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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #369117

Research Project: Science and Technologies for the Sustainable Management of Western Rangeland Systems

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Long-Term Ecological Research and Evolving Frameworks of Disturbance Ecology

Author
item GAISER, EVELYN - Florida International University
item BELL, DAVID - Us Forest Service (FS)
item CASTORANI, MAX - University Of Virginia
item CHILDERS, DANIEL - Arizona State University
item GROFFMAN, PETER - City University Of New York
item JACKSON, RHETT - University Of Georgia
item KOMINOSKI, JOHN - Florida International University
item Peters, Debra
item PICKETT, STEWARD - Cary Institute Of Ecosystem Studies
item RIPPLINGER, JULIE - University Of California
item ZINNERT, JULIE - Virginia Commonwealth University

Submitted to: Bioscience
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/13/2019
Publication Date: 2/1/2020
Citation: Gaiser, E.E., Bell, D.M., Castorani, M.C., Childers, D.L., Groffman, P.M., Jackson, R., Kominoski, J.S., Peters, D.C., Pickett, S.T., Ripplinger, J., Zinnert, J.C. 2020. Long-Term Ecological Research and Evolving Frameworks of Disturbance Ecology. Bioscience. 70(2):141-156. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz162.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz162

Interpretive Summary: Disturbance is recognized as a critical driver of ecological dynamics, yet several challenges remain including: (1) the need for a flexible framework that incorporates feedbacks between social and ecological systems, (2) the ability to predict whether a disturbance will reduce or enhance vulnerability to other agents of environmental change, and (3) the incorporation of changes in system sensitivity to disturbance in the face of global changes in environmental drivers. Here, we review how discoveries from long-term research have changed theoretical paradigms in disturbance ecology, and we refine a framework for describing social-ecological disturbance that addresses these three challenges. By operationalizing this framework using discoveries from seven long-term ecological research sites spanning distinct biomes, we show how disturbance can maintain or alter ecosystem state, drive spatial patterns at landscape scales, alter the nature of social- ecological interactions, and cause divergent outcomes under environmental change.

Technical Abstract: Detecting and understanding disturbance is a challenge in ecology that has grown more critical with global environmental change and the emergence of research on social–ecological systems. We identify three areas of research need: developing a flexible framework that incorporates feedback loops between social and ecological systems, anticipating whether a disturbance will change vulnerability to other environmental drivers, and incorporating changes in system sensitivity to disturbance in the face of global changes in environmental drivers. In the present article, we review how discoveries from the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network have influenced theoretical paradigms in disturbance ecology, and we refine a framework for describing social–ecological disturbance that addresses these three challenges. By operationalizing this framework for seven LTER sites spanning distinct biomes, we show how disturbance can maintain or alter ecosystem state, drive spatial patterns at landscape scales, influence social–ecological interactions, and cause divergent outcomes depending on other environmental changes.