Reconstructing Disturbances and Their Biogeochemical Consequences over Multiple Timescales

Ongoing changes in disturbance regimes are predicted to cause acute changes in ecosystem structure and function in coming decades, but many aspects of these predictions are uncertain.A key challenge is to improve the predictability of post-disturbance biogeochemical trajectories at the ecosystem level.Both ecosystem ecologists and paleoecologists have generated complementary datasets about disturbance (type, severity, frequency) and ecosystem response (net primary productivity, nutrient cycling) spanning decadal to multi-millennial timescales.Here, we take the first steps toward a full integration of these datasets by: (1) reviewing how disturbances are reconstructed using dendrochronological and sedimentary archives, and (2) summarizing the conceptual frameworks for carbon, nitrogen, and hydrologic responses to disturbances.Key research priorities include further development of paleoecological techniques that reconstruct both disturbances and terrestrial ecosystem dynamics.Additionally, mechanistic detail from disturbance experiments, long-term observations, and chronosequences can help to increase the temporal understanding of ecosystem resilience.