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，以及由此导致的立法变化，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，并满足这些多功能目标。尽管如此，对半自然草原的生态限制和多功能机会的基本理解还是空白。因此，将其转化为非专家可获得的知识是有限的，这是指导这些农业生态系统的政策和管理所必需的。VITAL将检验这样一个普遍假设，即在半自然草原上提供多种生态系统服务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和氮周转的影响来解释。VITAL旨在通过建立植物和微生物功能多样性与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当地和区域发展的相关性。VITAL将专注于山区草原，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旨在基于对法国阿尔卑斯山(劳塔雷特)、奥地利(斯图拜山谷)和英国(约克郡山谷)三个地点的研究达成一般性理解，这些地点代表了跨越肥力-生物多样性相互作用全梯度的管理趋势，并包括6个工作包，旨在遵循千年生态系统评估为生物多样性和生态系统服务进行区域评估所规定的步骤。WP1将使用利益攸关方半定向访谈和会议来确定与维持山地草原肥力有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将采用从单个植物到田间的循序渐进的方法，分析生物多样性和生态系统服务的当前趋势和状况及其基本机制。WP2将使用先进的生态生理、生化和分子方法来筛选植物和微生物对肥力的功能反应，并将它们与易于测量的植物性状联系起来，这些性状对管理做出反应，并影响碳和氮的周转。然后，WP3将通过操纵来自不同管理草原的土壤上具有不同特征的植物物种的优势，建立多物种组合。WP4将测试这一模型在三个外地地点的管理强度梯度上的稳健性。WP5将根据通过与当地利益攸关方缩小一系列全球变化情景(包括极端变化)而构建的替代管理情景，生成对未来生态系统服务交付的预测。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来模拟。WP6将在每个地点举办一系列三次研讨会，以确定当地利益攸关方、土地管理者和政策制定者的需求，通过向他们转让在WP1-5中获得的知识和工具来满足这些需求，从而提高对生态系统服务提供所依据的生物多样性和生态过程以及管理变化的影响的认识。他们对今后农村可持续发展需要采取的行动的反馈和看法将传达给决策者。将通过开发培训工具包，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.