Unveiling tipping points in long-term ecological records from Sphagnum-dominated peatlands.

ABSTRACT: Unveiling past tipping points is a prerequisite for a better understanding of how individual species and entire ecosystems will respond to future climate change. Such knowledge is key for the implementation of biodiversity conservation. We identify the relationships between peatland vegetation and hydrological conditions over the past 2000 years using plant macrofossils, testate amoebae-based quantitative hydrological reconstructions and Sphagnum-moss functional traits from seven Polish peatland records. Using threshold indicator taxa analysis, we discovered that plant community composition strongly converged at a water level of ca 11.7 cm, indicating a community-level tipping point. We identified 45 plant taxa that showed either an increase or a decrease in their relative abundance betwee

SUBMITTER: Lamentowicz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6501361 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature