Rapid plant trait evolution can alter coastal wetland resilience to sea level rise.

Rapid evolution remains a largely unrecognized factor in models that forecast the fate of ecosystems under scenarios of global change. In this work, we quantified the roles of heritable variation in plant traits and of trait evolution in explaining variability in forecasts of the state of coastal wetland ecosystems. A common garden study of genotypes of the dominant sedge Schoenoplectus americanus, "resurrected" from time-stratified seed banks, revealed that heritable variation and evolution explained key ecosystem attributes such as the allocation and distribution of belowground biomass. Incorporating heritable trait variation and evolution into an ecosystem model altered predictions of carbon accumulation and soil surface accretion (a determinant of marsh resilience to sea level rise), demonstrating the importance of accounting for evolutionary processes when forecasting ecosystem dynamics.

Ecological and conservation insights from reconstructive studies of temperate old-growth forests.

Reconstructive studies that use paleoecological, dendroecological, historical and other approaches in order to interpret long-term ecosystem dynamics are increasingly generating valuable insights for ecologists, conservationists and foresters who are interested in the ecology, protection and management of old-growth forests. In most cases, the historical context provided by these studies reveals a long-term pattern of change that challenges assumptions about the pristine condition of these systems. Ironically, it is the history of environmental fluctuations, natural disturbance processes, and subtle, often indirect, human impacts that is revealed by reconstructive work that may shape the characteristic structure, composition and ecosystem processes of old-growth forests, and that will certainly provide the greatest challenge to their future conservation and management.