TY - JOUR

T1 - Experiments to confront the environmental extremes of climate change

AU - Kayler, Zachary E.

AU - De Boeck, Hans J.

AU - Fatichi, Simone

AU - Grünzweig, José M.

AU - Merbold, Lutz

AU - Beier, Claus

AU - McDowell, Nathan

AU - Dukes, Jeffrey S.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Ecological Society of America.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - Extreme climate conditions can dramatically alter ecosystems and are expected to become more common in the future; however, our understanding of species and ecosystem responses to extreme conditions is limited. We must meet this challenge by designing experiments that cover broad ranges of environmental stress, extending to levels well beyond those observed currently. Such experiments are important because they can identify physiological, community, and biogeochemical thresholds, and improve our understanding of mechanistic ecological responses to climate extremes. Although natural environmental gradients can be used to observe a range of ecological responses, manipulation experiments - including those that impose drought and heat gradients - are necessary to induce variation beyond common limits. Importantly, manipulation experiments allow for determination of the cause and effect of species and ecosystem threshold responses. We present a rationale and recommendations for conducting extreme experiments that extend beyond the historical and even the predicted ranges of environmental conditions.

AB - Extreme climate conditions can dramatically alter ecosystems and are expected to become more common in the future; however, our understanding of species and ecosystem responses to extreme conditions is limited. We must meet this challenge by designing experiments that cover broad ranges of environmental stress, extending to levels well beyond those observed currently. Such experiments are important because they can identify physiological, community, and biogeochemical thresholds, and improve our understanding of mechanistic ecological responses to climate extremes. Although natural environmental gradients can be used to observe a range of ecological responses, manipulation experiments - including those that impose drought and heat gradients - are necessary to induce variation beyond common limits. Importantly, manipulation experiments allow for determination of the cause and effect of species and ecosystem threshold responses. We present a rationale and recommendations for conducting extreme experiments that extend beyond the historical and even the predicted ranges of environmental conditions.

U2 - 10.1890/140174

DO - 10.1890/140174

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84928941149

VL - 13

SP - 219

EP - 225

JO - Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

JF - Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

SN - 1540-9295

IS - 4

ER -