Hormesis as a Hidden Hand in Global Environmental Change?

Abstract

Figure 1. (A) Hormetic responses mean a response to a negative influence is positive at very low doses. (B) If widespread, such hermetic effects could lead to ecosystem process rates being affected, leading to an overestimation or underestimation of the effect of other factors of global change. (C) When environmental drivers are exceeding the hormetic threshold, the ecosystem state can undergo a transition from a stable state to an unstable state. M.C.R. wrote the first draft of the paper, and M.B. and A.L. added additional ideas and designed the figure. Matthias C. Rillig studied biology in Germany and Scotland and obtained a Ph.D. in California, USA. After nine years of being on the faculty of the University of Montana, he joined Freie Universität Berlin, where he is now a professor of ecology. He is director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research. Matthias won an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council, is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina, and Academia Europaea. His lab focuses on soil ecology, human-caused effects on soils and their biodiversity, and emerging environmental challenges. This article references 11 other publications. This article has not yet been cited by other publications.