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Title: Project Fp7 FUNDIVEurope - Functional significance of forest biodiversity in Europe
Acronym: FunDivEurope
Domain: Environment
Type of the project: Bilateral cooperation projects, multilateral
Financing:
This project is mainly financed by the European Commission under the theme "Environment" of the Program for Research and Technological Development FP7, Grant agreement no.: 265171, Contract USV 265171/10.12.2010.
Co-financing (25%) is provided through contract 142-1EU/12.07.2011 signed with the UEFISCDI (Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii), Program PN II Capacities - FP7- Module III (25%).
Project duration: 1.10.2010 – 30.09.2014
Romanian co-financing duration: 12.07.2011-31.12.2013
Budget: Total FunDivEUROPE budget: 6, 99 milion euro from which
USV Budget: 171 900 euro
Budget co-financing FunDivEurope for USV partner: 244510.70 lei
Contact person from USV:
Olivier Bouriaud
bouriaud@usv.ro
Str. Universitatii, 13, 720229 Suceava,
Tel. + 40 741101174.
Project description:
FunDivEUROPE is based on four scientific platforms and seven cross-cutting Work Packages.
The project will combine a global network of tree diversity experiments (Experimental Platform) with a newly designed network of observational plots in six focal regions within Europe (Exploratory Platform). Additionally, the project will integrate an in-depth analysis of inventory-based datasets of existing forest monitoring networks to extend the scope to larger spatial and temporal scales (Inventory Platform). FunDivEUROPE will thus combine the strengths of various scientific approaches to explore and quantify the significance of forest biodiversity for a very large range of ecosystem processes and ecosystem services. Using modeling and state-of-the-art techniques for quantitative synthesis, the project will integrate information gained from the different platforms to assess the performance of pure and mixed species stands under changing climate.
Scientific approach
Progress in understanding the significance of forest biodiversity for ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services is only possible when the strengths of three approaches are combined.
FunDivEUROPE capitalizes on two existing approaches, experimental tree plantations and observational networks (forest inventories), and will add a third approach (exploratories). Experiments are designed to maximize orthogonality, and the easy logistics with many nearby stands allow for the
quantification of a wide range of ecosystem functions (high comprehensiveness). Their strength is to detect effects of diversity per se and to unravel the underlying mechanisms. Their current weakness is their young age which limits their representativeness for mature stands. In contrast, inventories are designed to maximize representativeness. Their weakness is that diversity gradients are accidental, comparatively short and confounded with environmental and management variables. As a consequence, extracting diversity signals from observational data requires a large amount of ancillary data. Furthermore, the comprehensiveness of inventories is rather low, because stem increment, regeneration and mortality are usually the only variables measured. The third approach of the exploratories represents a hybrid strategy where existing mature stands are explicitely selected for diversity gradients with otherwise comparable environmental conditions and management regimes. This approach equally considers all three criteria of orthogonality, comprehensivenss, and represantiveness, but without fully maximizing them.
FunDivEUROPE, thus will combine all these approaches, represented in three Research Platforms.
Operationally, the relationship between forest biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services will be
handled in cross-cutting Work Packages.
USV contribution
The main contribution of the USV is to the task T.3.2 Net aboveground primary productivity and its response to climate change – Lead: UCA, David Coomes, Co-Lead: USV, Olivier Bouriaud
Rationale: Forest inventory analyses, which appear to demonstrate that mixed forests produce more biomass/ha/yr than monocultures, need to be verified by analyses that separate the effect of species/functional diversity from confounding effects that may arise from differences in stand size structure and composition.
Currently, knowledge about the influence of biodiversity on the resistance and resilience of ecosystems to changing environmental conditions, such as climate change, is rather anecdotal for forests and has only been supported by experimental studies in grasslands. Hence, a systematic assessment of diversity effects on production functions and stability of forest ecosystems is urgently needed.
Specific hypotheses to be tested: 1) Diverse forests have higher productivity because they utilize resources more completely; 2) diverse forests are least affected by climatic variability because constituent species respond differently to climate and thereby buffer the system (insurance hypothesis).
Planned measurements: Growth depends on multiple factors in lowland forests: climatic conditions may be important, but so too are insect outbreaks, silvicultural treatments, interactions with neighbours and damage by natural disturbances. Our sampling and analysis approach will enable us to quantify the effects of many factors and isolate those that interest us most: diversity, management and climate change. The stem diameter growth of about 50% of trees in each plot will be measured using growth rings in stemwood, including all major species and spanning trees of all sizes. Aboveground biomass growth of the individual trees will be estimated from ring measurements (averaged over 10 years) using pre-existing species-specific allometric relationships.
Estimating growth from increment rings will not be possible for some diffuse porous species, for which diameter measurements will be taken with tapes.
Empirical growth models will be developed from these data, using a hierarchical Bayesian approach to
quantify mulitiple sources of variation. These models will be used to predict stand-level biomass growth in all stands, allowing us to test whether diverse forests are faster growing and sequester more carbon.
Inter-annual variation in stem productivity will be assessed from ring width variations over the past 10 years, hence including the heat wave of summer 2003. Here again, individual-based models developed using these data will be used to predict variation in whole stand productivity, allowing us to test the resistance/resilience hypothesis.
Additionally, the USV will implement, maintain, monitoring and undertake measurement in an experimental platform. The USV team will also undertake measurements for the requirement of the other work task groups, or will help colleagues from other task to undertake their own measurements in the site selected as experimental platform.
Expected results
The project will help to improve the knowledge regarding the forest biodiversity. The main results are expected in the scientific publications.
However, in addition to the three research platforms, FunDivEUROPE will set up a Knowledge Transfer Platform in order to foster communication, aggregation and synthesis of individual findings in the Work Packages and communication with stakeholders, policy makers and the wider public. The information gained should thus enable forest owners, forest managers and forest policy makers to adapt policies and management for sustainable use of forest ecosystems in a changing environment, capitalizing on the potential effects of biodiversity for ecosystem functioning. The experiences gained within FunDivEUROPE will finally allow contributing to the development of the European Long-Term Ecosystem Research Network, complementing existing forest observation and monitoring networks
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