Note: Intro -- CONTENTS -- 1 Global Ecology, Networks, and Research Synthesis -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Carbon and Water Cycles in the 21 st Century -- 1.3 Changing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning -- 1.4 Landscapes under Changing Disturbance Regimes -- 1.5 Managing Ecosystem Services -- 1.6 Regions under Stress -- 1.7 The Way Forward -- References -- Part A Carbon and Water Cycles in the 21 st Century -- 2 CO 2 Fertilization: When, Where, How Much? -- 2.1 Carbon a Limiting Plant Resource? -- 2.2 Long-Term Biomass Responses and Carbon Pools -- 2.2.1 Time Matters -- 2.2.2 Nutrients and Water Determine Biomass Responses at Elevated CO 2 -- 2.2.3 Scaling from Growth to Carbon Pools -- 2.3 Carbon to Nutrient Ratios and Consumer Responses -- 2.3.1 The C to N Ratio Widens -- 2.3.2 Consequences for Herbivory, Decomposition and Plant Nutrition -- 2.4 Plant Water Relations and Hydrological Implications -- 2.5 Stress Resistance under Elevated CO 2 -- 2.6 Biodiversity Effects May Outweigh Physiology Effects -- 2.6.1 Hydrology Implications of Elevated CO 2 Depend on Species Abundance -- 2.6.2 Biodiversity Effects on Forest Carbon Stocking and Grassland Responses -- 2.7 Summary and Conclusions -- References -- 3 Ecosystem Responses to Warming and Interacting Global Change Factors -- 3.1 The Multiple Factor Imperative in Global Change Research -- 3.2 Ecosystem Responses to Experimental Warming -- 3.2.1 The GCTE-NEWS Synthesis -- 3.2.2 The ITEX Synthesis -- 3.2.3 The Harvard Forest Soil Warming Experiment -- 3.3 Temperature and CO 2 Interactions in Trees: the TACIT Experiment -- 3.3.1 Experimental Design -- 3.3.2 Growth Responses -- 3.3.3 Higher-Order Responses -- 3.3.4 TACIT Summary -- 3.4 More Than Two Factors: the Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment -- 3.4.1 Experimental Design -- 3.4.2 Net Primary Productivity -- 3.4.3 Community Composition. , 3.4.4 JRGCE Summary -- 3.5 Modeling Temperature, CO 2 and N Interactions in Trees and Grass -- 3.5.1 Global Change Simulations for a California Annual Grassland -- 3.5.2 Comparing Forest and Grassland with G'DAY -- 3.6 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 4 Insights from Stable Isotopes on the Role of Terrestrial Ecosystems in the Global Carbon Cycle -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Ecosystem Carbon Cycles -- 4.3 The Global Carbon Cycle -- 4.4 Future Directions -- Acknowledgments -- In Memoriam -- References -- 5 Effects of Urban Land-Use Change on Biogeochemical Cycles -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Urban Land-Use Change -- 5.3 Urban Environmental Factors -- 5.3.1 Climate and Atmospheric Composition -- 5.3.2 Atmospheric and Soil Pollution -- 5.3.3 Introductions of Exotic Species -- 5.4 Disturbance and Management Effects -- 5.4.1 Lawn and Horticultural Management -- 5.4.2 Management Effort -- 5.5 Effects of Built Environment -- 5.6 Assessing Biogeochemical Effects - the Importance of Scale -- 5.7 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 6 Saturation of the Terrestrial Carbon Sink -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Location of the Current Terrestrial Carbon Sinks -- 6.3 Dynamics of Processes that Contribute to Carbon Sink Saturation -- 6.4 Processes Contributing to Terrestrial Carbon Sink Saturation -- 6.4.1 Processes Driven by Atmospheric Composition Change -- 6.4.2 Processes Driven by Climate Change -- 6.4.3 Processes Driven by Land-Use Change and Land Management -- 6.5 Integration and Model Predictions -- 6.6 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Part B Changing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning -- 7 Functional Diversity - at the Crossroads between Ecosystem Functioning and Environmental Filters -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Environmental Filters Affect FD -- 7.3 FD effects on Global Change Drivers. , 7.3.1 The Traits of the Dominants -- 7.3.2 The Role of Interactions -- 7.4 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 8 Linking Plant Invasions to Global Environmental Change -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Plant Invasions and Elevated CO 2 -- 8.3 Plant Invasions and Climatic Change -- 8.4 Plant Invasions and Land Eutrophication -- 8.5 Plant Invasions and Changes in Land Use/Cover -- 8.6 Multiple Interactions -- 8.7 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 9 Plant Biodiversity and Responses to Elevated Carbon Dioxide -- 9.1 Ten Years of GCTE Research: Apprehending Complexity -- 9.1.1 Effects of CO 2 on Plant Diversity Through Alterations of the Physical Environment -- 9.2 Temporal Variation and Response to Elevated CO 2 -- 9.2.1 Reproductive and Evolutionary Aspects of the Response to Elevated CO 2 -- 9.2.2 Communities at Equilibrium Versus