Douglas Sheil, Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, discusses his article: Stability of monodominant and mixed tropical forests: Implications from a biomass-based competition model I first encountered monodominant tropical forests, where one tree species makes up over half the canopy, during my doctorate research in Uganda, where I used long-term plot data to explore…
Marcelo Sternberg, Tel Aviv University, discusses his article: Rainfall memory and spring atmospheric demand predict herbaceous biomass production in Mediterranean ecosystems When the same amount of rain does not produce the same amount of plants In Mediterranean ecosystems, rainfall seems like the obvious place to look when trying to understand plant production. More rain should…
Melisa A. Giorgis, Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal, discusses her article: Post-fire trajectories reveal a legacy effect and decoupled structural and floristic responses in a seasonally dry subtropical mountain region, in both English and Spanish. A complex debate Many areas of the world with open vegetation are at the center of extensive debates in scientific,…
Lindsay Trottier, McGill University in Canada, discusses her article: Extending the leaf economics spectrum: Freshwater plant communities exhibit realm-specific leaf adaptations If I asked you to think of a plant, what image comes to mind? A rose? A pine tree? Maybe a grass? If you’re like the majority of people, odds are you didn’t imagine…
Elinor Fajer, Harvard University, and Peter Pellitier, University of Utah, discuss their article: Ectomycorrhizal communities underlie trade-offs between greater long-term tree growth and reduced soil carbon concentrations in boreal forests Boreal forests are one of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on Earth. Belowground, the soils store massive amounts of carbon-rich organic matter, and aboveground, long-living trees…
Manqiang Liu, Lanzhou University, discusses their article: Elevated CO2 amplifies contrasting cultivar-specific plant‒soil feedbacks mediated by soil biota Elevated CO2 concentration (eCO2) can promote plant biomass production, with these effects cascading to soil biota and, in turn, feeding back to plant performance. However, crop cultivars can differ greatly in their responses to eCO2. This raises…
Sören Eliot Weber, West Virginia University, discusses his article: Fine-root responses to warming and elevated CO2 vary among plant functional types Roots link plants to soil, shaping the responses of carbon, nutrient, and water cycles to climate change in peatlands. Peatlands in northern Minnesota (USA) have shallow water tables and canopies of black spruce and…
Sarah Le Berre, Institute of Silviculture and Forest Protection (Technical University of Dresden), discusses her article: Identifying future climate refugia in central European mountain forests Mountain forests can seem timeless. Yet their tree communities are continuously changing in response to human pressures, natural disturbances, and shifts in climate. As temperatures rise and disturbance patterns become…
Micha Davidova, Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences, discusses their article: Direct and indirect effects of elevated CO2, warming and drought on plant-consumer interactions of Plantago lanceolata Setting the scene Interactions between plants and their consumers, such as herbivores and pathogens, are among the key factors shaping plant communities. At the same time,…
Pilar Hurtado Aragüés, Global Change Research Institute and Department of Biology (Rey Juan Carlos University, Madrid, Spain), discusses her article: Network modularity analysis reveals strategies for strengthening forest resistance, recovery, and resilience to disturbances Looking beneath the surface Before working on this project, I would probably have answered the question “Can we really make forests…
