Using History To Interpret Current Environmental Conditions and Future Trends: An Example from the US Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program

level, there are more fundamental questions about ecosystem dynamics that paleo-data may help to address, for example: • What can we learn about the dynamics of ecosystems which include, and in many cases are dominated by long-lived taxa? • Is it possible to use the paleo-record to develop generalizations regarding the nature of ecological thresholds and non-linear changes? • In so far as future climate scenarios for given ecosystems are suffi ciently similar to past conditions, what does the paleo-record tell us with regard to survival and persistence at species, patch and landscape levels? • In environments where long term succession is likely to infl uence future ecosystems, what does the paleo-record tell of successional processes, rates and trends? • Where the periodicity/mean recurrence interval of extreme events or disturbance regimes is decadal or longer, what insights do paleo-data give on frequencies, impacts and interactions? • What do studies with high temporal resolution during and after earlier periods of rapid environmental change tell us about rates of biotic response? • In light of all the above, how can the paleo-record best interact with ecosystem modeling?