Short- and long-term effects of climate-induced 'year effects' on grassland communities

• Applicants: Dr. Kolja Bergholz; Professor Dr. Florian Jeltsch
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 546687112

Assessing the consequences of current and future changes in climatic conditions is one of the most important and significant challenges facing modern plant ecology. These changes include not only shifts in mean climate parameters such as temperature and precipitation, but also increasing stochasticity and variability between and within years. Climatic conditions that vary from year to year (so-called 'year effects') can have a significant impact on the dynamics of plant diversity. In particular, summer conditions in central Europe are predicted to show increasing variability in the future, which is of particular concern for semi-natural grasslands, which are among the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world and are highly sensitive to drought. Previous experimental and modelling studies of 'year effects' have mostly focused on restoration and early stages of grassland establishment. In a coupled experimental and modelling approach, the proposed study will address key open questions related to the effects of inter-annual variations in climatic conditions. Specifically, we will investigate (i) the long-term effects of inter-annual precipitation variability on grassland communities, (ii) the role of changes in species interactions in predicting species and community responses to 'year effects', (iii) the effect of the timing of drought stress relative to current plant developmental stage, and (iv) the combined effect of inter-annual precipitation variability, disturbance and eutrophication.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants