Long-Term Integrated Studies Show Complex and Surprising Effects of Climate Change in the Northern Hardwood Forest

Abstract

Evaluations of the local effects of global change are often confounded by the interactions of natural and anthropogenic factors that overshadow the effects of climate changes on ecosystems. Long-term watershed and natural elevation gradient studies at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and in the surrounding region show surprising results demonstrating the effects of climate change on hydrologic variables (e.g., evapotranspiration, streamflow, soil moisture); the importance of changes in phenology on water, carbon, and nitrogen fluxes during critical seasonal transition periods; winter climate change effects on plant and animal community composition and ecosystem services; and the effects of anthropogenic disturbances and land-use history on plant community composition. These studies highlight the value of long-term integrated research for assessments of the subtle effects of changing climate on complex ecosystems

Department

Earth Systems Research Center; New Hampshire EPSCoR

Publication Date

12-2012

Journal Title

Bioscience

Publisher

University of California Press

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1525/bio.2012.62.12.7

Document Type

Article

Rights

Published as Groffman, PM, Rustad LE, Templer PH, Campbell JL, Christenson LM, Lany NK, Socci AM, Vadeboncoeur MA, Schaberg PG, Wilson GW. 2012. Long-Term Integrated Studies Show Complex and Surprising Effects of Climate Change in the Northern Hardwood Forest. Bioscience, 62:1056-1066. © 2012 by the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by American Institute of Biological Sciences for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com

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