NCEAS Project 9620

Coexistence in a changing environment: Evaluating the role of climatic variability in semiarid plant communities

  • Adler, Peter

ActivityDatesFurther Information
Postdoctoral Fellowship1st September 2005—30th June 2006Participant List  

Abstract
Understanding how climatic variability influences the coexistence of species is critical to forecasting how climate change will affect local species diversity, especially given predicted increases in variability in many regions. The importance of variability is demonstrated by a well-developed body of ecological theory that shows how temporal fluctuations can benefit, harm, or have no effect on coexistence. My proposed research evaluates the influence of climatic variability on species diversity in widespread vegetation types of the central and western U.S. by linking unique long-term, spatially explicit datasets to theory using statistical and simulation models. The results will represent a first step towards predicting the effects of climate change on these plant communities.

TypeProducts of NCEAS Research
PublicationAdler, Peter B.; Hille Ris Lambers, Janneke ; Kyriakidis, Phaedon ; Guan, Qingfeng ; Levine, Jonathan M.2006. Climate variability has a stabilizing effect on the coexistence of prairie grasses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol: 103(34). Pages 12793-12798.
PublicationAdler, Peter B.; Hille Ris Lambers, Janneke ; Levine, Jonathan M.2007. A niche for neutrality. Ecology Letters. Vol: 10. Pages 95-104.
PublicationAdler, Peter B.; Levine, Jonathan M.2007. Contrasting relationships between precipitation and species richness in space and time. Oikos. Vol: 116. Pages 221-232.
Data setLauenroth, William ; Adler, Peter B.2007. Mapped plant community time series, Hays, KS, 1932-1972. (Abstract) (Online version)
ProposalAdler, Peter B.Coexistence in a changing environment. NSF.
ProposalAdler, Peter B.Demographic inertia: Persistence of plant populations under climate change. NSF.