Ecosystem service provision from coupled plant and microbial functional diversity in managed grasslands (VITAL)

鉴于政治和公众对环境的日益关注，以及随之而来的立法变化，欧洲农业面临着提供生态系统服务的挑战，如碳储存和水质保护，以及生物多样性保护和维持经济上可行的生产。在欧洲，广泛管理或恢复的草原是管理和自然景观的关键要素，并满足这种多功能目标。尽管如此，对半自然草原的生态约束和多功能性的机会缺乏基本的认识。因此，将其转化为非专家可获得的知识是有限的，而这是指导这些农业生态系统的政策和管理所必需的。VITAL将验证半自然草原多种生态系统服务的提供及其对管理变化的脆弱性可以通过植物和土壤微生物功能多样性之间的耦合及其对碳氮周转的影响来解释的一般假设。VITAL旨在通过建立植物和微生物功能多样性以及多种生态系统服务提供之间关系的概念模型，解决这一假设及其与地方和区域发展的相关性。VITAL将重点关注山地草原，在那里，依赖多功能的传统生计受到持续的社会变化的威胁。VITAL旨在通过对法国阿尔卑斯山（Lautaret）、奥地利（Stubai Valley）和英国（Yorkshire dale）三个地点的研究得出一般性认识，这些地点代表了肥力-生物多样性相互作用的全梯度管理趋势，并包括6个工作包，旨在遵循千年生态系统评估规定的步骤，对生物多样性和生态系统服务进行区域评估。WP1将利用利益相关者半定向访谈和会议，确定与维持山地草原肥力相关的关键生态系统服务，这些服务如何被认为受到管理的影响，以及它们用于这些服务的指标。WP2-4将采用从单株到田间的逐步方法，分析生物多样性和生态系统服务的当前趋势和状况及其潜在机制。WP2将使用先进的生态生理、生化和分子方法筛选植物和微生物对肥力的功能响应，并将其与易于测量的植物性状联系起来，这些性状响应管理并影响碳和氮的周转。然后，WP3将通过操纵不同性状的植物物种在不同管理草原土壤中的优势地位来构建多物种组合。WP4将在三个实地站点跨管理强度梯度测试该模型的稳健性。WP5将根据与当地利益相关者在一系列全球变化情景（包括极端变化）中缩减规模构建的备选管理情景，对未来生态系统服务提供进行预测。它们对生态系统服务的影响将使用基于WP4结果的统计方法和动态生态系统模型进行建模。WP6将在每个站点举办三个系列讲习班，以确定当地利益相关者、土地管理者和决策者的需求，通过向他们传授在WP1-5中获得的知识和工具来满足这些需求，从而提高对生物多样性和生态系统服务提供基础生态过程的认识，以及对管理变化影响的认识。他们的反馈和对未来可持续农村发展需要采取的行动的看法将提供给决策者。将通过编制培训工具包加强与管理人员和公众的联系。

Given increasing political and public concern for the environment, and resulting changes in legislation, European agriculture is challenged to provide ecosystem services such as carbon storage and protection of water quality, along with biodiversity conservation and maintenance of economically viable production. In Europe, extensively managed or restored grasslands are key elements of managed and natural landscapes, and meet such multifunctional objectives. In spite of this, basic understanding of the ecological constraints and opportunities for multifunctionality in semi-natural grasslands is missing. Therefore, its translation into accessible knowledge for non-experts, which is required in order to guide policy and management of these agroecosystems, is limited. VITAL will test the general hypothesis that the delivery of multiple ecosystem services in semi-natural grasslands, and its vulnerability to changing management, can be explained by the coupling among plant and soil microbial functional diversity, and its impacts on carbon and nitrogen turnover. VITAL aims to address this hypothesis and its relevance to local and regional development by producing a conceptual model of relationships among plant and microbial functional diversity, and multiple ecosystem service delivery. VITAL will focus on mountain grasslands where traditional livelihoods relying on multifunctionality are threatened by ongoing societal changes. VITAL aims at a generic understanding based on research at three sites in the French Alps (Lautaret), Austria (Stubai Valley), and the UK (Yorkshire Dales), which represent management trends spanning the full gradient of fertility-biodiversity interactions, and includes 6 workpackages designed to follow steps prescribed by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment for regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services. WP1 will use stakeholder semi-directed interviews and meetings to identify key ecosystem services associated with the maintenance of fertility in mountain grasslands, how these are perceived to be affected by management, as well as indicators they use for these services. WP2-4 will analyse current trends and condition of biodiversity and ecosystem services and their underlying mechanisms using a step-wise approach from the individual plant to the field. WP2 will use advanced ecophysiological, biochemical and molecular methods to screen plant and microbial functional responses to fertility and link them with easily measurable plant traits that respond to management and affect carbon and nitrogen turnover. WP3 will then build multispecies assemblages by manipulating the dominance of plant species with different traits on soils from differently managed grasslands. WP4 will test the robustness of this model across management intensity gradients at the three field sites. WP5 will generate projections of future ecosystem service delivery according to alternative management scenarios constructed by downscaling with local stakeholders a range of scenarios of global change, including extreme changes. Their impacts on ecosystem services will be modelled using both a statistical approach based on results from WP4, and dynamic ecosystem models. WP6 will use a series of three workshops per site to identify the needs of local stakeholders, land managers and policy makers, to meet these needs by transferring knowledge and tools gained in WP1-5 to them, and thereby to raise awareness of biodiversity and ecological processes underlying ecosystem services delivery, and of impacts of management change. Their feedbacks and perception of actions that need to be taken in the future for sustainable rural development will be delivered to policy makers. Outreach to managers and the public will be strengthened through the development of a training toolkit.