Ecosystem transitions: increased variability and regime shifts

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Human impacts on ecosystems can result in persistent compositional shifts that are difficult to reverse even after relaxation from perturbations. Considerable debate remains on whether these observed shifts in ecosystems are due to the existence of tipping points and systems with alternative attractors, or whether observed shifts in ecosystems represent communities in alternative trajectories that… Read more »

Poster: Kelp Forests as Sentinels of Ecosystem Change

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Kelp forests as sentinels of ecosystem change? 2014-2015 heatwaves offer a test.

Dan Reed, Libe Washburn, Andrew Rassweiler, Robert Miller, Tom Bell and Shannon Harrer

Santa Barbara Coastal LTER, Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara

Poster presented at NSF-LTER Symposium, March 21, 2017

Presentation: Legacy of Acid Rain-A Tale of Two Species (Driscoll)

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Air pollution control efforts have succeeded in reducing sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions, but decades of acid rain have leached calcium and magnesium from Northeastern forest soils. These changes have increased the mobility of dissolved organic matter, and possibly altered soil organic matter dynamics, altering the long-term trajectory for forest ecosystems. What does the acid rain story say about when, where, and how recovery is possible?