title: Advancing the long view of ecological change in tundra systems. Introduction.
abstract: Despite uncertainties related to sustained funding, ideological rivalries and the turnover of research personnel, long-term studies and studies espousing a long-term perspective in ecology have a history of contributing landmark insights into fundamental topics, such as population- and community dynamics, species interactions and ecosystem function. They also have the potential to reveal surprises related to unforeseen events and non-stationary dynamics that unfold over the course of ongoing observation and experimentation. The unprecedented rate and magnitude of current and expected abiotic changes in tundra environments calls for a synthetic overview of the scope of ecological responses these changes have elicited. In this special issue, we present a series of contributions that advance the long view of ecological change in tundra systems, either through sustained long-term research, or through retrospective or prospective modelling. Beyond highlighting the value of long-term research in tundra systems, the insights derived herein should also find application to the study of ecological responses to environmental change in other biomes as well.
authors.affiliation: The Polar Center, and Department of Biology, Penn State University, 208 Mueller Lab, University Park, PA 16802, USA. esp10@psu.edu
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Post
authors.forename: Toke T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Høye
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D010944:Plants; D011157:Population Dynamics; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Arctic; climate change; long-term studies; tundra biome; warming