhnlein, C. %A Belote, R.T. %A John M. Blair %A Bloor, J.M.G. %A Bohlen, P.J. %A Edward W. Bork %A Elizabeth H. Boughton %A W.D. Bowman %A Britton, Andrea J. %A Cahill, James F. %A Chaneton, Enrique J. %A Chiariello, N.R. %A Cheng, Jimin. %A Scott. L. Collins %A Cornelissen, J.H.C. %A G. Du %A Eskelinen, Anu %A Firn, Jennifer %A Foster, B. %A Gough, L. %A Gross, K. %A Hallett, L.M. %A Han, X. %A Harmens, H. %A Hovenden, M.J. %A Jagerbrand, A. %A Jentsch, A. %A Kern, Christel %A Klanderud, Kari %A Alan K. Knapp %A Kreyling, Juergen %A Li, W. %A Luo, Yiqi %A McCulley, R.L. %A McLaren, Jennie R. %A Megonigal, Patrick %A J.W. Morgan %A Onipchenko, Vladimir %A Pennings, S.C. %A Prevéy, J.S. %A Price, Jodi N. %A P.B. Reich %A Robinson, Clare H. %A Russell, L.F. %A Sala, O.E. %A Seabloom, E.W. %A M.D. Smith %A Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A. %A Souza, Lara %A K.N. Suding %A Suttle, B.K. %A Svejcar, T. %A Tilman, David %A Tognetti, P. %A Turkington, R. %A White, S. %A Xu, Zhuwen %A Yahdjian, L. %A Yu, Q. %A Zhang, Pengfei %A Zhang, Yunhai %X

Global change drivers (GCDs) are expected to alter community structure and consequently, the services that ecosystems provide. Yet, few experimental investigations have examined effects of GCDs on plant community structure across multiple ecosystem types, and those that do exist present conflicting patterns. In an unprecedented global synthesis of over 100 experiments that manipulated factors linked to GCDs, we show that herbaceous plant community responses depend on experimental manipulation length and number of factors manipulated. We found that plant communities are fairly resistant to experimentally manipulated GCDs in the short term (<10 y). In contrast, long-term (≥10 y) experiments show increasing community divergence of treatments from control conditions. Surprisingly, these community responses occurred with similar frequency across the GCD types manipulated in our database. However, community responses were more common when 3 or more GCDs were simultaneously manipulated, suggesting the emergence of additive or synergistic effects of multiple drivers, particularly over long time periods. In half of the cases, GCD manipulations caused a difference in community composition without a corresponding species richness difference, indicating that species reordering or replacement is an important mechanism of community responses to GCDs and should be given greater consideration when examining consequences of GCDs for the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship. Human activities are currently driving unparalleled global changes worldwide. Our analyses provide the most comprehensive evidence to date that these human activities may have widespread impacts on plant community composition globally, which will increase in frequency over time and be greater in areas where communities face multiple GCDs simultaneously.

%B Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences %V 116 %P 17867-17873 %G eng %U https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/08/14/1819027116 %N 36 %M KNZ001965 %R 10.1073/pnas.1819027116 %0 Journal Article %J Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment %D 2013 %T Coordinated distributed experiments: an emerging tool for testing global hypotheses in ecology and environmental science %A Fraser, L.H. %A Henry, H.A. %A Carlyle, C.N. %A White, S.R. %A Beierkuhnlein, C. %A Cahill, J.F. %A Casper, B.B. %A Cleland, E.E. %A Scott. L. Collins %A Dukes, J.S. %A Alan K. Knapp %A Lind, E. %A Long, R. %A Luo, Y. %A P.B. Reich %A M.D. Smith %A Sternberg, M. %A Turkington, R. %X

There is a growing realization among scientists and policy makers that an increased understanding of today's environmental issues requires international collaboration and data synthesis. Meta-analyses have served this role in ecology for more than a decade, but the different experimental methodologies researchers use can limit the strength of the meta-analytic approach. Considering the global nature of many environmental issues, a new collaborative approach, which we call coordinated distributed experiments (CDEs), is needed that will control for both spatial and temporal scale, and that encompasses large geographic ranges. Ecological CDEs, involving standardized, controlled protocols, have the potential to advance our understanding of general principles in ecology and environmental science.

%B Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment %V 11 %P 147 -155 %G eng %U https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1890/110279 %M KNZ001538 %R 10.1890/110279