Objective The changes in precipitation patterns that are projected for the coming decades are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of droughts. Despite the potentially dramatic impacts on wood and forest-based ecosystem services, the effect of these changes in the hydrological cycle on European forests is still highly uncertain. One reason for this gap in the knowledge is the inadequacy of the tools currently used to address large-scale land-atmosphere processes at continental scales, the land surface models (LSMs). Indeed, the predictive power of LSMs is hampered by their heavy parameterization of empirical hydrological modules, with parameters fixed per broad plant type irrespective of the environmental conditions. This representation is contradictory to the ecological processes of acclimation and selection and makes the LSMs unsuitable outside of their calibration range especially under extreme conditions. Ecologists have now made progress in describing traits – tree characteristics that define plant growth strategies. Plant traits vary as much within species as between species, as individuals and communities adapt to their environmental conditions.M-TRAIT will bring the latest ecological findings together with a state-of-the-art LSM to model large-scale forest response to droughts. The trait determinants to the drought response of trees will be determined from analysis of worldwide trait databases. The relationships between traits and with the environment will be formulated. The key traits will then be integrated into a forestry-enhanced LSM with an individuals-sampling approach in which a large number of plant growth strategies are initialized and allowed to interact with environmental conditions. The outcome of M-TRAIT will be 100-year simulations of the drought effect on forests under different climate change scenarios, as well as an analysis of the consequences for forest-based ecosystem services based on proxy ecological variables. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabasesnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesforestry Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2016 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2016 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION ECOLOGICA Y APLICACIONES FORESTALES Net EU contribution € 158 121,60 Address Universitat autonoma de barcelona edifici c 08193 Bellaterra Spain See on map Region Este Cataluña Barcelona Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
