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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396795
Research Project: Science and Technologies for the Sustainable Management of Western Rangeland Systems

Location: Range Management Research

Title: Ecological synchrony in human-modified landscapes under changing climate

Author
item SONG, YILUAN - University Of California
item BARNES, MALLORY - Indiana University
item Browning, Dawn
item Bybee-Finley, Kristine
item DAHLIN, KYLA - Michigan State University
item MCDEVITT-GALLES, TRAVIS - Us Geological Survey (USGS)
item MUNCH, STEPHAN - National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
item PONCE-CAMPOS, GUILLERMO - University Of Arizona
item YOUNGFLESH, CASEY - University Of California
item ZUCKERBERG, BENJAMIN - University Of Wisconsin
item ZHU, KAI - University Of California

Submitted to: Ecological Monographs
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2024
Publication Date: 11/11/2024
Citation: Song, Y., Barnes, M., Browning, D.M., Bybee-Finley, K.A., Dahlin, K.M., Mcdevitt-Galles, T., Munch, S.B., Ponce-Campos, G.E., Youngflesh, C., Zuckerberg, B., Zhu, K. 2024. Ecological synchrony in human-modified landscapes under changing climate. Ecological Monographs. PrePrint. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.09.621137.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.11.09.621137

Interpretive Summary: Climate change and direct human interventions, such as crop irrigation, have altered patterns of productivity and soils in ecological systems over time and spatial extent.The objective of this research is to share a generalizable framework that promotes shared understanding of patterns across dimensions of space and time and examine the role of human activities on each. We use four case studies across a range of scales and biomes to describe the change of patterns in more and less human-dominated ecological systems. This framework is helpful for scientists and policymakers as it creates an approach to describe pattern alterations that can allow for greater synthesis and understanding across the literature and diverse partner groups.

Technical Abstract: Different aspects of ecological systems, biotic or abiotic, often fluctuate in coordinated patterns over space and time. Such high concordance between ecological processes is often referred to as ecological synchrony. Anthropogenic activities, including and beyond climate change, have the potential to alter ecological synchrony by disrupting or enhancing existing synchrony. Despite many local studies, we have a limited systematic understanding of how ecological synchrony is shaped by management in human-dominated landscapes at regional to continental scales. From a macrosystems perspective, we review how anthropogenic activities, particularly beyond climate change, alter ecological synchrony across levels of ecological organization, from the ecosystem level to the population level. For each level, we use a large-scale case study to demonstrate ways to quantify the impacts of human modifications on synchrony using big data from remote sensing, surveys, and observatory networks. For example, we detected possible homogenization of population dynamics of bird species in North America. These changes in ecological synchrony, although in different forms, often represent challenges to ecological and social systems. Collaborative research efforts that integrate emerging open data streams moving forward will be able to provide insights into the effects of different anthropogenic drivers and the consequences of changes in synchrony.