Disturbance theory for ecosystem ecologists: A primer.

ABSTRACT: Understanding what regulates ecosystem functional responses to disturbance is essential in this era of global change. However, many pioneering and still influential disturbance-related theorie proposed by ecosystem ecologists were developed prior to rapid global change, and before tools and metrics were available to test them. In light of new knowledge and conceptual advances across biological disciplines, we present four disturbance ecology concepts that are particularly relevant to ecosystem ecologists new to the field: (a) the directionality of ecosystem functional response to disturbance; (b) functional thresholds; (c) disturbance-succession interactions; and (d) diversity-functional stability relationships. We discuss how knowledge, theory, and terminology developed by several biologi

SUBMITTER: Gough CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11139967 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature