My role: Collaborator
PIs: Several, depending on network or study
Funding: Multiple sources, depending on network or synthesis initiative

Keywords: Biomes; Collaborative efforts; Decomposition; CH₄ and CO₂ fluxes (GEP, ER, NEE); Global syntheses; Herbivory Network; International Tundra Experiment (ITEX) Network; Meta-analysis; Microclimate in Ecology and Biogeography (MEB) Network; Nutrient Network (NutNet); Micro-environment; Open-top chambers (OTCs); Plant community composition; Plant functional traits; Plant functional types (PFTs); Reviews; Summer warming; Tea Bag Index (TBI) Network; Trait Diversity Network (TraitDivNet); Tundra biome

Overview

Understanding how ecosystems respond to global environmental change requires scaling ecological knowledge from local experiments and observations to continental and biome-wide patterns. This line of research contributes to major international collaborations that integrate experimental and observational datasets from hundreds of sites worldwide. These networks combine environmental, trait, vegetation, and ecosystem data to identify global-scale patterns in functional traits, biodiversity, community composition, and ecosystem processes. Through these coordinated efforts, we aim to advance our understanding of how climate change shapes plant communities and ecosystems from the plot to the global scale.

Approach

This research relies on data synthesis, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews that integrate site-level datasets into harmonized global frameworks. Using open ecological data and collaborative analytical pipelines, these initiatives examine how ecological patterns and processes vary along climatic, environmental, and productivity gradients. Some networks incorporate experimental manipulations, such as passive warming through ITEX-style OTCs, while others rely primarily on short- and long-term observational data. Together, these global collaborations provide a unified perspective that bridges mechanistic local studies with large-scale ecological understanding and prediction under global change.

Selected findings by 2025

Collaborative synthesis efforts have yielded important insights into large-scale ecological patterns and dynamics. Across 56 warming experiments at 28 Arctic and alpine sites, Maes et al. (2024) reported a ~30% increase in summer ecosystem respiration over the past 25 years. Patterns in biodiversity, however, appear more complex: using 42234 records of 490 vascular plant species from 2174 Arctic plots, García-Criado et al. (2025) found no directional change in species richness from 1981-2022, although widespread turnover occurred. Species gains and losses were greatest where warming was strongest, and shrub expansion, particularly of erect shrubs, was linked to local species losses, highlighting the ecological implications of Arctic shrubification.

Using thousands of standardized tea bag incubations, Sarneel et al. (2024) showed that global moisture and temperature variation decouple early-stage litter decomposition rates from stabilization, while Schwieger et al. (2025) demonstrated that substantial warming is needed to accelerate decomposition in field conditions.

Finally, Barbero-Palacio et al. (2024) highlighted the pivotal role of herbivore diversity in structuring plant communities and ecosystem functioning, underscoring the importance of understanding how functional differences among herbivores regulate ecosystems as a key research priority for the future (Barrio et al., 2025).