Dynamic Systems -- 9.3 Biodiversity Loss and Response to Elevated CO 2 -- 9.3.1 Species Diversity and Response to Elevated CO 2 -- 9.3.2 Ecosystem C Fluxes in a Species-Poor World -- 9.4 Summary and Conclusions -- References -- 10 Predicting the Ecosystem Consequences of Biodiversity Loss: the Biomerge Framework -- 10.1 Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning: a Synthesis -- 10.1.1 Why Biodiversity Matters to Global Change Ecology -- 10.1.2 Linking Change in Biodiversity with Change in Ecosystem Functioning -- 10.1.3 Lessons Learned from Early Debates -- 10.1.4 What We Have Learned about the Relationship between Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function -- 10.1.5 The Scientific Framework for Linking Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning -- 10.2 The BioMERGE Framework -- 10.2.1 The BioMERGE Structural Sub-Framework -- 10.2.2 The BioMERGE BEF Sub-Framework: an Expansion of the Vitousek-Hooper Framework -- 10.2.3 The BioMERGE Research Implementation Sub-Framework. , 10.3 Discussion: Towards a Large Scale BEF -- Acknowledgments -- References -- Part C Landscapes under Changing Disturbance Regimes -- 11 Plant Species Migration as a Key Uncertainty in Predicting Future Impacts of Climate Change on Ecosystems: Progress and Challenges -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Will Migration Be Necessary for Species Persistence? -- 11.2.1 Vegetation-Type Models -- 11.2.2 Species-Based Models -- 11.3 Measurements and Models of Migration Rates -- 11.4 Linking Migration and Niche Based Models -- 11.5 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 12 Understanding Global Fire Dynamics by Classifying and Comparing Spatial Models of Vegetation and Fire -- 12.1 Introduction -- 12.2 Background -- 12.3 Model Classification -- 12.4 Model Comparison -- 12.4.1 The Models -- 12.4.2 The Comparison Design -- 12.5 Results and Discussion -- 12.5.1 Model Classification -- 12.5.2 Model Comparison -- 12.6 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 13 Plant Functional Types: Are We Getting Any Closer to the Holy Grail? -- 13.1 In Search of the Holy Grail -- 13.2 Individual Plant Structure and Function -- 13.3 Traits and Environmental Gradients -- 13.3.1 Plant Functional Response to Mineral Resource Availability -- 13.3.2 Plant Functional Response to Disturbance -- 13.3.3 Projecting Changes in Plant Functional Traits in Response to Global Change -- 13.4 Scaling from Individual Plants to Communities: from Response Traits to Community Assembly -- 13.5 Scaling from Communities to Ecosystems: from Response Traits to Effect Traits -- 13.6 So, Are We Getting Closer to the Holy Grail? Scaling beyond Ecosystems -- 13.6.1 Plant Functional Traits and Landscape Dynamics -- 13.6.2 Regional to Global Models - Revisiting the Early Functional Classifications -- 13.6.3 Validation: the Contribution of Paleo-Data. , 13.7 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 14 Spatial Nonlinearities: Cascading Effects in the Earth System -- 14.1 Introduction -- 14.2 Conceptual Framework -- 14.3 Insights to Global Change Issues -- 14.3.1 Historical Example: the Dust Bowl of the 1930s -- 14.3.2 Wildfire -- 14.3.3 Invasive Species and Desertification -- 14.4 Forecasting Spatial Nonlinearities and Catastrophic Events -- 14.5 Summary and Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 15 Dynamic Global Vegetation Modeling: Quantifying Terrestrial Ecosystem Responses to Large-Scale Environmental Change -- 15.1 Introduction -- 15.2 Historical Antecedents and Development of DGVMs -- 15.2.1 Plant Geography -- 15.2.2 Plant Physiology and Biogeochemistry -- 15.2.3 Vegetation Dynamics -- 15.2.4 Biophysics -- 15.2.5 Human Intervention -- 15.3 Principles and Construction of DGVMs -- 15.3.1 Model Architecture -- 15.3.2 Net Primary Production -- 15.3.3 Plant Growth and Vegetation Dynamics -- 15.3.4 Hydrology -- 15.3.5 Soil Organic Matter Transformations -- 15.3.6 Nitrogen (N) Cycling -- 15.3.7 Disturbance -- 15.4 Evaluating DGVMS -- 15.4.1 Net Primary Production -- 15.4.2 Remotely Sensed "Greenness" and Vegetation Composition -- 15.4.3 Atmospheric CO 2 Concentration -- 15.4.4 Runoff -- 15.4.5 CO 2 and Water Flux Measurements -- 15.5 Examples of Applications of DGVMS -- 15.5.1 Holocene Changes in Atmospheric CO 2 -- 15.5.2 Boreal "Greening" and the Contemporary Carbon Balance -- 15.5.3 The Pinatubo Effect -- 15.5.4 Future Carbon Balance Projections -- 15.5.5 Carbon-Cycle Feedbacks to Future Climate Change -- 15.5.6 Effects of Land-Use Change on the Carbon Cycle -- 15.6 Some Perspectives and Research Needs -- 15.6.1 Comparison with Field Experiments -- 15.6.2 Plant Functional Types -- 15.6.3 The Nitrogen Cycle -- 15.6.4 Plant Dispersal and Migration -- 15.6.5 Wetlands. , 15.6.6 Multiple Nutrient Limitations.