Managing soil biodiversity and ecosystem services in agroecosystems across Europe under climate change (SOILCLIM)

SOILCLIM项目将解决更好地预测气候变化对欧洲气候条件和土壤性质样带以及不同长期施肥策略下农业生态系统土壤生物多样性和生态系统服务的影响的迫切需要。该项目将为如何应对气候变化对农业生产的负面影响提供关键证据，同时制定可作为早期预警系统的指标，以应对夏季干旱导致的土壤生态系统服务供应下降。土壤生物对于产生一系列生态系统服务至关重要，如养分矿化和有机物分解，有助于减缓气候变化和农业生态系统中的粮食生产。可耕地土壤生态系统服务的提供部分取决于影响土壤生物多样性的农业管理强度，但未来也将受到气候条件变化及其与农业的相互作用的影响。降水模式和土壤碳变化对土壤生物多样性和相关生态系统功能的影响，是欧盟委员会一个专家组确定的八大研究空白之一。预计欧洲南部和中欧大部分地区的夏季降水将减少。因此，了解气候变化如何影响跨气候梯度的土壤生物多样性和过程之间的关系，对于确定大空间尺度上的生态系统级响应和解决农业土壤生态系统服务提供面临的威胁至关重要。我们将在瑞典、德国和西班牙建立模拟夏季干旱的实地试验，以提高我们对土壤生物多样性与大空间尺度上多种生态系统功能和服务之间联系的理解。这些联系将与农田中不同水平的土壤有机碳含量结合起来研究，并通过解决与不同长期施肥策略的相互作用。我们将采用现有的创新方法，制定土壤生态系统服务提供下降的指标集，并预测农业生态系统土壤生物多样性因未来气候变化而出现的波动。我们将测试基于性状信息和功能多样性的群落指标作为土壤生物多样性和生态系统服务损失的替代指标的适用性。该项目将强调与农民、农民协会和顾问的积极对话，作为项目的一个组成部分，并将促进科学专家和最终用户之间的知识交流。

The project SOILCLIM will address the pressing need to better predict consequences of climate change on soil biodiversity and ecosystem services in agroecosystems over a European transect of climatic conditions and soil properties and under different long-term fertilization strategies. Together with the development of indicators that can act as an early warning system for a decline of the provision of soil ecosystem services in response to summer drought, the project will provide pivotal evidence of how to counteract negative consequences of climate change on agricultural production. Soil organisms are pivotal for the production of a range of ecosystem services, such as nutrient mineralization and decomposition of organic matter, that contribute to climate mitigation and food production in agroecosystems. The provision of soil ecosystem services in arable land partly depends on the intensity of agricultural management that influences soil biodiversity, but will in the future also be impacted by changing climatic conditions and their interactions with farming. The impact of altered precipitation patterns and soil carbon on soil biodiversity and associated ecosystem functions is on top of the list of eight major research gaps identified by an expert group at the European commission. Summer precipitation is projected to decline across Southern and major parts of Central Europe. Understanding how climate change affects relationships between soil biodiversity and processes across climatic gradients is therefore crucial to determine ecosystem-level responses at large spatial scales and to address threats to the provision of ecosystem services in agricultural soils.We will establish field experiments in Sweden, Germany and Spain that simulate summer droughts to improve our understanding of the links between soil biodiversity and multiple ecosystem functions and services across large spatial scales. These links will be studied in combination with varying levels of soil organic carbon content in agricultural fields and by addressing the interaction with different long-term fertilization strategies. We will use established and innovative methods to develop indicator sets of declines in soil ecosystem service delivery and to predict fluctuations in soil biodiversity in agroecosystems in response to future climate change. We will test the suitability of community metrics that are based on trait information and functional diversity as alternative indicators of soil biodiversity and ecosystem service losses. The project will emphasize the active dialogue with farmers, farmer associations and advisors as an integrated part of the project and will facilitate knowledge exchange between scientific experts and end-users.