LTREB: Fourteen years of simulated climate change in ancient limestone grassland: linking the responses of genotypes, species, and ecosystems

在这个项目中，植被科学家试图了解气候变化对草原生态系统的长期影响。 通过对土壤和气温变暖的数十年模拟，加上夏季干旱或降雨量增加，研究人员正在确定不同植物物种的特征如何预测未来几十年群落和生态系统过程将如何变化。 该项目还将气候变化影响的研究扩展到基因层面，最近的证据表明，一些生态系统可能对气候变化具有抵抗力，因为一些物种拥有庞大的本地基因库，能够迅速适应新的环境，温带草原是全球生产力的关键贡献者，它们对全球气候变化的反应对人类未来的福祉至关重要。 对肥沃草原的现有研究已经记录了模拟变暖的快速植被变化，但有理由相信某些草原-土壤不太肥沃，包含生长较慢的物种，在当地更多样化-可能对快速气候变化更具抵抗力。 由于这些系统占全世界牧场和牧场的绝大多数，它们对气候变化的适应性将对未来的粮食和纤维生产产生重大影响。

In this project, vegetation scientists seek to understand the long-term impacts of climate change on grassland ecosystems. Through multi-decadal simulation of warmed soil and air temperatures, coupled with summer drought or elevated rainfall, researchers are identifying how the characteristics of different plant species allow predictions of how communities and ecosystem processes will shift in coming decades. This project also extends research on climate change impacts to the genetic level, where recent evidence indicates that some ecosystems may be resistant to climate change because some species have a large local gene pool allowing rapid adaptation to new environments.Temperate grasslands are a key contributor to global productivity and their response to global climate change is of critical importance to the future of human welfare. Existing studies from fertile grasslands have documented rapid vegetation shifts with simulated warming, but there is reason to believe that certain grasslands - those of less fertile soils, containing slower-growing species that are more diverse locally - may be more resistant to rapid climate change. Because these systems account for a large majority of pasture and rangelands throughout the world, their recalcitrance to climate shifts will have significant ramifications for the future of food and fiber production.