The DOI matches its Crossref record; 174 of the 174 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Climate change, ecosystems and abrupt change: science priorities
Open accessAbstract
Ecologists have long studied patterns, directions and tempos of change, but there is a pressing need to extend current understanding to empirical observations of abrupt changes as climate warming accelerates. Abrupt changes in ecological systems (ACES)—changes that are fast in time or fast relative to their drivers—are ubiquitous and increasing in frequency. Powerful theoretical frameworks exist, yet applications in real-world landscapes to detect, explain and anticipate ACES have lagged. We highlight five insights emerging from empirical studies of ACES across diverse ecosystems: (i) ecological systems show ACES in some dimensions but not others; (ii) climate extremes may be more important than mean climate in generating ACES; (iii) interactions among multiple drivers often produce ACES; (iv) contingencies, such as ecological memory, frequency and sequence of disturbances, and spatial context are important; and (v) tipping points are often (but not always) associated with ACES. We suggest research priorities to advance understanding of ACES in the face of climate change. Progress in understanding ACES requires strong integration of scientific approaches (theory, observations, experiments and process-based models) and high-quality empirical data drawn from a diverse array of ecosystems. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions’
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“In local aquatic ecosystems, harvest, predator control and trophic cascades [21] can cause abrupt shifts.”
BackgroundSelf-citationTipping elements in the Earth’s climate system
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“Furthermore, the potential for tipping cascades , where tipping one system increases the likelihood of tipping another, potentially to where it becomes inevitable, has been recognized in the climate system [152,154,155] and for social – ecological systems [153].”
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Cited by
Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions
Malhi, Y., Franklin, J., Seddon, N., Solan, M., Turner, M. G., Field, C. B., & Knowlton, N. (2020) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0104 · Cited by 1,084
Self-citationA unifying framework for studying and managing climate-driven rates of ecological change
Williams, J. W., Ordonez, A., & Svenning, J.-C. (2020) · Nature Ecology & Evolution · doi:10.1038/s41559-020-01344-5 · Cited by 135
Self-citationWhite-Sand Savannas Expand at the Core of the Amazon After Forest Wildfires
Flores, B. M., & Holmgren, M. (2021) · Ecosystems · doi:10.1007/s10021-021-00607-x · Cited by 73
Integrated approaches to nature-based solutions in Africa: Insights from a bibliometric analysis
Nyika, J., & Dinka, M. O. (2022) · Nature-Based Solutions · doi:10.1016/j.nbsj.2022.100031 · Cited by 40
Metadata
- Authors
- Turner, M. G., Calder, W. J., Cumming, G. S., Hughes, T. P., Jentsch, A., LaDeau, S. L., Lenton, T. M., Shuman, B. N., Turetsky, M. R., Ratajczak, Z., Williams, J. W., Williams, A. P., & Carpenter, S. R.
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2020-01-27
- Volume
- 375
- Issue
- 1794
- Pages
- 20190105
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- OpenAlex
- W3001653539
- Cited by
- 382
- References
- 174
- FWCI
- 17.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Turner, M. G., Calder, W. J., Cumming, G. S., Hughes, T. P., Jentsch, A., LaDeau, S. L., Lenton, T. M., Shuman, B. N., Turetsky, M. R., Ratajczak, Z., Williams, J. W., Williams, A. P., & Carpenter, S. R. (2020). Climate change, ecosystems and abrupt change: science priorities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0105
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