Community re‐assembly of grasslands under global change: integrating climate niches and experimental species (im)migration

• Applicant: Dr. Lotte Korell
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 530626119

Climate and land-use change are two major drivers of ongoing anthropogenic global change, which do not only affect natural ecosystems, but also change agriculturally used grasslands. So far, it is not fully understood to which degree the climate niche, i.e. the climate space occupied by a species based on its current geographic distribution, may be used to predict species´ responses to climate change in agricultural temperate grasslands, where differences in management and land-use may override effects of climate change on plant performance. Moreover, changes in climate and land-use may favor the (im)migration of novel colonizers. However, so far the question how simulated climate change in grasslands of different land-use influences the (im)migration of a diverse pool of novel colonizer species and how these species will influence the structure and functioning of grasslands still needs to be considered. To address this issue, this project will assess the impact of climate change on the re-assembly and structure of grassland communities and their alteration by different land-use types by implementing a seed addition x disturbance experiment into an existing global change experiment. The proposed project aims to use the platform of the Global Change Experimental Facility (GCEF), established in 2013, where both future climate and different land-use practices of grasslands are simulated. Specifically the project aims are (1) to analyze the climate niches of species as predictors of species responses to climate change in grasslands with different land-use by using existing time-series data collected since the establishment of the GCEF, (2) to assess how land-use, climate manipulation, and disturbance affect the colonization of short- vs. long-lived grassland species from the regional species pool by quantifying their establishment success, population growth and expression of functional traits in the new seed addition x disturbance experiment, and (3) to assess how novel species (im)migration affects the re-assembly and productivity of the grassland communities. The results of the project will help to better understand the consequences of climate change for the immigration of novel species, the assembly and functioning of temperate grasslands, and may assist to derive management strategies for grasslands exposed to global change.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants