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Grasslands are the most extensive terrestrial biome on Earth and are critically important for forage, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Grasslands and Climate Change brings together an international team of researchers to review scientific knowledge of the effects of climate change on world grasslands, a process we are only just starting to understand. Part One assesses how climate change will impact on the distribution of grasslands, as well as production, biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem services. Part Two considers the consequences for the spread of invasive species, demographic change, trophic-level relationships, soil biota, and evolutionary change within grassland biodiversity. Part Three proposes how ecologists can respond to climate change effects, focusing on grazing systems, cultural ecology, range management, and restoration. The concluding chapter sets grasslands in the context of the Anthropocene era and identifies the vital research and conservation needs for grassland ecosystems to remain environmentally sustainable under climate change.
Introduction:
1. Grasslands and Climate Change: An Overview David J. Gibson and Jonathan A. Newman
2. Methodology I: Detecting and Projecting Grassland Change from Plots to the Landscape Heather Hager and Jonathan A. Newman
3. Methodology II: Remote Sensing and Modelling Geoffrey Henebry
Part I. Grassland Dynamics and Climate Change:
4. Projected Climate Change in Global Grasslands Mike B. Jones
5. Production Changes in Response to Climate Change Lauchlan Fraser
6. Will Climate Change Push Grasslands Past Tipping Points? Zak Ratajczak and Laura Ladwig
7. Biochemical Cycling in Grasslands under Climate Change Hugh Henry
8. Climate Change Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Services Sandra Lavorel
Part II. Species Traits, Functional Groups, and Evolutionary Change:
9. Grassland Invasion in a Changing Climate Jane A. Catford and Lizzie P. Jones
10. How Global Change Drives Demography in Grasslands Johan Ehlrén
11. Impacts of Climate Change on Trophic Interactions in Grasslands Sue E. Hartley and Colin Beale
12. Grassland belowground Feedbacks and Climate Change Richard D. Bardgett and Marina Semchenko
13. Keeping Up: Climate Driven Evolutionary Change, Dispersal, and Migration Kathryn A. Yurkonis and William Harris
14. The Future Biogeography of C3 and C4 Grasslands Elisabeth J. Forrestel and Erika J. Edwards
Part III. Dealing with climate change effects:
15. Altered Grazing Systems: Pastoralism to Conventional Agriculture Phillip K. Thornton, Mario Herrero and Randall B. Boone
16. Climate Change and the Politics and Science of Traditional Grassland Management Michael R. Dove
17. Assessing Rangeland Health under Climate Variability and Change John Bradford, Mike Duniway and Seth Munson
18. Restoring Grassland in the Context of Climate Change Sara G. Baer, David J. Gibson and Loretta C. Johnson
19. Grasslands in the Anthropocene: Research and Conservation Needs David J. Gibson and Jonathan A. Newman
Index
David J. Gibson FRSB is Distinguished Professor of Plant Biology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA. He is the Executive Editor of Journal of Ecology, the Editor-in-Chief of Oxford Bibliographies in Ecology, and has written two books, Grasses and Grassland Ecology (OUP, 2009) and Methods in Comparative Plant Population Ecology, 2nd Edition (OUP, 2015).
Jonathan A. Newman is Dean of the College of Biological Science, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where he was also the founding Director of the School of Environmental Sciences and Chair of the Department of Environmental Biology. He is the lead author of Climate Change Biology (CABI, 2011) and Defending Biodiversity (CUP, 2017) and has published more than 100 scientific journal articles.
Contributors:
- David J. Gibson
- Jonathan A. Newman
- Heather Hager
- Geoffrey Henebry
- Mike B. Jones
- Lauchlan Fraser
- Zak Ratajczak
- Laura Ladwig
- Hugh Henry
- Sandra Lavorel
- Jane A. Catford
- Lizzie P. Jones
- Johan Ehlrén
- Sue E. Hartley
- Colin Beale
- Richard D. Bardgett
- Marina Semchenko
- Kathryn A. Yurkonis
- William Harris
- Elisabeth J. Forrestel
- Erika J. Edwards
- Phillip K. Thornton
- Mario Herrero
- Randall B. Boone
- John Bradford
- Mike Duniway
- Seth Munson
- Michael R. Dove
- Sara G. Baer
- Loretta C. Johnson
- David J. Gibson
"Grasslands and Climate Change highlights the many uncertainties around changes we will witness. There are unknowns at every level, including how much greenhouse gas will be released, what climatic changes this creates, and how plants animals and humans will respond. None of these factors exist in isolation, and we need many more studies of the interactions between climate variables in order to make accurate predictions [...] This book points out [...] [that] there have been many botched policy decisions for traditional grassland, and these must be understood if climate-related interventions are to succeed."
– Rebecca Nesbit, The Biologist
"Gibson and Newman have done a great job in setting the scene in the introductory chapter, so that even those who are not ecologists or plant specialists can quickly and succinctly grasp the extent of grasslands, their importance especially to human health and wellbeing, and the likely threats from climate change before delving deeper in the following chapters."
– Sarah Brotherton, The Holocene
