Global climate change is arguably the largest ecological and societal issue of the 21st century. Our world is experiencing rapid changes of many kinds occurring at various scales, including climate change, carbon dioxide and nitrogen enrichment, habitat loss and fragmentation, and the subsequent species losses, invasions, and homogenization that these changes often cause. Because many of these large-scale changes occur slowly, it is often difficult for scientists to document short-term ecological shifts and for the public to appreciate the scope and significance of ecological change. This symposium seeks to address these issues. Ecologists seeking to understand their systems often benefit by having access to long-term datasets. Datasets that extend over many years and/or many sites enrich our understanding of intrinsic ecological dynamics and interactions, as well as how these dynamics and interactions are affected by extrinsic anthropogenic forces. Long-term data can thus inform us both about the drivers of ecological change and about how these drivers interact with intrinsic dynamics. Such data also provide statistical power for testing theory, including the relative force of deterministic versus stochastic forces in driving community dynamics. Presenters are ecologists who use long-term data in terrestrial ecosystems to address questions that range from the individual level (aspens), to the guild (lianas), to temperate and tropical plant communities and ecosystems. Our focus is on terrestrial plants, but the topics we confront are universal and extend to nearly all ecosystems.