Background: The potential for abrupt transitions in ecosystem processes may increase as climate change continues to accelerate1,2. While this trend is of great concern, our understanding of how to identify when and why abrupt transitions occur has been informed almost exclusively by theory. In order to enhance the prediction and management of these changes for different ecosystems, Bestelmeyer et al.3 developed a systematic approach for identifying the occurrence of transitions, the leading indicators, and the underlying mechanisms. Their analyses revealed that the choice of the leading indicator (the biological response used to detect the transitions, e.g. the abundance of a particular species) generates many limitations. For example, using species abundance may restrict our ability to detect non-linear ecosystem transitions.
Top Stories
Site Exchange Fellows Announced
LTER Graduate Students and Postdocs Summer Mentoring Community of Practice
Collaboration with Shellfishers: an APEAL Seed Project
Letting art do the work that science cannot: Bonanza Creek’s In a Time of Change program
Request for Synthesis Proposals 2025
Site Exchange Opportunity
How to find soil-dwelling life in “the valley of the dead”
Strengthen Mentoring Skills
Ten years later: an LTER synthesis working group leads to discovery and accelerates four careers
From Manhattan to the Arctic Tundra: 3 student’s summer adventure in Alaska