ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4208-6653
Current Organisation
Princeton University
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Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-11-2022
Abstract: Understanding the traits mediating species' responses to climate change is a cornerstone for predicting future community composition and ecosystem function. Although species' eco‐physiological properties determine their response to environmental change, most trait‐based studies focus on a small subset of easily measured morphological traits as proxies for physiology. This choice may limit our ability to predict the impacts of climate change on species' demography, and obscure the underlying mechanisms. We conducted a transplantation experiment along a 1000‐m elevation gradient in the Alps to quantify the degree to which changes in plant abundance due to climate warming were predicted by eco‐physiological performance versus common morphological traits. Physiological measurements revealed that warming favoured species with a conservative leaf‐level water use strategy whereas species whose leaf‐level water use was more ‘wasteful’ were more likely to suffer from the warmer and drier climate. Nevertheless, the predictive power of physiological traits did not exceed that of morphological traits. Our results, therefore, show that while easily measured morphological traits can successfully predict plant abundance responses to climate, eco‐physiological approaches are needed to understand the underlying mechanism. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-05-2017
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 22-07-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.07.21.453211
Abstract: Climate warming is releasing carbon from soils around the world 1–3 , constituting a positive climate feedback. Warming is also causing species to expand their ranges into new ecosystems 4–9 . Yet, in most ecosystems, whether range expanding species will lify or buffer expected soil carbon loss is unknown 10 . Here we used two whole-community transplant experiments and a follow-up glasshouse experiment to determine whether the establishment of herbaceous lowland plants in alpine ecosystems influences soil carbon content under warming. We found that warming (transplantation to low elevation) led to a negligible decrease in alpine soil carbon content, but its effects became significant and 52% ± 31% (mean ± 95% CIs) larger after lowland plants were introduced at low density into the ecosystem. We present evidence that decreases in soil carbon content likely occurred via lowland plants increasing rates of root exudation, soil microbial respiration and CO 2 release under warming. Our findings suggest that warming-induced range expansions of herbaceous plants have the potential to alter climate feedbacks from this system, and that plant range expansions among herbaceous communities may be an overlooked mediator of warming effects on carbon dynamics.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 20-10-2016
DOI: 10.3390/RS8100865
Publisher: Botanical Sciences, Sociedad Botanica de Mexico, AC
Date: 25-08-2015
DOI: 10.17129/BOTSCI.150
Abstract: Quercus (oak) is among the most speciose and widespread genera occurring in Mexico paradoxically, the ecological knowledge about Mexican oak forests is meager. Here we describe the floristic composition, ersity, and structure of the terrestrial component of the oak forests of the El Tepozteco National Park (TNP), Central Mexico, and relate their floristic and structural heterogeneity to the geomorphological complexity of the park. We randomly distributed sixty 100-m2 plots among six geomorphological units: the lava fields of the Chichinautzin, Suchiooc, Otates (upper and lower) and Oclayuca volcanoes, and the El Tepozteco Range. Vegetation structure and ersity were described by geomorphological unit and for the oak forest as a whole for canopy (DBH ? 2.5 cm) and understory plants. We report 324 vascular plant species recorded in the plots, plus 17 species collected outside the plots (a total of 341 species, 208 genera and 88 families). The family with more species was Asteraceae (57) and the most speciose genus was Salvia (0). Geomorphological units differed in mean species richness per plot (2.0-33.5 species), absolute richness (60-149 species), and species’ structural contributions. Structural differences were also observed, but they were not always significant. Quercus rugosa was dominant in Chichinautzin, Suchiooc, and upper Otates Styrax ramirezii in lower Otates and Oclayuca, and Quercus castanea and Q. obtusata shared dominance in El Tepozteco Range (the unit with the largest overall richness and oak species ersity). The structure and composition of TNP oak forests are highly variable, apparently due to the region’s complex geological past. This heterogeneity should guide the conservation and restoration of these forests.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-08-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.14087
Abstract: Forecasting the trajectories of species assemblages in response to ongoing climate change requires quantifying the time lags in the demographic and ecological processes through which climate impacts species' abundances. Since experimental climate manipulations are typically abrupt, the observed species responses may not match their responses to gradual climate change. We addressed this problem by transplanting alpine grassland turfs to lower elevations, recording species' demographic responses to climate and competition, and using these data to parameterise community dynamics models forced by scenarios of gradual climate change. We found that shifts in community structure following an abrupt climate manipulation were not simply accelerated versions of shifts expected under gradual warming, as the former missed the transient rise of species benefiting from moderate warming. Time lags in demography and species interactions controlled the pace and trajectory of changing species' abundances under simulated 21st-century climate change, and thereby prevented immediate ersity loss.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-10-2020
DOI: 10.1111/OIK.06667
Abstract: Phenological shifts, changes in the seasonal timing of life cycle events, are among the best documented responses of species to climate change. However, the consequences of these phenological shifts for population dynamics remain unclear. Population growth could be enhanced if species that advance their phenology benefit from longer growing seasons and gain a pre‐emptive advantage in resource competition. However, it might also be reduced if phenological advances increase exposure to stresses, such as herbivores and, in colder climates, harsh abiotic conditions early in the growing season. We exposed subalpine grasslands to ~3 K of warming by transplanting intact turfs from 2000 m to 1400 m elevation in the eastern Swiss Alps, with turfs transplanted within the 2000 m site acting as a control. In the first growing season after transplantation, we recorded species’ flowering phenology at both elevations. We also measured species’ cover change for three consecutive years as a measure of plant performance. We used models to estimate species’ phenological plasticity (the response of flowering time to the change in climate) and analysed its relationship with cover changes following climate change. The phenological plasticity of the 18 species in our study varied widely but was unrelated to their changes in cover. Moreover, early‐ and late‐flowering species did not differ in their cover response to warming, nor in the relationship between cover changes and phenological plasticity. These results were replicated in a similar transplant experiment within the same subalpine community, established one year earlier and using larger turfs. We discuss the various ecological processes that can be affected by phenological shifts, and argue why the population‐level consequences of these shifts are likely to be species‐ and context‐specific. Our results highlight the importance of testing assumptions about how warming‐induced changes in phenotypic traits, like phenology, impact population dynamics.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-03-2016
Location: Switzerland
No related grants have been discovered for Sebastian Block.