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1. Nutrient addition drives declines in grassland species richness primarily via enhanced species loss

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14038  

   Muehleisen, Andrew J.; Watkins, Carmen R.; Altmire, Gabriella R.; Shaw, E. Ashley; Case, Madelon F.; Aoyama, Lina; Brambila, Alejandro; Reed, Paul B.; LaForgia, Marina; Borer, Elizabeth T.; et al (March 2023, Journal of Ecology)
2. Experimental warming drives local grassland plant species loss

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70172  

   Anderson, Maggie; Isbell, Forest (November 2025, Journal of Ecology)

   Abstract Climate change poses a growing threat to many ecosystems, including grasslands, which are a current priority for conservation due to their vulnerability to interacting threats from human activity.North American grasslands are expected to experience warmer temperatures and more frequent and severe droughts in the coming decades, with potential consequences for native biodiversity.We conducted an experiment at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, Minnesota, USA, to investigate how warming and drought treatments affected grassland plant community structure over 6 years in plots planted with species mixtures.Warming consistently reduced plant species richness with its effects on Shannon diversity (which additionally considers species' relative abundances) and dominance varying across years. These warming‐by‐year interactions were likely driven by temporal variability in environmental conditions and species‐specific responses. Notably, legumes consistently showed positive responses to warming.Drought alone had minimal direct effects on species richness and diversity but reduced variability in diversity responses over time, suggesting greater stability of diversity under drought conditions.Synthesis. This study underscores the important role of warming in reducing species richness, altering diversity and reshaping functional group composition in grassland ecosystems. While temporal variability influenced the magnitude of warming effects on diversity, legumes' positive responses highlight the importance of functional group dynamics in potentially buffering against species loss. Long‐term experiments that allow consideration of interannual variability are essential for improving predictions of ecosystem responses and informing adaptive management strategies aimed at sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in grasslands. 

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3. Species loss due to nutrient addition increases with spatial scale in global grasslands

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13838  

   Seabloom, Eric W.; Batzer, Evan; Chase, Jonathan M.; Stanley Harpole, W.; Adler, Peter B.; Bagchi, Sumanta; Bakker, Jonathan D.; Barrio, Isabel C.; Biederman, Lori; Boughton, Elizabeth H.; et al (October 2021, Ecology Letters)

   Haddad, Nick (Ed.)
4. Loss of foundation species: disturbance frequency outweighs severity in structuring kelp forest communities

   https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2485  

   Castorani, Max C.; Reed, Daniel C.; Miller, Robert J. (October 2018, Ecology)
5. Incorporating plant phenological responses into species distribution models reduces estimates of future species loss and turnover

   https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.19698  

   Peng, Shijia; Ramirez‐Parada, Tadeo H; Mazer, Susan J; Record, Sydne; Park, Isaac; Ellison, Aaron M; Davis, Charles C (June 2024, New Phytologist)

   Summary Anthropogenetic climate change has caused range shifts among many species. Species distribution models (SDMs) are used to predict how species ranges may change in the future. However, most SDMs rarely consider how climate‐sensitive traits, such as phenology, which affect individuals' demography and fitness, may influence species' ranges.Using > 120 000 herbarium specimens representing 360 plant species distributed across the eastern United States, we developed a novel ‘phenology‐informed’ SDM that integrates phenological responses to changing climates. We compared the ranges of each species forecast by the phenology‐informed SDM with those from conventional SDMs. We further validated the modeling approach using hindcasting.When examining the range changes of all species, our phenology‐informed SDMs forecast less species loss and turnover under climate change than conventional SDMs. These results suggest that dynamic phenological responses of species may help them adjust their ecological niches and persist in their habitats as the climate changes.Plant phenology can modulate species' responses to climate change, mitigating its negative effects on species persistence. Further application of our framework will contribute to a generalized understanding of how traits affect species distributions along environmental gradients and facilitate the use of trait‐based SDMs across spatial and taxonomic scales. 

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