The value of long-term ecological research for evolutionary insights.

Scientists must have an integrative understanding of ecology and evolution across spatial and temporal scales to predict how species will respond to global change. Although comprehensively investigating these processes in nature is challenging, the infrastructure and data from long-term ecological research networks can support cross-disciplinary investigations. We propose using these networks to advance our understanding of fundamental evolutionary processes and responses to global change.

A multidimensional selective landscape drives adaptive divergence between and within closely related Phlox species.

Selection causes local adaptation across populations within species and simultaneously divergence between species. However, it is unclear if either the force of or the response to selection is similar across these scales. We show that natural selection drives divergence between closely related species in a pattern that is distinct from local adaptation within species.

The drivers of intraspecific trait variation and their implications for future tree productivity and survival.

Forests are facing unprecedented levels of stress from pest and disease outbreaks, disturbance, fragmentation, development, and a changing climate. These selective agents act to alter forest composition from regional to cellular levels. Thus, a central challenge for understanding how forests will be impacted by future change is how to integrate across scales of biology.

Nonstructural carbohydrate dynamics' relationship to leaf development under varying environments.

Leaf-out in temperate forests is a critical transition point each spring and advancing with global change. The mechanism linking phenological variation to external cues is poorly understood. Nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) availability may be key.