Increased sensitivity to climate change in disturbed ecosystems

György Kröel-Dulay (), Johannes Ransijn, Inger Kappel Schmidt, Claus Beier, Paolo De Angelis, Giovanbattista de Dato, Jeffrey S. Dukes, Bridget Emmett, Marc Estiarte, János Garadnai, Jane Kongstad, Edit Kovács-Láng, Klaus Steenberg Larsen, Dario Liberati, Romà Ogaya, Torben Riis-Nielsen, Andrew R. Smith, Alwyn Sowerby, Albert Tietema and Josep Penuelas
Additional contact information
György Kröel-Dulay: Institute of Ecology and Botany, MTA Centre for Ecological Research
Johannes Ransijn: University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23
Inger Kappel Schmidt: University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23
Claus Beier: Norwegian Institute for Water Research, NIVA, Gaustadalléen 21
Paolo De Angelis: Agro-food and Forest systems, University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis snc
Giovanbattista de Dato: Agro-food and Forest systems, University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis snc
Jeffrey S. Dukes: Purdue University
Bridget Emmett: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road
Marc Estiarte: CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés
János Garadnai: Institute of Ecology and Botany, MTA Centre for Ecological Research
Jane Kongstad: University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23
Edit Kovács-Láng: Institute of Ecology and Botany, MTA Centre for Ecological Research
Klaus Steenberg Larsen: University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23
Dario Liberati: Agro-food and Forest systems, University of Tuscia, Via San Camillo de Lellis snc
Romà Ogaya: CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés
Torben Riis-Nielsen: University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23
Andrew R. Smith: School of Environment, Natural Resources, and Geography, Bangor University, Deiniol Road
Alwyn Sowerby: Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road
Albert Tietema: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, University of Amsterdam
Josep Penuelas: CSIC, Global Ecology Unit, CREAF-CSIC-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallés

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Human domination of the biosphere includes changes to disturbance regimes, which push many ecosystems towards early-successional states. Ecological theory predicts that early-successional ecosystems are more sensitive to perturbations than mature systems, but little evidence supports this relationship for the perturbation of climate change. Here we show that vegetation (abundance, species richness and species composition) across seven European shrublands is quite resistant to moderate experimental warming and drought, and responsiveness is associated with the dynamic state of the ecosystem, with recently disturbed sites responding to treatments. Furthermore, most of these responses are not rapid (2–5 years) but emerge over a longer term (7–14 years). These results suggest that successional state influences the sensitivity of ecosystems to climate change, and that ecosystems recovering from disturbances may be sensitive to even modest climatic changes. A research bias towards undisturbed ecosystems might thus lead to an underestimation of the impacts of climate change.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms7682 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms7682

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7682

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().