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Using functional indicators to detect state changes in terrestrial ecosystems.

Zhongmin Hu¹, Vasilis Dakos², Max Rietkerk³

¹Key Laboratory of Agro-Forestry Environmental Processes and Ecological Regulation of Hainan Province, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China; Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Guangdong 519082, China.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

|August 25, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

New indicators using ecosystem function and state variables can predict ecosystem changes. These functional indicators offer ecological insights to improve ecosystem models and address global change impacts.

Keywords:

ecosystem functions ecosystem model ecosystem state change global change tipping point

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Environmental Science
Data Science

Background:

Global change degrades ecosystem services, necessitating predictive indicators for ecosystem state change.
Emerging 'big data' from new technologies offer unprecedented ecosystem monitoring capabilities.
Current methods lack clarity on utilizing large datasets for anticipating ecosystem shifts.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose novel indicators for predicting future ecosystem state changes.
To leverage both functional (flow) and state (pool) variables for indicator development.
To enhance the ecological interpretability of predictive signals.

Main Methods:

Developing indicators based on ecosystem functional variables (e.g., nutrient cycling rates).
Developing indicators based on ecosystem state variables (e.g., biomass, species composition).
Integrating functional and state variables to create predictive metrics.

Main Results:

Identified specific indicators derived from functional and state variables.
Demonstrated the potential of these indicators to signal impending ecosystem state changes.
Highlighted the explicit ecological meaning of functional indicators.

Conclusions:

Proposed indicators based on functional and state variables can predict ecosystem state changes.
Functional indicators provide mechanistic understanding of ecosystem dynamics.
These indicators can improve the accuracy and interpretability of ecosystem models.