Descripción del proyecto
Comprender los cambios ecosistémicos repentinos en zonas áridas
Las zonas áridas son cada vez más vulnerables a los cambios repentinos provocados por el cambio global y los factores responsables de la desertificación. Sin embargo, se carece de una comprensión exhaustiva de la prevalencia y los desencadenantes de estos cambios debido a la ausencia de iniciativas de seguimiento y experimentos a nivel mundial. Para evitar cambios ecosistémicos repentinos y combatir el cambio climático y la desertificación, se requiere una evaluación sistemática de las acciones de restauración. En el proyecto BIOSHIFT, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, se llevarán a cabo experimentos y estudios de campo a nivel mundial y se emplearán tecnologías punteras para estudiar los cambios ecosistémicos repentinos en zonas áridas. Su objetivo es comprender los factores, la prevalencia y las consecuencias de estos cambios. También se evaluará si la biodiversidad y los servicios ecosistémicos de las zonas áridas presentan respuestas de intensidad a umbral a lo largo de gradientes de aridez, así como las repercusiones ecológicas de las plantaciones de árboles.
Objetivo
Global change and desertification drivers, such as climate change and increased fire frequency, make drylands more prone to abrupt shifts that can lead to the emergence of degraded states unable to provide key ecosystem services and to sustain life. However, we still lack an in-depth understanding of the prevalence and triggers of these shifts, and of the identity of those ecosystem attributes and services that are most affected, across global drylands. These uncertainties arise largely from the absence of global monitoring efforts and experiments investigating temporal changes in biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Furthermore, the lack of a systematic evaluation of the ecological impacts of restoration actions, such as tree planting, hampers our capacity to assess their usefulness to prevent abrupt ecosystem shifts and to combat climate change and desertification. BIOSHIFT will combine global-scale experimentation and temporal field surveys with state-of-the-art Earth observation, mathematical modelling, -omics approaches, and statistical analyses to tackle these key knowledge gaps. Specifically, I will: i) determine the prevalence, drivers and consequences of abrupt ecosystem shifts in drylands, ii) assess whether in situ temporal changes in dryland biodiversity and ecosystem services exhibit threshold-like responses along global aridity gradients, and iii) conduct the first systematic field assessment of the ecological impacts of tree plantations and their capacity to prevent abrupt ecosystem shifts in drylands worldwide. By doing so, BIOSHIFT will make a major leap forward in our understanding of abrupt ecosystem shifts and provide unprecedent insights on how to monitor and manage them. This project will also provide the ecological underpinning to high profile international initiatives aimed at tackling biodiversity losses, mitigating global change and desertification impacts, and restoring degraded ecosystems across global drylands.
Ámbito científico
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturearboriculture
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changes
- natural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
03690 Alicante
España