title: A plant's perspective of extremes: terrestrial plant responses to changing climatic variability.
abstract: We review observational, experimental, and model results on how plants respond to extreme climatic conditions induced by changing climatic variability. Distinguishing between impacts of changing mean climatic conditions and changing climatic variability on terrestrial ecosystems is generally underrated in current studies. The goals of our review are thus (1) to identify plant processes that are vulnerable to changes in the variability of climatic variables rather than to changes in their mean, and (2) to depict/evaluate available study designs to quantify responses of plants to changing climatic variability. We find that phenology is largely affected by changing mean climate but also that impacts of climatic variability are much less studied, although potentially damaging. We note that plant water relations seem to be very vulnerable to extremes driven by changes in temperature and precipitation and that heat-waves and flooding have stronger impacts on physiological processes than changing mean climate. Moreover, interacting phenological and physiological processes are likely to further complicate plant responses to changing climatic variability. Phenological and physiological processes and their interactions culminate in even more sophisticated responses to changing mean climate and climatic variability at the species and community level. Generally, observational studies are well suited to study plant responses to changing mean climate, but less suitable to gain a mechanistic understanding of plant responses to climatic variability. Experiments seem best suited to simulate extreme events. In models, temporal resolution and model structure are crucial to capture plant responses to changing climatic variability. We highlight that a combination of experimental, observational, and/or modeling studies have the potential to overcome important caveats of the respective individual approaches.
authors.affiliation: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Telegrafenberg, PO Box 601203, Potsdam, 14412, Germany. reyer@pik-potsdam.de
authors.forename: Christopher P O
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Reyer
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Leuzinger
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rammig
authors.forename: Annett
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Ruud P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Bartholomeus
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonfante
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: de Lorenzi
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dury
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gloning
authors.forename: Renée
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abou Jaoudé
authors.forename: Tamir
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kuster
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martins
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Niedrist
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riccardi
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wohlfahrt
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Angelis
authors.forename: Giovanbattista
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: de Dato
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: François
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menzel
authors.forename: Marízia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pereira
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D002980:Climate; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena