Microclimatic buffering of plant responses to macroclimate warming in temperate forests

Project Information

FORMICA

Grant agreement ID: 757833

DOI

10.3030/757833

Project closed

EC signature date 7 September 2017

Start date 1 February 2018

End date 31 January 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 498 469,00

EU contribution

€ 1 498 469,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT GENT
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - FORMICA (Microclimatic buffering of plant responses to macroclimate warming in temperate forests)

Reporting period: 2022-08-01 to 2023-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Recent global warming is acting on ecosystems across the globe and threatening biodiversity. Yet, due to slow responses, many biological communities are lagging behind warming of the macroclimate (the climate of a large geographic region). The buffering of microclimates near the ground measured in local areas, arising from terrain features such as vegetation and topography, can explain why many species are lagging behind macroclimate warming. However, almost all studies ignore the effects of microclimates and key uncertainties still exist about this mechanism.

Microclimates are particularly evident in forests, where understorey habitats are buffered by overstorey trees. In temperate forests, the understorey contains the vast majority of plant diversity and plays an essential role in driving ecosystem processes.

The overall goal of FORMICA (FORest MICroclimate Assessment) was to quantify and understand the role of microclimatic buffering in modulating forest plant responses to macroclimate warming. We applied microtemperature loggers, performed experimental heating, used fluorescent tubes and installed a large-scale transplant experiment in temperate forests across Europe. The results were then integrated in models to forecast plant diversity in temperate forests as macroclimate warms.

We found strong microclimate buffering in European forests, translating both to current forest biodiversity patterns and forest functioning, as well as providing a thermal buffer against future climate change.

FORMICA was a large integrative study on microclimatic buffering of macroclimate warming in forests. The project has reshaped our current understanding of the impacts of climate change on forests and is helping land managers and policy makers to now develop urgently needed adaptation strategies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Background data have been collected on microclimate, forest structure, light, soils, etc. in 9 regions along a north-south transect. In addition, data on vegetation composition, plant traits, collection of biomass, etc. were also collected. We have published results on vegetation community composition (Govaert et al. 2020 Journal of Vegetation Science), forest structure (Meeussen et al. 2020 Forest Ecology & Management), carbon stocks (Meeussen et al. 2020 Science of the Total Environment) and defence traits (Sacnzuk et al. 2021 Global Ecology and Biogeography), and collected and analysed data on traits, thermal tolerance and biodiversity data (several papers) and how they are affected by edge-to-core gradients and the microclimate in forests. We also installed a warming and light experiment to unravel the effects of heating temperatures and irradiation in contrasting microclimates on forest understorey plants (De Pauw et al. 2022 New Phytologist). Third, species have been transplanted into forests in five locations along our north-south transect, in the edge and into the forest core, and this repeated in dense and open forests (Sanczuk et al. 2022). These results have then been integrated in models to forecast plant diversity in temperate forests as macroclimate warms, showing the strong buffering role of denser canopies on biodiversity reshuffling (Sanczuk et al. 2023).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Analysing effects of microclimate on forest biodiversity in forests at these scales, using observational, experimental and modelling methods, has delivered novel insights that are not possible using more small-scale local experiments.

Fish-eye view of the canopy of trees in the middle of spring in Gontrode (BE)

Wildflowers in the forest understorey in Spring (here wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa)