ECOSs – Published Work

Biological nitrogen (N) fixation plays an important role in terrestrial N cycling and represents a key driver of terrestrial net primary productivity (NPP). Despite the importance of N fixation

Rubber powdery mildew caused by the foliar fungi Oidium heveae is one of the main diseases affecting rubber plantations (Hevea brasiliensis) worldwide. It is particularly serious in sub-optimal growing

Unique soil properties in rhizosphere can affect plant growth and biogeochemical cycles of ecosystems. While rhizosphere has been widely investigated, little is known about differences in the rhizosphere effect

Increases in fire frequency, extent, and severity are expected to strongly impact the structure and function of boreal forest ecosystems. An important function of the boreal forest is its

Carbon (C) emissions from wildfires are a key terrestrial–atmosphere interaction that influences global atmospheric composition and climate. Positive feedbacks between climate warming and boreal wildfires are predicted based on

In trees, large uncertainties remain in how nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs) respond to variation in water availability in natural, intact ecosystems. Variation in NSC pools reflects temporal fluctuations in supply

Through agriculture and industry, humans are increasing the deposition and availability of nitrogen (N) in ecosystems worldwide. Carbon (C) isotope tracers provide useful insights into soil C dynamics, as

The temperature dependence of global photosynthesis and respiration determine land carbon sink strength. While the land sink currently mitigates ~30% of anthropogenic carbon emissions, it is unclear whether this

Boreal wildfires are increasing in intensity, extent, and frequency, potentially intensifying carbon emissions and transitioning the region from a globally significant carbon sink to a source. The productive southern

Multiple lines of evidence have demonstrated the persistence of global land carbon (C) sink during the past several decades. However, both annual net ecosystem productivity (NEP) and its inter-annual

In this work we define a spatial concordance coefficient for second-order stationary processes. This problem has been widely addressed in a non-spatial context, but here we consider a coefficient

Moss-associated N2 fixation provides a substantial but heterogeneous input of new N to nutrient-limited ecosystems at high latitudes. In spite of the broad diversity of mosses found in boreal

The amount of reactive nitrogen has more than doubled in terrestrial ecosystems due to human activities such fertiliser application that is predicted to increase dramatically in coming decades. We

Despite abounding evidence that leaf litter traits can predict decomposition rate, the way these traits influence trophic efficiency and element transfer to higher trophic levels is not resolved. Here,

Evergreen conifer forests are the most prevalent land cover type in North America. Seasonal changes in the color of evergreen forest canopies have been documented with near-surface remote sensing,

The magnitude of carbon (C) loss to the atmosphere via microbial decomposition is a function of the amount of C stored in soils, the quality of the organic matter,

The dynamic equilibrium of mass and energy movement in ecosystems is an important basis for the Earth system to nurture and maintain biodiversity. Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities

Biodiversity on the Earth is changing at an unprecedented rate due to a variety of global change factors (GCFs). However, the effects of GCFs on microbial diversity is unclear

Globally, soils store two to three times as much carbon as currently resides in the atmosphere, and it is critical to understand how soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and

Climate change is altering disturbance regimes outside historical norms, which can impact biodiversity by selecting for plants with particular traits. The relative impact of disturbance characteristics on plant traits

The addition of glucose to soil has long been used to study the metabolic activity of microbes in soil; however, the response of the microbial ecophysiology remains poorly characterized.

We conducted a large-scale, multiple-year study in harvested areas of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirbel] Franco) forests in western Washington, examining the effectiveness of control methods on the widespread invasive

The traditional view holds that biological nitrogen (N) fixation often peaks in early- or mid-successional ecosystems and declines throughout succession based on the hypothesis that soil N richness and/or

Plant functional traits can be used to predict ecosystem responses to climate gradients, yet precipitation explains very little variation for most traits. Soil water availability directly influences plant water

Will mature forests absorb enough carbon from the atmosphere to mitigate climate change as levels of carbon dioxide increase? An experiment in a eucalyptus forest provides fresh evidence.

Large-scale vegetation restoration projects pose threats to water resource security in water-limited regions. Thus, the quantification of how vegetation cover affects soil moisture is of key importance to support

The effects of invasive plants on soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling are widely documented, while the mechanisms of their influences on the microbial ecology of soil remain

When multiple metabolic pathways lead to the same product, compound-specific isotope analysis may not provide enough information to quantify the activities of the contributing pathways. Instead, identification of where

Terrestrial animal communities are largely shaped by vegetation and climate. With climate also shaping vegetation, can we attribute animal patterns solely to climate? Our study observes ant community changes

The permafrost zone is expected to be a substantial carbon source to the atmosphere, yet large-scale models currently only simulate gradual changes in seasonally thawed soil. Abrupt thaw will

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

In a warmer world, microbial decomposition of previously frozen organic carbon (C) is one of the most likely positive climate feedbacks of permafrost regions to the atmosphere. However, mechanistic

Quantitative stable isotope probing (qSIP) estimates the degree of incorporation of an isotope tracer into nucleic acids of metabolically active organisms and can be applied to microorganisms growing in

Rising temperatures with increased drought pose two challenges for management of future biodiversity. First, are the most vulnerable species concentrated in specific regions and habitats? Second, where can landscape

Terrestrial vegetation removes CO2 from the atmosphere; an important climate regulation service that slows global warming. This 119 Pg C per annum transfer of CO2 into plants—gross primary productivity

Water and CO2 flux responses (e.g., evapotranspiration [ET] and net ecosystem exchange [NEE]) to environmental conditions can provide insights into how climate change will affect the terrestrial water and

Root endophytes are a promising tool for increasing plant growth, but it is unclear whether they perform consistently across plant hosts. We characterized the blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) root

Permafrost thaw is typically measured with active layer thickness, or the maximum seasonal thaw measured from the ground surface. However, previous work has shown that this measurement alone fails

The impacts of climate change and extreme weather events (e.g. frost-, heat-, drought-, and heavy rainfall events) on the continuous phenological development over the entire seasonal cycle remained poorly

Elevated atmospheric CO2 (eCO2) generally increases carbon input in rice paddy soils and stimulates the growth of methane-producing microorganisms. Therefore, eCO2 is widely expected to increase methane (CH4) emissions

The diversity patterns of macroorganisms (i.e., plants) among different habitats have been well documented, however, those of microorganisms (i.e., fungi) as well as the relationships between them are still

Fire activity is changing dramatically across the globe, with uncertain effects on ecosystem processes, especially below-ground. Fire-driven losses of soil carbon (C) are often assumed to occur primarily in

Despite the wide application of meta-analysis in ecology, some of the traditional methods used for meta-analysis may not perform well given the type of data characteristic of ecological meta-analyses.

Growth of soil microorganisms is often described as carbon limited, and adding labile carbon to soil often results in a transient and large increase in respiration. In contrast, soil

Cities and their associated urban heat islands are ideal natural laboratories for evaluating the response of plant phenology to warming conditions. In this study, we demonstrate that the satellite-derived

Large-scale primary native broadleaf forests (BF) have been converted to secondary forests (SF) and plantation forests (PF) in subtropical China over the past decades. However, how and what magnitude

Organic matter input to soils can accelerate the decomposition of native soil carbon (C), a process called the priming effect. Priming is ubiquitous and exhibits some consistent patterns, but

Nitrogen (N2)-fixing moss microbial communities play key roles in nitrogen cycling of boreal forests. Forest type and leaf litter inputs regulate moss abundance, but how they control moss microbiomes

Phosphorus (P) limitation of aboveground plant production is usually assumed to occur in tropical regions but rarely elsewhere. Here we report that such P limitation is more widespread and

As Arctic soils warm, thawed permafrost releases nitrogen (N) that could stimulate plant productivity and thus offset soil carbon losses from tundra ecosystems. Although mycorrhizal fungi could facilitate plant

Our aim is to use elevational gradients to quantify the relationship between temperature and ecosystem functioning. Ecosystem functions such as decomposition, nutrient cycling and carbon storage are linked with

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) are necessary for plant growth and affected by plant water status, but the temporal dynamics of water stress impacts on NSC are not well understood. We

One major source of uncertainties in the estimation of soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics is carbon (C) residence time, an important parameter in terrestrial ecosystem C cycling models. To

It is well-known that global warming has effects on high-latitude tundra underlain with permafrost. This leads to a severe concern that decomposition of soil organic carbon (SOC) previously stored

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) is increasing, which increases leaf-scale photosynthesis and intrinsic water-use efficiency. These direct responses have the potential to increase plant growth, vegetation biomass, and soil

Climate warming affects soil carbon (C) dynamics, with possible serious consequences for soil C stocks and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, the mechanisms underlying changes in soil C storage are

Increased human-derived nitrogen (N) deposition to terrestrial ecosystems has resulted in widespread phosphorus (P) limitation of net primary productivity. However, it remains unclear if and how N-induced P limitation

Climate warming is widely expected to affect rice yields, but results are equivocal and variation in rice cropping systems and climatic conditions complicates country-scale yield assessments. Here we show,

The feedback between plant, soil and climate is partly determined by plant litter turnover time, which is influenced by climate, litter quality and soil properties. However, the spatial patterns

Effects of riparian vegetation on fluvial sediment dynamics depend on morphological traits of the constituent species. Determining the effects of different morphological guilds on sedimentation rates, as influenced by

Forests absorb a large fraction of anthropogenic CO2 emission, but their ability to continue to act as a sink under climate change depends in part on plant species undergoing

Microbial activity increases after rewetting dry soil, resulting in a pulse of carbon mineralization and nutrient availability. The biogeochemical responses to wet-up are reasonably well understood and known to

The challenges of restoration in dryland ecosystems are growing due to a rise in anthropogenic disturbance and increasing aridity. Plant functional traits are often used to predict plant performance

Plants are thought to be limited by phosphorus (P) especially in tropical regions. Here, Hou et al. report a meta-analysis of P fertilization experiments to show widespread P limitation

Asymbiotic nitrogen (N) fixation (ANF) is an important source of N in pristine forests and is predicted to decrease with N deposition. Previous studies revealing N fixation in response

The traditional view holds that biological nitrogen (N) fixation often peaks in early- or mid-successional ecosystems and declines throughout succession based on the hypothesis that soil N richness and/or

Boreal forests are facing profound changes in their growth environment, including warming-induced water deficits, extended growing seasons, accelerated snowmelt, and permafrost thaw. The influence of warming on trees varies

Plant functional traits can be used to predict ecosystem responses to climate gradients, yet precipitation explains very little variation for most traits. Soil water availability directly influences plant water

Aim Leaf litter decomposition in freshwater ecosystems is a vital process linking ecosystem nutrient cycling, energy transfer and trophic interactions. In comparison to terrestrial ecosystems, in which researchers find

Soil fungal communities play a critical role in ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling. Although the effect of plant invasions on ecosystem C and N cycling is well

Plant invasion typically alters the microbial communities of soils, which affects ecosystem carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles. The responses of the soil fungal communities to plant invasion along

Crop straw management plays important roles in sustainable agriculture and environmental protection. Straw incorporation has multiple influences on soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and crop

Direct quantification of terrestrial biosphere responses to global change is crucial for projections of future climate change in Earth system models. Here, we synthesized ecosystem carbon-cycling data from 1,119

Evidence suggests that 5–15% of the vast pool of soil carbon stored in northern permafrost ecosystems could be emitted as greenhouse gases by 2100 under the current path of

Recent warming in the Arctic, which has been amplified during the winter1–3, greatly enhances microbial decomposition of soil organic matter and subsequent release of carbon dioxide (CO2)4. However, the

Clarifying how increased atmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2) contributes to accelerated land carbon sequestration remains important since this process is the largest negative feedback in the coupled carbon–climate system. Here,

Accurate prediction of community responses to global change drivers (GCDs) is critical given the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem services. There is consensus that human activities are driving species

Estimating soil erosion and nutrient losses from surface runoff in paddy fields is essential for the assessment of sustainable rice (Oryza sativa L.) production and water quality protection. Different

Boreal forest fires emit large amounts of carbon into the atmosphere primarily through the combustion of soil organic matter1–3. During each fire, a portion of this soil beneath the

Elevated CO2 (eCO2) experiments provide critical information to quantify the effects of rising CO2 on vegetation1–6. Many eCO2 experiments suggest that nutrient limitations modulate the local magnitude of the

Temperature is a primary environmental control on ecological systems and processes at a range of spatial and temporal scales. The surface temperature of organisms is often more relevant for

It has been well established by field experiments that warming stimulates either net ecosystem carbon uptake or release, leading to negative or positive carbon cycle–climate change feedback, respectively. This

Microorganisms in soil assimilate, transform, and mineralize soil C to support growth. There are an estimated 2.6 × 1029 microbial cells containing 26 Pg C in soils worldwide. Consequently,

Fire is a primary disturbance in boreal forests and generates both positive and negative climate forcings. The influence of fire on surface albedo is a predominantly negative forcing in

Growth of soil microorganisms is often described as carbon limited, and adding labile carbon to soil often results in a transient and large increase in respiration. In contrast, soil

Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus L., vetch), a leguminous winter cover crop, has been widely adopted by farmers in southern China to boost yield of the succeeding rice crop.

As terrestrial leaf litter decomposes in rivers, its constituent elements follow multiple pathways. Carbon leached as dissolved organic matter can be quickly taken up by microbes, then respired before

How do antecedent (past) conditions influence land-carbon dynamics after those conditions no longer persist? In particular, quantifying such memory effects associated with the influence of past environmental (exogenous) and

Organic matter input to soils can accelerate the decomposition of native soil carbon (C), a process called the priming effect. Priming is ubiquitous and exhibits some consistent patterns, but

An increasing number of studies showed that coverage of existing protected areas is not enough to protect biodiversity. However, to what extent and how human population density influence the

Shifts in the extent of the boreal forest during past warm intervals and correlations between climate and the position of the forest–tundra ecotone suggest that recent temperature increases will

Climate warming is leading to greater precipitation variability, resulting in increased frequency and intensity of both drought and wet extremes. However, how these extreme events interact with climate warming

Ongoing permafrost thaw is expected to stimulate microbial release of greenhouse gases, threatening to further exacerbate climate change (cause positive feedback). In this study, a unique field warming experiment

The dynamics of soil phosphorus (P) control its bioavailability. Yet it remains a challenge to quantify soil P dynamics. Here we developed a soil P dynamics (SPD) model. We

Pinyon-juniper (PJ) plant communities cover a large area across North America and provide critical habitat for wildlife, biodiversity and ecosystem functions, and rich cultural resources. These communities occur across

The susceptibility of soil organic carbon (SOC) in tundra to microbial decomposition under warmer climate scenarios potentially threatens a massive positive feedback to climate change, but the underlying mechanisms

Plant species are characterized along a spectrum of isohydry to anisohydry depending on their regulation of water potential (?), but the plasticity of hydraulic strategies is largely unknown. The

Forests remove about 30% of anthropogenic CO2 emissions through photosynthesis and return almost 40% of incident precipitation back to the atmosphere via transpiration. The trade-off between photosynthesis and transpiration

Dynamic global vegetation models are key tools for interpreting and forecasting the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climatic variation and other drivers. They estimate plant growth as the outcome

The boreal zone of Alaska is dominated by interactions between disturbances, vegetation, and soils. These interactions are likely to change in the future through increasing permafrost thaw, more frequent

Soil microorganisms participate in almost all soil organic carbon (SOC) transformations, but they are not represented explicitly in the current generation of earth system models. This study used a

Variation in life-history strategies can affect metapopulation dynamics and consequently the composition and diversity of communities. However, data sets that allow for the full range of species turnover from

The recovery of North American forests is likely to impact their capacity as a carbon sink. Here, Zhu et al. show a growth in aboveground biomass in various climate

Global terrestrial nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycles are coupled to the global carbon (C) cycle for net primary production (NPP), plant C allocation, and decomposition of soil organic

Phenology is the study of recurring events in nature and their relationships with climate. The word derives from the Greek phaínō ‘appear’ and logos ‘reason’, emphasizing the focus on

Forest ecosystems sequester approximately 12% of anthropogenic carbon emissions, and efforts to increase forest carbon uptake are central to climate change mitigation policy. Managing forests to store carbon has

Plants store nonstructural carbohydrates (NSCs), such as sugars and starch, to use as carbon and energy sources for daily maintenance and growth needs as well as during times of

Temperature is a primary driver of microbial community composition and taxonomic diversity; however, it is unclear to what extent temperature affects characteristics of central carbon metabolic pathways (CCMPs). In

Boreal forests are facing profound changes in their growth environment, including warming-induced water deficits, extended growing seasons, accelerated snowmelt, and permafrost thaw. The influence of warming on trees varies

Ecologists increasingly use hierarchical Bayesian (HB) models to estimate group-level parameters that vary by, for example, species, treatment level, habitat type or other factors. Group-level parameters may be compared

Organisms influence ecosystems, from element cycling to disturbance regimes, to trophic interactions and to energy partitioning. Microorganisms are part of this influence, and understanding their ecology in nature requires

Climate change is impacting forested ecosystems worldwide, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere where warming has increased at a faster rate than the rest of the globe. As climate warms,

Dynamic global vegetation models are key tools for interpreting and forecasting the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climatic variation and other drivers. They estimate plant growth as the outcome

Wildfire is an important ecological disturbance that can have cascading effects on ecosystem carbon (C) fluxes. Ecosystem respiration (ER) and soil respiration (SR) account for two of the largest

Plant communities typically exhibit lagged responses to climate change due to poorly understood effects of colonization and local extinction. Here, we quantify rates of change in mean cold tolerances,

Digital repeat photography and near-surface remote sensing have been used by environmental scientists to study environmental change for nearly a decade. However, a user-friendly, reliable, and robust platform to

Biological nitrogen (N) fixation (BNF), an important source of N in terrestrial ecosystems, plays a critical role in terrestrial nutrient cycling and net primary productivity. Currently, large uncertainty exists

In order to better understand the variations in soil bacterial community and associated drivers following plant invasion, we investigated changes in soil bacterial community along with 9-, 13-, 20-

Carbon storage dynamics in vegetation and soil are determined by the balance of carbon influx and turnover. Estimates of these opposing fluxes differ markedly among different empirical datasets and

Piling and burning is widely used to dispose of unmerchantable debris resulting from thinning in forests throughout the western United States. Quite often more piles are created than are

Hydraulic limitations to tree height can be mitigated by widening the conducting elements toward a tree’s base. However, size limits of tracheid and vessel dimensions may constrain this compensation

One known bias in current Earth system models (ESMs) is the underestimation of global mean soil carbon (C) transit time (τsoil), which quantifies the age of the C atoms

Warming is altering the way soils function in ecosystems both directly by changing microbial physiology and indirectly by causing shifts in microbial community composition. Some of these warming-driven changes

Carbon dynamics within trees are intrinsically important for physiological functioning, in particular growth and survival, as well as ecological interactions on multiple timescales. Thus, these internal dynamics play a

Soil microbial carbon-use efficiency (CUE), which is defined as the ratio of growth over C uptake, is commonly assumed as a constant or estimated by a temperature-dependent function in

Arctic land ice is melting, sea ice is decreasing, and permafrost is thawing. Changes in these Arctic elements are interconnected, and most interactions accelerate the rate of change. The

Relationships between microbial genes and performance are often evaluated in the laboratory in pure cultures, with little validation in nature. Here, we show that genomic traits related to laboratory

Snow is important for local to global climate and surface hydrology, but spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the extent of snow cover make accurate, fine-scale mapping and monitoring of

Organic carbon stored in high-latitude permafrost represents a potential positive feedback to climate warming as well as a valuable store of paleoenvironmental information. The below-freezing conditions have effectively removed

Predicting future changes in ecosystem services is not only highly desirable but is also becoming feasible as several forces (e.g., available big data, developed data assimilation (DA) techniques, and

Determining the temporal scaling of biodiversity, typically described as species–time relationships (STRs), in the face of global climate change is a central issue in ecology because it is fundamental

It is critical to accurately estimate carbon (C) turnover time as it dominates the uncertainty in ecosystem C sinks and their response to future climate change. In the absence

The continuous increase of nitrogen (N) deposition may exacerbate phosphorus (P) deficiency, which affects soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition by changing microbial community characteristics in subtropical forests with highly

Wildfire is the dominant disturbance in boreal forests and fire activity is increasing in these regions. Soil fungal communities are important for plant growth and nutrient cycling postfire but

Land managers frequently apply vegetation removal and seeding treatments to restore ecosystem function following woody plant encroachment, invasive species spread, and wildfire. However, the long-term outcome of these treatments

Manual chamber-based measurements of CO2 (and H2O) fluxes are important for understanding ecosystem carbon metabolism. Small opaque chambers can be used to measure leaf, stem and soil respiration. Larger

The effect of rain on the phyllosphere community has not been extensively explored, especially in the context of spatial variation on the impact of rain throughout the tree canopy.

Mulching techniques have been widely used in dryland regions in northern China. It is necessary to develop water-saving cultivation techniques in irrigation regions in northern China to relieve water

Tree architecture is crucial to maximizing light capture, determined by carbon allocation of individual trees, and consequently characterizes species-specific growth strategies. Its variation and associated life-history strategies have been

Increasing atmospheric CO2 stimulates photosynthesis which can increase net primary production (NPP), but at longer timescales may not necessarily increase plant biomass. Here we analyse the four decade-long CO2-enrichment

Monitoring drought in real-time using minimal field data is a challenge for ecosystem management and conservation. Most methods require extensive data collection and in-situ calibration and accuracy is difficult

While we often assume tree growth?climate relationships are time-invariant, impacts of climate phenomena such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North American Monsoon (NAM) may challenge

Nutrient resorption from senescing leaves is one of the plants’ essential nutrient conservation strategies. Parameters associated with resorption are important nutrient-cycling constraints for accurate predictions of long-term primary productivity

Plant water potential Ψ is regulated by stomatal responses to atmospheric moisture demand D and soil water availability W, but the timescales of influence and interactions between these drivers

Reforestation is challenging when timber harvested areas have been degraded, invaded by nonnative species, or are of marginal suitability to begin with. Conifers form mutualistic partnerships with ectomycorrhizal fungi

Tundra ecosystems are typically carbon (C) rich but nitrogen (N) limited. Since biological N2 fixation is the major source of biologically available N, the soil N2-fixing (i.e., diazotrophic) community

Fertilization is an important management strategy for crop yields by mediating soil fertility. However, rare studies quantitatively assessed the interactions among fertilization, crop yields, and soil fertility. Here, data

The continuously increasing concentration of atmospheric CO2 has considerably altered ecosystem functioning. However, few studies have examined the long-term (i.e. over a decade) effect of elevated CO2 on soil

Soils contain more carbon than plants or the atmosphere, and sensitivities of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks to changing climate and plant productivity are a major uncertainty in global

Advancing phenology is one of the most visible effects of climate change on plant communities, and has been especially pronounced in temperature-limited tundra ecosystems. However, phenological responses have been

The Tundra Trait Team (TTT) database includes field-based measurements of key traits related to plant form and function at multiple sites across the tundra biome. This dataset can be

Climate change intensifies the hydrological cycle and consequently alters precipitation regimes. Accurately assessing future carbon (C) budgets depends on understanding the influence of altered precipitation on both aboveground C

Greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost in arctic ecosystems may amplify global warming, yet estimates of the rate of carbon release, and the proportion of carbon released as methane

The Arctic may seem remote, but the unprecedented environmental changes occurring there have important consequences for global society. Of all Arctic system components, changes in permafrost (perennially frozen ground)

Higher temperatures in northern latitudes will increase permafrost thaw and stimulate above- and belowground plant biomass growth in tundra ecosystems. Higher plant productivity increases the input of easily decomposable

RNA is considered to be a short-lived molecule, indicative of cellular metabolic activity, whereas DNA is thought to turn over more slowly because living cells do not always grow

High latitude warming and permafrost thaw will expose vast stores of deep soil organic carbon (SOC) to decomposition. Thaw also changes water movement causing either wetter or drier soil.

The concentration–carbon feedback (β), also called the CO2 fertilization effect, is a key unknown in climate–carbon-cycle projections. A better understanding of model mechanisms that govern terrestrial ecosystem responses to

Global soil carbon (C) stocks are expected to decline with warming, and changes in microbial processes are key to this projection. However, warming responses of critical microbial parameters such

Warming temperatures are likely to accelerate permafrost thaw in the Arctic, potentially leading to the release of old carbon previously stored in deep frozen soil layers. Deeper thaw depths

Rice is a staple food for nearly half of the world’s population, but rice paddies constitute a major source of anthropogenic CH4 emissions. Root exudates from growing rice plants

The ratio of CO efflux to influx (ARQ, apparent respiratory quotient) in tree stems is expected to be 1.0 for carbohydrates, the main substrate supporting stem respiration. In previous studies of

Data-model integration plays a critical role in assessing and improving our capacity to predict ecosystem dynamics. Similarly, the ability to attach quantitative statements of uncertainty around model forecasts is

Accurate estimates of microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) are required to predict how global change will impact microbially-mediated ecosystem functions such as organic matter decomposition. Multiple approaches are currently

The interaction between terrestrial carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles has been incorporated into more and more land surface models. However, the scheme of C–N coupling differs greatly among

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs), the stored products of photosynthesis, building blocks for growth and fuel for respiration, are central to plant metabolism, but their measurement is challenging. Differences in methods

Extracellular enzymes catalyze rate-limiting steps in soil organic matter decomposition, and their activities (EEAs) play a key role in determining soil respiration (SR). Both EEAs and SR are highly

Soil fauna is critical for maintaining ecosystem functioning, and its community could be significantly impacted by nitrogen (N) deposition. However, our knowledge of how soil-faunal community composition responds to

Global change is shifting the seasonality of vegetation in ecosystems around the globe. High-frequency digital camera imagery, and vegetation indices derived from that imagery, is facilitating better tracking of

Soil organic carbon (SOC) has a significant effect on carbon emissions and climate change. However, the current SOC prediction accuracy of most models is very low. Most evaluation studies

Inferences about subsurface CO2 fluxes often rely on surface soil respiration (Rsoil) estimates because directly measuring subsurface microbial and root respiration (collectively, CO2 production, STotal) is difficult. To evaluate

The flux of CO2 from the soil to the atmosphere (soil respiration, Rsoil) is a major component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Methods to measure and model Rsoil, or partition it

Mechanical cutting and mastication of juniper trees aims to restore grassland habitat by reducing the density of encroaching woody species. However, the associated soil disturbance may also create conduits

Soil respiration (RS), which is the second largest carbon flux between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems, has significant impact on atmospheric CO2 concentration and climatic dynamics. Nitrogen (N) fertilizer

The annual peak growth of vegetation is critical in characterizing the capacity of terrestrial ecosystem productivity and shaping the seasonality of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The recent greening of global

We refer to a theoretical trait space (TTS) as an n-dimensional hypervolume (hypercube) characterizing the range of values and covariations among multiple functional traits, in the absence of explicit

Plant functional traits research has revealed many interesting and important patterns among morphological, physiological, and life-history traits and the environment. These are exemplified in trade-offs between groups of traits

Roads are a main threat to biodiversity conservation in the Amazon, in part, because roads increase access for hunters. We examine how increased landscape access by hunters may lead

The fundamental niche of many species is shifting with climate change, especially in sub-arctic ecosystems with pronounced recent warming. Ongoing warming in sub-arctic regions should lessen environmental constraints on

Land surface phenology (LSP) has been widely retrieved from time series of various satellite instruments in order to monitor climate change and ecosystem dynamics. However, any evaluation of the

Understanding what drives the interannual variability (IAV) of the land carbon sink is crucial for improving future predictions of this important, yet uncertain, component of the climate system. While

Higher temperatures in northern latitudes will increase permafrost thaw and stimulate above-and belowground plant biomass growth in tundra ecosystems. Higher plant productivity increases the input of easily decomposable carbon

Tree-grass ecosystems are widely distributed. However, their phenology has not yet been fully characterized. The technique of repeated digital photographs for plant phenology monitoring (hereafter referred as PhenoCam) provide

Ecosystem carbon (C) transit time is a critical diagnostic parameter to characterize land C sequestration. This parameter has different variants in the literature, including a commonly used turnover time.

Boreal forests are changing in response to climate, with potentially important feedbacks to regional and global climate through altered carbon cycle and albedo dynamics. These feedback processes will be

Remote sensing of radiative indices must balance spatially and temporally coarse satellite measurements with finer-scale, but geographically limited, in-situ surface measurements. Instruments mounted upon an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)

In deciduous forests, spring leaf phenology controls the onset of numerous ecosystem functions. While most studies have focused on a single annual spring event, such as budburst, ecosystem functions

Recently, severe droughts that occurred in North America are likely to have impacted its terrestrial carbon sink. However, process-based understanding of how meteorological conditions prior to the onset of

We sought to determine if the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli differed across retail poultry products and among major production categories, including organic, “raised without antibiotics”, and conventional.

In the last few decades, temperatures in the Arctic have increased twice as much as the rest of the globe. As permafrost thaws in response to this warming, large

The global carbon cycle is strongly controlled by the source/sink strength of vegetation as well as the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to retain this carbon. These dynamics, as well

Climate change is shifting the phenological cycles of plants1, thereby altering the functioning of ecosystems, which in turn induces feedbacks to the climate system2. In northern (north of 30° N)

The mechanisms governing tree drought mortality and recovery remain a subject of inquiry and active debate given their role in the terrestrial carbon cycle and their concomitant impact on

The contemporary Arctic carbon balance is uncertain, and the potential for a permafrost carbon feedback of anywhere from 50 to 200 petagrams of carbon (Schuur et al., 2015) compromises

Accurate climate projections require an understanding of the effects of warming on ecological communities and the underlying mechanisms that drive them1–3. However, little is known about the effects of

Agricultural and industrial activities have increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition to ecosystems worldwide. N deposition can stimulate plant growth and soil carbon (C) input, enhancing soil C storage. Changes

Soil organic matter (SOM) turnover increasingly is conceptualized as a tension between accessibility to microorganisms and protection from decomposition via physical and chemical association with minerals in emerging soil

Ecologists often equate litter quality with decomposition rate. In soil and sediments, litter that is rapidly decomposed by microbes often has low concentrations of tannin and lignin and low

Succession theory predicts altered sensitivity of ecosystem functions to disturbance (i.e., climate change) due to the temporal shift in plant community composition. However, empirical evidence in global change experiments

Large model uncertainty in projected future soil carbon (C) dynamics has been well documented. However, our understanding of the sources of this uncertainty is limited. Here we quantify the

Differences in the biogeochemistry of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) lead to differential losses and inputs during and over time after fire such that fire may affect nutrient limitation

Losses of C from decomposing permafrost may be offset by increased productivity of tundra plants, but nitrogen availability partially limits plant growth in tundra ecosystems. In this soil incubation

Heat waves are increasing in frequency and intensity, presenting a challenge for the already difficult practice of ecological restoration. We investigated whether pre-heating locally sourced rhizosphere soil (inoculum) could

Most soil bacterial taxa are thought to be dormant, or inactive, yet the extent to which they synthetize new rRNA is poorly understood. We analyzed 18O composition of RNA

Soil contains the largest terrestrial pool of carbon (C), but how this pool will be affected by global change remains unknown. Warmer temperatures generally increase soil respiration, while additional

Increases in carbon (C) inputs to soil can replenish soil organic C (SOC) through various mechanisms. However, recent studies have suggested that the increased C input can also stimulate

Mosses are critical components of boreal ecosystems where they typically account for a large proportion of net primary productivity and harbour diverse bacterial communities that can be the major

The release of permafrost-derived nitrogen (N) has the potential to fertilize tundra vegetation, which in turn may stimulate productivity and thus offset carbon (C) losses from thawing permafrost. Below-ground

Partitioning of evapotranspiration (ET) into biological component transpiration (T) and non-biological component evaporation (E) is crucial in understanding the impact of environmental change on ecosystems and water resources. However,

Grazing exclusion (GE) is an effective method for protecting degraded grasslands, and it can profoundly affect ecosystem carbon (C) cycles. Ecosystem respiration (ER), which includes both autotrophic and heterotrophic

Drylands (hyperarid, arid, semiarid, and dry subhumid ecosystems) cover almost half of Earth’s land surface and are highly vulnerable to environmental pressures. Here we provide an inventory of soil

Increasing wildfire activity in Alaska’s boreal forests has led to greater fuel-reduction management. Management has been implemented to reduce wildfire spread, but the ecological impacts of these practices are poorly

Plant diversity can increase biomass production in plot-scale studies, but applying these results to ecosystem carbon (C) storage at larger spatial and temporal scales remains problematic. Other ecosystem controls

Despite the importance of nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) for growth and survival in woody plants, we know little about whole-tree NSC storage. The conventional theory suggests that NSC reserves will

Rain-fed peatlands are dominated by peat mosses (Sphagnum sp.), which for their growth depend on nutrients, water and CO2 uptake from the atmosphere. As the isotopic composition of carbon

Shifts in vegetation phenology are a key example of the biological effects of climate change. However, there is substantial uncertainty about whether these temperature-driven trends will continue, or whether

Climate warming can result in both abiotic (e.g., permafrost thaw) and biotic (e.g., microbial functional genes) changes in Arctic tundra. Recent research has incorporated dynamic permafrost thaw in Earth

Land surface phenology (LSP) has been widely retrieved from time series of various satellite instruments in order to monitor climate change and ecosystem dynamics. However, any evaluation of the

Dominant canopy tree species have strong effects on the composition and function of understory species, particularly bryophytes. In boreal forests, bryophytes and their associated microbes are a primary source

Future climate change is expected to alter the terrestrial carbon cycle through its impact on soil respiration. In this study, we determined the responses of soil respiration and its

Understanding drivers of straw decomposition is essential for adopting appropriate management practice to improve soil fertility and promote carbon (C) sequestration in agricultural systems. However, predicting straw decomposition and

Runoff in the United States is changing, and this study finds that the measured change is dependent on the geographic region and varies seasonally. Specifically, observed annual total runoff

Abstract Phenology is a first-order control on productivity and mediates the biophysical environment by altering albedo, surface roughness length and evapotranspiration. Accurate and transparent modelling of vegetation phenology is

Terrestrial carbon cycle models have incorporated increasingly more processes as a means to achieve more-realistic representations of ecosystem carbon cycling. Despite this, there are large across-model variations in the

Land-use conversions and elevated temperature can impact on carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, both of which are important greenhouse gasses (GHGs). Afforestation activity has increased significantly

As atmospheric nitrogen (N) concentrations increase, it can wreak havoc on the entire planet, as well as the fragile ecosystems, once it exceeds the demand of ecosystems. Chronically elevated

Elevated atmospheric N deposition threatens ecosystem health through eutrophication in terrestrial ecosystems, but little is known about consequences of N deposition in N-rich tropical ecosystems. We added several levels

Recent evidences show that terrestrial biogeochemical models have large uncertainty in estimating climate-change effect on grassland net ecosystem productivity (NEP), which is defined as the difference between gross ecosystem

Quantifying the ecological patterns of loss of ecosystem function in extreme drought is important to understand the carbon exchange between the land and atmosphere. Rain-use efficiency [RUE; gross primary

Climate warming and drying is associated with increased wildfire disturbance and the emergence of megafires in North American boreal forests. Changes to the fire regime are expected to strongly

Classical niche partitioning theory posits increased competition for and partitioning of the most limiting resource among coexisting species. Coexisting plant species may vary in rooting depth, reflecting niche partitioning

Temporal stability of ecosystem functioning increases the predictability and reliability of ecosystem services, and understanding the drivers of stability across spatial scales is important for land management and policy

Water use efficiency (WUE), defined as the ratio of gross primary productivity and evapotranspiration at the ecosystem scale, is a critical variable linking the carbon and water cycles. Incorporating

Warmer temperatures are accelerating the phenology of organisms around the world. Temperature sensitivity of phenology might be greater in colder, higher latitude sites than in warmer regions, in part

Satellite derived vegetation indices (VIs) are broadly used in ecological research, ecosystem modeling, and land surface monitoring. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), perhaps the most utilized VI, has

Long-term, continuous digital camera imagery and tower-based radiometric monitoring were conducted at a representative hardwood forest site in the Northeastern United States, part of the AmeriFlux network. In this

Clouds and aerosols increase the fraction of global solar irradiance that is diffuse light. This phenomenon is known to increase the photosynthetic light use efficiency (LUE) of closed-canopy vegetation

Plant phenology is a sensitive indicator of the effects of global change on terrestrial ecosystems and controls the timing of key ecosystem functions including photosynthesis and transpiration. Aerial drone

Over the last two decades, satellite-derived estimates of biophysical variables have been increasingly used in operational services, requiring quantification of their accuracy and uncertainty. Evaluating satellite-derived vegetation products is

Permafrost soil in high latitude tundra is one of the largest terrestrial carbon (C) stocks and is highly sensitive to climate warming. Understanding microbial responses to warming‐induced environmental changes

Quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition under warming is critical to predict carbon–climate feedbacks. According to the substrate regulating principle, SOC decomposition would decrease as labile SOC declines under

Large uncertainties exist in predicting responses of wetland methane (CH4) fluxes to future climate change. However, sources of the uncertainty have not been clearly identified despite the fact that

Carbon (C) turnover time is a key factor in determining C storage capacity in various plant and soil pools as well as terrestrial C sink in a changing climate.

Uptake of anthropogenically emitted carbon (C) dioxide by terrestrial ecosystem is critical for determining future climate. However, Earth system models project large uncertainties in future C storage. To help

Antibiotic‐resistant pathogens increasingly threaten human health. Widespread application of antibiotics to animal populations raised for food, including chickens, cattle, and pigs, selects for resistance and contributes to the evolution

Colonizing opportunistic pathogens (COPs) are microbes that asymptomatically colonize the human body and, when the conditions are right, can cause infections. Their ability to persist indefinitely and to be

We disagree with the statement by Soussana et al. that the 4p1000 goal is already sufficiently spatially diversified because it is related to the local soil organic C (SOC)

Breeding high‐yielding rice cultivars through increasing biomass is a key strategy to meet rising global food demands. Yet, increasing rice growth can stimulate methane (CH4) emissions, exacerbating global climate

1. Dryland vegetation is characterized by discrete plant patches that accumulate and capture soil resources under their canopies. These “fertile islands” are major drivers of dryland ecosystem structure and

At the global scale, the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide by terrestrial ecosystems through photosynthesis is commonly estimated through vegetation indices or biophysical properties derived from optical remote sensing

Improved quantification of the factors controlling soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization at continental to global scales is needed to inform projections of the largest actively cycling terrestrial carbon pool

Phenology is a valuable diagnostic of ecosystem health, and has applications to environmental monitoring and management. Here, we conduct an intercomparison analysis using phenological transition dates derived from near-surface

Forest phenology is a multi-scale phenomenon, arising from processes in leaves and trees, with effects on the ecology of plant communities and landscapes. Because phenology controls carbon and water

As leaves are the basic elements of plants that conduct photosynthesis and transpiration, vegetation leaf dynamics controls canopy physical and biogeochemical processes and hence largely influences the interactive exchanges

Insect outbreaks can significantly influence carbon (C) and water balances of forests. Forest tent caterpillars (FTC) (Malacosoma disstria Hübner) are one of the most prominent insects found in aspen

A significant fraction of the terrestrial biosphere comprises biomes containing tree–grass mixtures. Forecasting vegetation dynamics in these environments requires a thorough understanding of how trees and grasses use and

Many Low Arctic tundra regions are currently undergoing a vegetation shift towards increasing growth and groundcover of tall deciduous shrubs due to recent climate warming. Vegetation change directly affects

Increased fire frequency, extent and severity are expected to strongly affect the structure and function of boreal forest ecosystems. In this study, we examined 213 plots in boreal forests

Fire severity is increasing across the boreal forest biome as climate warms, and initial post-fire changes in tree demographic processes could be important determinants of long-term forest structure and

Afforestation and reforestation projects in the karst regions of southwest China aim to combat desertification and improve the ecological environment. However, it remains unclear at what scale conservation efforts

Functional traits, which usually develop over evolutionary time‐scales to maximize plant survivorship and functional performances in changing environment, are important indices to explore how ecosystems respond and adapt to

Temperature sensitivity of soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition is one of the major uncertainties in predicting climate‐carbon (C) cycle feedback. Results from previous studies are highly contradictory with old

Climate is predicted to change over the 21st century. However, little is known about how climate change can affect soil phosphorus (P) cycle and availability in global terrestrial ecosystems,

The terrestrial carbon (C) cycle has been commonly represented by a series of C balance equations to track C influxes into and effluxes out of individual pools in earth

The ability to forecast ecological carbon cycling is imperative to land management in a world where past carbon fluxes are no longer a clear guide in the Anthropocene. However,

Future droughts are expected to become more severe and frequent under future climate change scenarios, likely causing widespread tree mortality in the western USA. Coping with an uncertain future

Land ecosystems sequester on average about a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. It has been proposed that nitrogen (N) availability will exert an increasingly limiting effect on plants’ ability to

1.Dams disrupt the river continuum, altering hydrology, biodiversity and energy flow. Although research indicates that tributary inputs have the potential to dilute these effects, knowledge at the food‐web level

Leaf litter provides an important resource to forested stream ecosystems. During leaf fall a significant amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) enters streams as leaf leachate. We compared the

Crowther et al. Reported that the best predictor of surface soil carbon (top 10 cm) losses in response to warming is the size of the surface carbon stock in the soil

Nitrogen (N) is frequently a limiting nutrient in soil; its availability can govern ecosystem functions such as primary production and decomposition. Assimilation of N by microorganisms impacts the availability

Growing bacteria have a high concentration of ribosomes to ensure sufficient protein synthesis, which is necessary for genome replication and cellular division. To elucidate whether metabolic activity of soil

Disruptions of natural flow impair rivers and streams worldwide. Those conducting restoration efforts have rarely explored how and when stream ecosystems can recover after reinstating natural flows. We quantified

Leaf litter provides an important nutrient subsidy to headwater streams, but little is known about how tree genetics influences energy pathways from litter to higher trophic levels. Despite the

Native soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition rates may be altered through increased carbon (C) input, a phenomenon known as SOC priming (Blagodatskaya et al., 2011). Quantifying priming is important because it

We conducted a model-based assessment of changes in permafrost area and carbon storage for simulations driven by RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 projections between 2010 and 2299 for the northern permafrost

Vegetation phenology controls the seasonality of many ecosystem processes, as well as numerous biosphere-atmosphere feedbacks. Phenology is also highly sensitive to climate change and variability. Here we present a

Understanding how population-level dynamics contribute to ecosystem-level processes is a primary focus of ecological research and has led to important breakthroughs in the ecology of macroscopic organisms. However, the

Increasing wildfire activity in Alaska’s boreal forests has led to greater fuel reduction management. Management has been implemented to reduce wildfire spread, but the ecological impacts of these practices

Soil carbon sequestration in agroecosystems could play a key role in climate change mitigation but will require accurate predictions of soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks over spatial scales relevant

Northern ecosystem processes play out across scales that are rare elsewhere on contemporary earth: large ranging predator–prey systems are still operational, invasive species are rare, and large-scale natural disturbances

Forests cover 30% of the terrestrial Earth surface and are a major component of the global carbon (C) cycle. Humans have doubled the amount of global reactive nitrogen (N),

Bryophytes are dominant components of boreal forest understories and play a large role in regulating soil microclimate and nutrient cycling. Therefore, shifts in bryophyte communities have the potential to

Despite a large body of research documenting invasive plant impacts, few studies have followed individual invaded sites over decades to observe how they change, and none have contrasted how

Increased fire severity in boreal forests of Interior Alaska is shifting forest canopy composition from black spruce (Picea mariana) to deciduous species, including trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) and Alaska

Aridisols are the dominant soil type in drylands, which occupy one-third of Earth’s terrestrial surface. We examined controls on biogeographical patterns of Aridisol prokaryotic (bacterial and archaeal) communities at

Groundwater is an integral component of the water cycle, and it also influences the carbon cycle by supplying moisture to ecosystems. However, the extent and determinants of groundwater-vegetation interactions

Warming temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere have enhanced terrestrial productivity. Despite the warming trend, North America has experienced more frequent and more intense cold weather events during winters and springs.

Large interannual variations in the measured growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) originate primarily from fluctuations in carbon uptake by land ecosystems. It remains uncertain, however, to what

Climate variability associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and its consequent impacts on land carbon sink interannual variability have been used as a basis for investigating carbon cycle

Paleo-redox proxies are crucial for reconstructing past bottom water oxygen concentration changes brought about by ocean circulation and marine productivity shifts in response to climate forcing. Carbonate I/Ca ratios

Climate change is expected to increase the extent and severity of wildfires throughout the boreal forest. Historically, black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) forests in interior Alaska have been relatively

Permafrost is a distinct feature of the terrestrial Arctic and is vulnerable to climate warming. Permafrost degrades in different ways, including deepening of a seasonally unfrozen surface and localized

Drought, a recurring phenomenon with major impacts on both human and natural systems, is the most widespread climatic extreme that negatively affects the land carbon sink. Although twentieth-century trends

Soil microbial communities of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (MDV) contain representatives from at least fourteen bacterial phyla. However, given low rates of microbial activity, it is unclear whether

Current and future warming of high latitude ecosystems will play an important role in climate change through feedbacks to the global carbon cycle. This study compares six years of

Microorganisms perform most decomposition on Earth, mediating carbon (C) loss from ecosystems, and thereby influencing climate. Yet, how variation in the identity and composition of microbial communities influences ecosystem

Rising levels of atmospheric CO2 frequently stimulate plant inputs to soil, but the consequences of these changes for soil carbon (C) dynamics are poorly understood. Plant-derived inputs can accumulate

Temperature rise in the Arctic is causing deepening of active layers and resulting in the mobilization of deep permafrost dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, the mechanisms of DOM mobilization

Species diversity affects the functioning of ecosystems, including the efficiency by which communities capture limited resources, produce biomass, recycle and retain biologically essential nutrients. These ecological functions ultimately support

Labile carbon (C) input to soil can accelerate or slow the decomposition of soil organic matter, a phenomenon called priming. However, priming is difficult to predict, making its relationship

Applying biochar to soil is thought to have multiple benefits, from helping mitigate climate change [1, 2], to managing waste [3] to conserving soil [4]. Biochar is also widely

Fertilizer inputs affect plant uptake of native soil nitrogen (N), yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. To increase mechanistic insight into this phenomenon, we evaluated the effect of fertilizer

The North American Monsoon delivers warm season precipitation to much of the southwestern United States, yet the importance of this water source for forested ecosystems in the region is

Carbon storage by ecosystems is valuable for climate protection. Biodiversity conservation may help increase carbon storage, but the value of this influence has been difficult to assess. We use

Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have been shown to reduce abiotic stress on plants, but these effects have not been quantitatively synthesized. We evaluated the degree to which plant

Rapid Arctic warming is expected to increase global greenhouse gas concentrations as permafrost thaw exposes immense stores of frozen carbon (C) to microbial decomposition. Permafrost thaw also stimulates plant

Climate change has increased the occurrence, severity, and impact of disturbances on forested ecosystems worldwide, resulting in a need to identify factors that contribute to an ecosystem’s resilience or

Dams impound the majority of rivers and provide important societal benefits, especially daily water releases that enable on-peak hydroelectricity generation. Such “hydropeaking” is common worldwide, but its downstream impacts

We investigated the phenology of adult angel lichen moths (Cisthene angelus) along a 364-km long segment of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, using a unique data

Nonsteady state chambers are often employed to measure soil CO2 fluxes. CO2 concentrations (C) in the headspace are sampled at different times (t), and fluxes (f) are calculated from

Human impacts on biogeochemical cycles are evident around the world, from changes to forest structure and function due to atmospheric deposition, to eutrophication of surface waters from agricultural effluent,

In sagebrush steppe, snowpack may govern soil respiration through its effect on multiple abiotic and biotic factors. Across the Intermountain West of the United States, snowpack has been declining

Understanding impacts of drought on tree growth and forest health is of major concern given projected climate change. Droughts may become more common in the Southwest due to extreme

Of course plants do not have brains and, thus, cannot actually remember what happened to them in the past. Although plants cannot remember, however, we use “memory” as a

Aim Vertical root distributions (‘profiles’) influence plant water use and productivity, and the differentiation of root profiles between neighbouring species can indicate the degree of plant interactions and niche

Vessel  length  is  an  important  but  understudied  dimension  of  variation  in  angiosperm  vascular  anatomy. Among other traits, vessel length mediates an important tradeoff between hydraulic efficiency and safety that

Both geomorphic setting and dynamic environmental variables influence riverine wetland vegetation distributions. Most studies of species distributions in riverine systems emphasize either hydrological variability or geomorphic controls, but rarely

Terrestrial plant and soil respiration, or ecosystem respiration (Reco), represents a major CO2 flux in the global carbon cycle. However, there is disagreement in how Reco will respond to

Isotopic methods offer great potential for partitioning trace gas fluxes such as soil respiration into their different source contributions. Traditional partitioning methods face challenges due to variability introduced by

Stomata simultaneously regulate plant carbon gain and water loss, and patterns of stomatal conductance (gs) provide insight into water use strategies. In arid systems, gs varies seasonally based on

The role of time in ecology has a long history of investigation, but ecologists have largely restricted their attention to the influence of concurrent abiotic conditions on rates and

The concentration detection threshold (CDT) is the concentration of particles in solution beyond which a (serial dilution) assay detects particle presence. By our account, CDTs typically are not estimated

Sub-arctic birch forests (Betula pubescens Ehrh. ssp. czerepanovii) periodically suffer large-scale defoliation events caused by the caterpillars of the geometrid moths Epirrita autumnata and Operophtera brumata. Despite their obvious

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: The aboveground tissues of plants host numerous, ecologically important fungi, yet patterns in the spatial distribution of these fungi remain little known. Forest canopies in

The Arctic continues to warm at a rate that is currently twice as fast as the global average (see essay on Surface Air Temperature). Warming is causing normally frozen

Understanding the global carbon (C) cycle is of crucial importance to map current and future climate dynamics relative to global environmental change. A full characterization of C cycling requires

Spatio-temporal fields of land–atmosphere fluxes derived from data-driven models can complement simulations by process-based land surface models. While a number of strategies for empirical models with eddy-covariance flux data

The terrestrial biosphere can release or absorb the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), and therefore has an important role in regulating atmospheric composition

Despite the importance of net primary productivity (NPP) and net biome productivity (NBP), estimates of NPP and NBP for China are highly uncertain. To investigate the main sources of

Observations show an increasing amplitude in the seasonal cycle of CO2 (ASC) north of 45°N of 56 ± 9.8% over the last 50 years and an increase in vegetation greenness

Ecosystem responses to the increasing warming in recent decades across North America (NA) are spatially heterogeneous and partly uncertain. Here we examined the spatial and temporal variability of warming

The seasonal-cycle amplitude (SCA) of the atmosphere–ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange rate is a useful metric of the responsiveness of the terrestrial biosphere to environmental variations. It is unclear,

The land surface provides a boundary condition to atmospheric forward and flux inversion models. These models require prior estimates of CO2 fluxes at relatively high temporal resolutions (e.g., 3-hourly)

DataONE is a federated data network focusing on earth and environmental science data. We present the provenance and search features of DataONE by means of an example involving three

Identification of microorganisms that facilitate the cycling of nutrients in freshwater is paramount to understanding how these ecosystems function. Here, we identify growing aquatic bacteria using quantitative stable isotope

Projecting the response of forests to changing climate requires understanding how biotic and abiotic controls on tree growth will change over time. As temperature and interannual precipitation variability increase,

Thermokarst is the process whereby the thawing of ice-rich permafrost ground causes land subsidence, resulting in development of distinctive landforms. Accelerated thermokarst due to climate change will damage infrastructure,

Optimality theory states that whole-tree carbon gain is maximized when leaf N and photosynthetic capacity profiles are distributed along vertical light gradients such that the marginal gain of nitrogen

A significant portion of the large amount of carbon (C) currently stored in soils of the permafrost region in the Northern Hemisphere has the potential to be emitted as

The soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica are an extreme polar desert, inhabited exclusively by microscopic taxa. This region is on the threshold of anticipated climate change, with

With increasing air temperatures and changing precipitation patterns forecast for the Arctic over the coming decades, the thawing of ice-rich permafrost is expected to increasingly alter hydrological conditions by

Increasing rates of permafrost thaw in boreal peatlands are converting conifer forests to waterlogged open wetlands. Permafrost thaw increases soil nitrogen (N) availability, but it is unclear whether such

Disturbances affect almost all terrestrial ecosystems, but it has been difficult to identify general principles regarding these influences. To improve our understanding of the long-term consequences of disturbance on

Annual-based arable agroecosystems experience among the greatest frequency, extent and magnitude of disturbance regimes of all terrestrial ecosystems. In order to control non-crop vegetation, farmers implement tillage practices and/or

Global change models predict that high-latitude boreal forests will become increasingly susceptible to fire activity as climate warms, possibly causing a positive feedback to warming through fire-driven emissions of

Plants buffer increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations through enhanced growth, but the question whether nitrogen availability constrains the magnitude of this ecosystem service remains unresolved. Synthesizing experiments from

Increasing temperatures in northern high latitudes are causing permafrost to thaw, making large amounts of previously frozen organic matter vulnerable to microbial decomposition. Permafrost thaw also creates a fragmented

Terrestrial leaf litter provides aquatic insects with an energy source and habitat structure, and species differences in litter can influence aquatic insect emergence. Emerging insects also provide energy to riparian predators.

Soil microbial diversity is huge and a few grams of soil contain more bacterial taxa than there are bird species on Earth. This high diversity often makes predicting the

Background: Vegetation change in high latitude tundra ecosystems is expected to accelerate due to increased wild-fire activity. High-severity fires increase the availability of mineral soil seedbeds, which facilitates recruitment, yet

Observations and measurements were made of physical and ecological changes that have occurred since 1985 at a tundra site near Healy, Alaska. Air temperatures decreased (1985 through 1999) while

Ratios of nitrogen (N) isotopes in leaves could elucidate underlying patterns of N cycling across ecological gradients. To better understand global-scale patterns of N cycling, we compiled data on

Climate change in high latitudes can lead to permafrost thaw, which in ice-rich soils can result in ground subsidence, or thermokarst. In interior Alaska, we examined seasonal and annual

The physical state of water on Mars has fundamental ramifications for both climatology and astrobiology. The widespread presence of “softened” Martian landforms (such as impact craters) can be attributed

Permafrost soils store nearly half of global soil carbon (C), and therefore permafrost thawing could lead to large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions via decomposition of soil organic matter.

Research on permafrost carbon has dramatically increased in the past few years, A new estimate of 1672 Pg C of belowground organic carbon in the northern circumpolar permafrost region

The resilience and vulnerability of permafrost to climate change depends on complex interactions among topography, water, soil, vegetation, and snow, which allow permafrost to persist at mean annual air

The microbial communities of high-latitude ecosystems are expected to experience rapid changes over the next century due to climate warming and increased deposition of reactive nitrogen, changes that will

The boreal region stores a large proportion of the world’s terrestrial carbon (C) and is subject to high-intensity, stand-replacing wildfires that release C and nitrogen (N) stored in biomass

The northern cryosphere is undergoing substantial warming of permafrost and loss of sea ice. Release of stored carbon to the atmosphere in response to this change has the potential

The carbon (C) storage capacity of northern latitude ecosystems may diminish as warming air temperatures increase permafrost thaw and stimulate decomposition of previously frozen soil organic C. However, warming

One of the most important changes in high-latitude ecosystems in response to climatic warming may be the thawing of permafrost soil. In upland tundra, the thawing of ice-rich permafrost

The effect of high precipitation regime in tropical forests is poorly known despite indications of its potentially negative effects on nutrient availability and carbon (C) cycling. Our goal was

Permafrost deposits constitute a large organic carbon pool highly vulnerable to degradation and potential carbon release due to global warming. Permafrost sections along coastal and river bank exposures in

Arctic tundra soils store large amounts of carbon (C) in organic soil layers hundreds to thousands of years old that insulate, and in some cases maintain, permafrost soilsl,2. Fire

Plant productivity in upland tundra and boreal forest is demonstrably limited by nitrogen (N) and indirect evidence from field studies suggests that decomposition by soil microbes may be similarly

Ecosystems acquire nitrogen from the atmosphere, but this source can’t account for the large nitrogen capital of some systems. The finding that bedrock can also act as a nitrogen

The structure and function of Alaska’s forests have changed significantly in response to a changing climate, including alterations in species composition and climate feedbacks (e.g., carbon, radiation budgets) that

The direction and magnitude of soil organic carbon (SOC) changes in response to climate change remain unclear and depend on the spatial distribution of SOC across landscapes. Uncertainties regarding

In this article, author comments on the effect of climate change in the arctic region. It mentions that the temperatures of arctic region are rising fast, and permafrost is

Context Forecasting the expansion of forest into Alaska tundra is critical to predicting regional ecosystem services, including climate feedbacks such as carbon storage. Controls over seedling establishment govern forest

This synthesis addresses the vulnerability of the North American high-latitude soil organic carbon (SOC) pool to climate change. Disturbances caused by climate warming in arctic, subarctic, and boreal environments

Arctic warming has led to permafrost degradation and ground subsidence, created as a result of ground ice melting. Frozen soil organic matter that thaws can increase carbon (C) emissions

Permafrost soils are a significant global store of carbon (C) with the potential to become a large C source to the atmosphere. Climate change is causing permafrost to thaw,

The response of northern tundra plant communities to warming temperatures is of critical concern because permafrost ecosystems play a key role in global carbon (C) storage, and climate-induced ecological

Recent observations suggest that permafrost thaw may create two completely different soil environments: aerobic in relatively well-drained uplands and anaerobic in poorly drained wetlands. The soil oxygen availability will

Deep soil profiles containing permafrost (Gelisols) were characterized for organic carbon (C) and total nitrogen (N) stocks to 3 m depths. Using the Community Climate System Model (CCSM4) we calculate

The cryosphere—the portion of the Earth’s surface where water is in solid form for at least one month of the year—has been shrinking in response to climate warming. The

The future carbon balance of high-latitude ecosystems is dependent on the sensitivity of biological processes (photosynthesis and respiration) to the physical changes occurring with permafrost thaw. Predicting C exchange

Monsoon precipitation in the arid southwestern United States is an important driver of ecosystem productivity, delivering up to 50% of annual precipitation during the summer months. These sporadic rainfall

Stocks of soil organic carbon represent a large component of the carbon cycle that may participate in climate change feedbacks, particularly on decadal and centennial timescales. For Earth system

Approximately 1700 Pg of soil carbon (C) are stored in the northern circumpolar permafrost zone, more than twice as much C than in the atmosphere. The overall amount, rate, and

Soil organic matter (SOM) is heterogeneous in structure and has been considered to consist of various pools with different intrinsic turnover rates. Although those pools have been conceptually expressed

Ecosystem respiration (Reco) is one of the largest terrestrial carbon (C) fluxes. The effect of climate change on Reco depends on the responses of its autotrophic and heterotrophic components.

[1] Permafrost thaw can affect decomposition rates by changing environmental conditions and litter quality. As permafrost thaws, soils warm and thermokarst (ground subsidence) features form, causing some areas to become

Thawing permafrost represents a poorly understood feedback mechanism of climate change in the Arctic, but with a potential impact owing to stored carbon being mobilized1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Soil bacteria play a key role in regulating terrestrial biogeochemical cycling and greenhouse gas fluxes across the soil-atmosphere continuum. Despite their importance to ecosystem functioning, we lack a general

Balancing the joint production of multiple ecosystem services, also referred to as the ‘multifunctionality’ of an ecosystem or landscape, requires understanding of the ecological processes that produce and economic

Climate-induced changes to permafrost are altering high latitude landscapes in ways that could increase the vulnerability of the vast soil carbon pools of the region. Permafrost thaw is temporally

Are tundra ecosystems currently a carbon source or sink? What is the future trajectory of tundra carbon fluxes in response to climate change? These questions are of global importance

We investigated the effects of a 5 °C soil + air experimental heating on root and microbial respiration in a boreal black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) forest in

Thaw of ice-rich permafrost soils on sloping terrain can trigger erosional disturbance events that displace large volumes of soil and sediment, kill and damage plants, and initiate secondary succession.

Permafrost thaw and its impacts on ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics are critical for predicting global climate change. It remains unclear whether annual and seasonal warming (winter or summer) affect

After four growing seasons, elevated CO2 did not significantly alter surface soil C pools in two intact annual grasslands. However, soil C pools in these systems are large compared

Nitrogen (N) limits plant growth in many terrestrial ecosystems, potentially constraining terrestrial ecosystem response to elevated CO2. In this study, elevated CO2 stimulated gross N mineralization and plant N

The effect of elevated CO2 on plant-microbial interactions and nitrogen (N) cycling is critical to predicting plant growth responses to elevated CO2, because plant growth is often N-limited. We

Patterns of carbon source utilization, or community-level physiological profiles (CLPP), produced from direct incubation of environmental samples in BIOLOG microplates can consistently discriminate spatial and temporal gradients within microbial

David A. Wedin and David Tilman (Reports, 6 Dec.,p 1720) show that increased nitrogen inputs to terrestrial ecosystems might cause smaller increases in the capacity of those ecosystems to

We investigated the effect of CO2 concentration and soilnutrient availability during growth on the subsequent decomposition andnitrogen (N) release from litter of four annual grasses that differ inresource requirements

We examined the effects of growth carbon dioxide (CO2)concentration and soil nutrient availability on nitrogen (N)transformations and N trace gas fluxes in California grasslandmicrocosms during early-season wet-up, a time

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere is rising rapidly1, with the potential to alter many ecosystem processes. Elevated CO2 often stimulates photosynthesis2, creating the possibility

Variation in competitive ability due to variation in soil characteristics is one possible mechanism allowing the local coexistence of plant species. We measured soil water, depth, and nitrogen pools

Most studies on the effects of elevated CO2 have focused on the effects on plant growth and ecosystem processes. Fewer studies have examined the effects of elevated CO2 on

This chapter discusses the mechanisms through which elevated CO2 can cause changes in soil nitrogen cycling. Rising atmospheric CO2 could alter soil nitrogen (N) cycling, shaping the responses of

We report changes in nitrogen cycling in Florida scrub oak in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 during the first 14 months of experimental treatment. Elevated CO2 stimulated above-ground growth, nitrogen

We measured soil bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and biological activity in serpentine and sandstone annual grasslands after 4 years of exposure to elevated atmospheric CO2. Measurements were made during

This paper presents reviews on: the nutrient responses to elevated CO 2 in open-top chamber and their potential effects on stand level cycling through logic and simulation modelling; and

The functioning of” plants in terrestrial ecosystems must satisfy different constraints imposed by the physical environment. The prevention of embolism and conservation of internal water constrain stomatal behavior and

Humans are altering the environment in many ways. While local environmental damage (landfills, oil spills, urban smog) is still prevalent, we now also realize that human activities are altering

The results of a 3-yr study on the effects of elevated CO2 on soil N and P, soil pCO2, and calculated CO2 efflux in a fire-regenerated Florida scrub oak

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is the largest reservoir of organic carbon in the terrestrial biosphere. Though the influence of increasing atmospheric CO2 on net primary productivity, on the flow

The effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca) on the aboveground biomass of three oak species, Quercus myrtifolia, Q. geminata, and Q. chapmanii, was estimated nondestructively using allometric relationships

Leaf conductance often decreases in response to elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca) potentially leading to changes in hydrology. We describe the hydrological responses of Florida scrub oak to elevated

To date, most research that has examined the effect of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) on litter decomposition has focused on changes in the leaf litter quality of

For two species of oak, we determined whether increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration (Ca) would decrease leaf mitochondrial respiration (R) directly, or indirectly owing to their growth in elevated Ca,

Portions of a regenerating scrub oak ecosystem were enclosed in open-top chambers and exposed to elevated CO2. The distinct 13C signal of the supplemental CO2 was used to trace

The effects of grassland conversion to forest vegetation and of individual tree species on microbial activity in Siberia are largely unstudied. Here, we examined the effects of the six

Increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) are likely to affect the trophic relationships that exist between plants, their herbivores and the herbivores’ natural enemies. This study takes advantage

Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (Ca) usually reduces stomatal conductance, but the effects on plant transpiration in the field are not well understood. Using constant-power sap flow gauges, we measured

Soil carbon (C) is a critical component of Earth system models (ESMs), and its diverse representations are a major source of the large spread across models in the terrestrial

The permafrost component of the cryosphere is changing dramatically, but the permafrost region is not well monitored and the consequences of change are not well understood. Changing permafrost interacts

How soil microbial communities contrast with respect to taxonomic and functional composition within and between ecosystems remains an unresolved question that is central to predicting how global anthropogenic change will affect soil functioning and services. In particular, it remains unclear

Growth and mortality of microorganisms have been characterized through DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) with 18O-water in soils from a range of ecosystems. Conventional SIP has been improved by

Carbon (C) buried deep in soil (below 1 m) is often hundreds to thousands of years old, though the stability and sensitivity of this deep C to environmental change are

This paper discusses the disturbances within and between ecosystems that result in element redistribution involving element transport in the biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and atmosphere. It also discusses the disturbances

In controlled N-nutrition experiments, differences in δ 15N composition of leaves and roots are regularly found. In this paper we report results from a survey of nitrogen stable isotope

The use of stable isotopes of N and O in N2O has been proposed as a way to better constrain the global budget of atmospheric N2O and to better

Methane consumption by temperate forest soils is a major sink for this important greenhouse gas, but little is known about how tree species influence CH4 uptake by soils. Here,

Plant productivity and ecosystem productivity are strongly influenced by nutrient availability, which is largely determined by the decomposition rate of plant litter. Belowground litter inputs (dead roots, mycorrhizae, and

Elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) caused greater accumulation of carbon (C) and nutrients in both vegetation and O horizons over a 5-yr sampling period in a scrub oak ecosystem in

The effects of CO2 elevation on the dynamics of fine root (FR) mass and ectomycorrhizal (EM) mass and colonization were studied in situ in a Florida scrub oak system

Models project that land ecosystems may be able take up a considerable proportion of the carbon dioxide released by human activities, thereby counteracting the anthropogenic emissions. In their Perspective,

Rising atmospheric CO2 and temperatures are probably altering ecosystem carbon cycling, causing both positive and negative feedbacks to climate. Below-ground processes play a key role in the global carbon

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (Ca), a product of fossil fuel burning, land-use change, and cement manufacture, is expected to cause a large carbon sink in land ecosystems, partly mitigating

A highly controversial issue in global biogeochemistry is the regulation of terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration by soil nitrogen (N) availability. This controversy translates into great uncertainty in predicting future

Changes in tree species composition could affect how forests produce and consume greenhouse gases, because the soil microorganisms that carry out these biogeochemical transformations are often sensitive to plant

[1] We reviewed responses of nitrification, denitrification, and soil N2O efflux to elevated CO2, N availability, and temperature, based on published experimental results. We used meta-analysis to estimate the magnitude

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have increased dramatically over the last century and continuing increases are expected to have significant, though currently unpredictable, effects on ecosystems. One important process that may

Interactions involving carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) likely modulate terrestrial ecosystem responses to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels at scales from the leaf to the globe and from

Experimentally increasing atmospheric CO2 often stimulates plant growth and ecosystem carbon (C) uptake. Biogeochemical theory predicts that these initial responses will immobilize nitrogen (N) in plant biomass and soil

Rising levels of atmospheric CO2 are thought to increase C sinks in terrestrial ecosystems. The potential of these sinks to mitigate CO2 emissions, however, may be constrained by nutrients.

Elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) often stimulates the growth of fine roots, yet there are few reports of responses of intact root systems to long-term CO2 exposure. We investigated

In Alaska, an outbreak of spruce beetles (Dendroctonus rufipennis) recently infested over one million hectares of spruce (Picea spp.) forest. As a result, land management agencies have applied different

[1] Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhouse gas and participates in the destruction of stratospheric ozone. Soil bacteria produce N2O through denitrification and nitrification, but these processes differ radically

The labeled atoms of carbon and nitrogen are widely used in biology, biochemistry, and soil science. Both radioactive (14C) and stable (12C, 13C,15N) isotopes are used as such labels.

The amount of carbon plants allocate to mycorrhizal symbionts exceeds that emitted by human activity annually. Senescent ectomycorrhizal roots represent a large input of carbon into soils, but their

1. The effects of global change on below-ground processes of the nitrogen (N) cycle have repercussions for plant communities, productivity and trace gas effluxes. However, the interacting effects of different

The availability of C and N to the soil microbial biomass is an important determinant of the rates of soil N transformations. Here, we present evidence that changes in

[1] Measuring the stable isotope composition of nitrous oxide (N2O) evolved from soil could improve our understanding of the relative contributions of the main microbial processes (nitrification and denitrification) responsible

Free air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) and open top chamber (OTC) studies are valuable tools for evaluating the impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 on nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems.

Stable isotope analysis is a powerful tool in the study of soil organic matter formation. It is often observed that more decomposed soil organic matter is 13C, and especially

Amidst a network of tunnels and pores, soil organisms recycle carbon and nutrients. They mix plant litter and detritus, causing changes in soil structure that can ultimately influence the

Elevated CO2 can increase fine root biomass but responses of fine roots to exposure to increased CO2 over many years are infrequently reported. We investigated the effect of elevated

Drought is a normal, recurrent feature of climate. In order to understand the potential effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration (C a) on ecosystems, it is essential to determine

Increased carbon storage in ecosystems due to elevated CO2 may help stabilize atmospheric CO2 concentrations and slow global warming. Many field studies have found that elevated CO2 leads to

Hurricane disturbances have profound impacts on ecosystem structure and function, yet their effects on ecosystem CO2 exchange have not been reported. In September 2004, our research site on a

Forest management, climatic change, and atmospheric N deposition can affect soil biogeochemistry, but their combined effects are not well understood. We examined the effects of water and N amendments

We report the first simultaneous measurements of δ15N and δ13C of DNA extracted from surface soils. The isotopic composition of DNA differed significantly among nine different soils. The δ13C

Organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are essential for heterotrophic soil microorganisms, and their bioavailability strongly influences ecosystem C and N cycling. We show here that the natural 15N

 Organisms acquire some elements from the environment with ease.  Diffusion alone often provides enough carbon dioxide, oxygen and water.  But getting other elements requires more effort, spurring unique evolutionary

Escherichia coli cells were forced to mineralize or assimilate nitrogen in vitro by manipulating substrate carbon and nitrogen availability. When grown on an organic nitrogen source, E. coli cells

1. Ecological restoration often involves returning ecosystem structure to some predisturbance reference state, but ecosystem function must also recover if restoration efforts are to be self-sustaining over the long

Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests of the southwestern United States are a mosaic of stands where undisturbed forests are carbon sinks, and stands recovering from wildfires may be sources

Forest ecosystems assimilate more CO2 from the atmosphere and store more carbon in woody biomass than most nonforest ecosystems, indicating strong potential for afforestation to serve as a carbon

1. Despite the importance of microorganisms for leaf litter decomposition in streams, little is known about which factors affect community composition of bacterial and fungal communities. Standard morphological techniques

Flow diversion and invasive species are two major threats to freshwater ecosystems, threats that restoration efforts attempt to redress. Yet, few restoration projects monitor whether removal of these threats

The linkages between fluvial geomorphology and aquatic ecosystems are commonly conceptualized as a one-way causal chain in which geomorphic processes create the physical template for ecological dynamics. In streams

1. Exotic species threaten native species worldwide, but their impacts are difficult to predict. 2.Stable isotope analysis was combined with field competition experiments to predict how an invasive African cichlid

Retail poultry products are known sources of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli, a major human health concern. Consumers have a range of choices for poultry, including conventional, organic, kosher, and raised without

Foliar chemistry influences leaf decomposition, but little is known about how litter chemistry affects the assemblage of bacterial communities during decomposition. Here we examined relationships between initial litter chemistry

Changing climate and a legacy of fire-exclusion have increased the probability of high-severity wildfire, leading to an increased risk of forest carbon loss in ponderosa pine forests in the

Management of forests for carbon uptake is an important tool in the effort to slow the increase in atmospheric CO2 and global warming. However, some current policies governing forest

Elevated atmospheric CO2 tends to stimulate plant productivity, which could either stimulate or suppress the processing of soil carbon, thereby feeding back to atmospheric CO2 concentrations. We employed an

This study reports the aboveground biomass response of a fire-regenerated Florida scrub-oak ecosystem exposed to elevated CO2 (1996–2007), from emergence after fire through canopy closure. Eleven years exposure to

We compared energy fluxes between a site converted from ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest to sparse grassland by a severe wildfire 10 years ago and a nearby, unburned forest.

Soil is the largest reservoir of organic carbon (C) in the terrestrial biosphere and soil C has a relatively long mean residence time. Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations

A scrub-oak woodland has maintained higher aboveground biomass accumulation after 11 years of atmospheric CO2 enrichment (ambient +350 μmol CO2 mol−1), despite the expectation of strong nitrogen (N) limitation at the site.

The effects of elevated CO2 on plant growth and insect herbivory have been frequently investigated over the past 20 years. Most studies have shown an increase in plant growth,

Soil microbial organisms are central to carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) transformations in soils, yet not much is known about the stable isotope composition of these essential regulators of

Background Forests can sequester carbon dioxide, thereby reducing atmospheric concentrations and slowing global warming. In the U.S., forest carbon stocks have increased as a result of regrowth following land

Despite increasing interest in the effects of climate change on soil processes, the response of nitrification to elevated CO2remains unclear. Responses may depend on soil nitrogen (N) status, and

Disturbances alter ecosystem carbon dynamics, often by reducing carbon uptake and stocks. We compared the impact of two types of disturbances that represent the most likely future conditions of