Thematic Session 4 - Climate Change Research in Terrestrial Ecosystems
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Thematic Session 4
Climate Change Research in Terrestrial Ecosystems
Tuesday 9 February 2021 | 10:00-12:00 hrs
Programme
LINK TO ZOOM MEETING: Will Follow soon.
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| 10:00 – 10:05 | Introduction by the session chair - Dr Ciska Veen (Junior Group Leader Terrestrial Ecology @ Netherlands Institute of Ecology) |
| 10:05 – 10:20 | KEYNOTE LECTURE | Climate change research in open ecosystems Mariska te Beest @ Spatial Ecology and Global Change group, Utrecht University Will follow soon. |
| 10:20 – 10:30 | SoilTemp: a global database of microclimate Jonas Lembrechts @ PLECO, University of Antwerp Many questions in current ecological research deal with large-scale patterns, as global databases of species distributions and traits become increasingly accessible. Current analyses of these patterns and their predictions under anthropogenic climate change are however often based on free-air temperature conditions with a coarse resolution, and thus fail to capture apparent temperatures (cf. microclimate) experienced by living organisms within their habitats. SoilTemp solves this issue: a global database of microclimate measurements, currently hosting data from over 13.000 sensors, used to improve global bioclimatic products and explore the drivers of microclimate across biomes. |
| 10:30 – 10:40 | Aggregate stability: a new factor in soil methane uptake Stijn van den Bergh @ Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology Soils are as yet the only biological sink for atmospheric methane, earth’s second most important greenhouse gas, and the methane uptake capacity of agricultural soils is substantially reduced compared to native soils. Using a new laser-diffraction analysis-based method, we show in an extensive field study a new relationship between soil aggregate stability, atmospheric methane uptake, and SOM. Soil organic matter content, which is steerable by using organic amendments like compost, increases soil aggregate stability, which enhances atmospheric soil methane uptake. These results provide a potential new strategy on atmospheric methane mitigation. |
| 10:40 – 10:50 | Utilizing functional traits to design regenerative agricultural systems for 2050 Tatiana Moreira @ Farm Technology Group, Wageningen University Dutch peatlands are facing many environmental challenges, like greenhouse gas emissions, loss in biodiversity and soil subsidence, due to lowering water tables for agricultural management. This research explored how functional traits of different plant species can help achieve design objectives that combat these challenges in dairy production systems. Examples of these functional traits include improving soil carrying capacity and removing excess nutrients from the soil. The Reflexive Interactive Design (RIO) methodology was utilized to involve relevant stakeholders from the region and develop regenerative agricultural design scenarios that help achieve Dutch climate goals for 2050. |
| 10:50 – 11:10 | Joint coffee / tea break and time to socialise within your breakout room |
| 11:10 – 11:20 | The high growth resilience and recovery, but low resistance of conifers species to drought events Yanjun Song @ Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Wageningen University Conifer species contribute to nearly one-third of the global forest carbon stock. Drought triggers tree mortality across the globe due to embolized cavitation, and it is important to know how conifers are resilient to drought. This study evaluates the drought resilience of 19 conifer species in a common garden experiment by quantifying their three growth resilience indices, i.e., resistance , recovery and resilience. We found that resistance was negative affected by drought events to larger extent (74%) than recovery (68%) and resilience (26%). Our study provides a portfolio of species to better manage towards resilient forests under changing climate conditions. |
| 11:20 – 11:30 | Soil legacy effects on range shifting plants and congeneric natives in communities Keli Li @ Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology Global warming can cause plants to expand their range from the lower to higher latitudes. At the same time, these plants, as well as natives, increasingly experience extreme weather events. Plant migration and extreme events leave legacy effects in the soil, which can influence the aboveground insect abundance. In this study, we conducted a mesocosm experiment to study how soil legacies induced by soil origin (northern versus southern soil), plant origin (natives versus range-expanders) and drought (extreme drought or control) influence the biomass of range-shifting and their congeneric native plants as well as the associated aboveground insect communities. |
| 11:30 – 11:40 | Climate-change effects on biological pest control Thibault Costaz @ Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University Tropical coastal habitats such as mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs form a complex interaction network on which biodiversity, societies, and climate depend. These interactions amplify the combined ecological performance of the individual habitats, thus influencing their productivity and resilience. However, these habitats are in rapid decline due to various anthropogenic and climate-driven environmental pressures. Through a literature review, we have synthetized those biogeochemical interactions affected most by anthropogenic pressures. We also found evidence of potential interactions that have not been explored yet, and that may open up unique research opportunities. |
| 11:40 – 11:55 | General discussion and wrap up of the session |