Timescale-dependent response of vegetation to climate change

Climate and ecosystems exhibit dynamic behavior across various timescales, but existing studies often focus on singular timescales when examining ecosystem responses to climate. Here we develop a conceptual and analytical framework using spectral analysis that examines a continuum of timescales, from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of years. By comparing power spectra of vegetation turnover and climate in the last 1.1 million years, we observe that turnover is in step with climate at intermediate frequencies (10-2 to 10-3 years-1) but is decoupled from climate at high frequencies (> 10-2 years-1) and low frequencies (<10-3 years-1), with a relationship that varies by latitude. Climate decoupling at the highest frequencies highlights the possibility of widespread ecological transitions in the coming century as anthropogenic climate change outpaces the response time of plant communities.