Periodic Reporting for period 1 - INDECRUST (Integrative ecological indicators of global change based on biocrust tissue traits)
Période du rapport: 2018-03-01 au 2020-02-29
In order to monitor trends in global changes and predict their impacts on ecosystems, scientists and policymakers are in a constant search for integrative, cost-effective indicators of ecological change. Functional traits have emerged as practical tools to track environmental changes (response traits) and assess their effects on ecosystem processes (effect traits). Despite the impressive advances in functional diversity research, traits of organisms other than plants; such as soil lichens and mosses (biocrusts), are still largely unexplored. Nevertheless, biocrust traits such as stable isotope ratios, nutrient content and pH are easy to measure, highly sensitive to environmental conditions and integrative; as a set of indicators, they can reflect changes in climate and nutrient sources and availability. Also, due to their response-effect nature, biocrust tissue traits have an anticipatory character; shifts in their values will, in turn, affect other ecosystem processes (e.g. decomposition rates) and components (e.g. plant and microbial communities). To date, biocrusts stable isotope ratios, nutrient content and pH have been reported for a limited set of species in a systematic way and experimental studies are still scarce in the literature.
The overall objective of INDECRUST is to assess the suitability of biocrusts tissue traits as ecological indicators of global changes and their impacts on ecosystem properties and functioning. This project adopted a multi-scale, hierarchical approach to address the following questions: 1) how variable are tissue traits (i.e. isotope ratios, nutrient content and pH) between lichens and mosses, and among and within species at the local scale? Is soil composition driving trait variability? 2) Are tissue traits good predictors of biocrust and plant dynamics in the future (e.g. decomposition rates, soil fertility)? In other words, can they anticipate global change impacts and feed-backs in the long-term? 3) Do tissue traits respond to changes in climate and atmospheric composition and, simultaneously, indicate changes in other ecosystem components (i.e. soil microbial communities) and soil functioning?
The results of this project reveal the existence of a high interspecific variability in dryland biocrust tissue traits, their sensitivity to environmental changes and their effects on soil fertility and functioning. These results confirm the idea that biocrust tissue traits are integrative, cost-effective indicators of global change drivers, on the one hand, and good predictors of biocrust effects on soil fertility and functioning, on the other. Overall, these findings allow us to evidence changes in environmental conditions and to better predict how global change drivers will impact dryland systems. The knowledge generated in this project will help to improve monitoring programs, biodiversity conservation actions and environmental policy strategies.
The overall objective of INDECRUST is to assess the suitability of biocrusts tissue traits as ecological indicators of global changes and their impacts on ecosystem properties and functioning. This project adopted a multi-scale, hierarchical approach to address the following questions: 1) how variable are tissue traits (i.e. isotope ratios, nutrient content and pH) between lichens and mosses, and among and within species at the local scale? Is soil composition driving trait variability? 2) Are tissue traits good predictors of biocrust and plant dynamics in the future (e.g. decomposition rates, soil fertility)? In other words, can they anticipate global change impacts and feed-backs in the long-term? 3) Do tissue traits respond to changes in climate and atmospheric composition and, simultaneously, indicate changes in other ecosystem components (i.e. soil microbial communities) and soil functioning?
The results of this project reveal the existence of a high interspecific variability in dryland biocrust tissue traits, their sensitivity to environmental changes and their effects on soil fertility and functioning. These results confirm the idea that biocrust tissue traits are integrative, cost-effective indicators of global change drivers, on the one hand, and good predictors of biocrust effects on soil fertility and functioning, on the other. Overall, these findings allow us to evidence changes in environmental conditions and to better predict how global change drivers will impact dryland systems. The knowledge generated in this project will help to improve monitoring programs, biodiversity conservation actions and environmental policy strategies.
"The fellow has achieved the following milestones and provided the outputs listed below:
1. The fellow selected several species of interest, conducted field and laboratory work (Training 1) and created the tissue trait database (Objective 1, Milestones 1-3, Deliverable 2). The work will be submitted to Functional Ecology (IF: 5.04).
2. The fellow carried out a manipulative experiment to assess the effects of tissue traits on biocrust decomposability and soil fertility and functioning (Objective 2, Milestone 4, Deliverable 4). The work will be submitted to Plant and soil (IF: 3.29).
3. The fellow evaluated the species-specific effects of lichen chemistry on soil fertility and functioning under simulated climate change (Objective 3). These findings constitute one of the first experimental evidence that the chemistry of biocrust-forming lichens is sensitive to warming and rainfall reduction and its impact on soil fertility and microbial activity. The work has been accepted in New Phytologist (IF: 8.15)
4. The fellow has disseminated the results of the project in the 15th European Ecological Federation (EEF) Congress in 2019 (Lisboa, Portugal).
5. The fellow has been part of the scientific committee of the XXII Symposium on Cryptogamic Botany and chair of the session ""Creating eco-technological tools"" in the 15th European Ecological Federation (EEF) Congress in 2019 (Lisboa, Portugal).
6. The fellow has disseminated the scope of the MSCA actions and transferred the objectives and results of the project to the general public in the European Researchers' Night 2019 and in “Science on demand 2019” (outreach activity organized by the host, Rey Juan Carlos University).
7. Data generated during the project are/will be accessible at the public repository Figshare."
1. The fellow selected several species of interest, conducted field and laboratory work (Training 1) and created the tissue trait database (Objective 1, Milestones 1-3, Deliverable 2). The work will be submitted to Functional Ecology (IF: 5.04).
2. The fellow carried out a manipulative experiment to assess the effects of tissue traits on biocrust decomposability and soil fertility and functioning (Objective 2, Milestone 4, Deliverable 4). The work will be submitted to Plant and soil (IF: 3.29).
3. The fellow evaluated the species-specific effects of lichen chemistry on soil fertility and functioning under simulated climate change (Objective 3). These findings constitute one of the first experimental evidence that the chemistry of biocrust-forming lichens is sensitive to warming and rainfall reduction and its impact on soil fertility and microbial activity. The work has been accepted in New Phytologist (IF: 8.15)
4. The fellow has disseminated the results of the project in the 15th European Ecological Federation (EEF) Congress in 2019 (Lisboa, Portugal).
5. The fellow has been part of the scientific committee of the XXII Symposium on Cryptogamic Botany and chair of the session ""Creating eco-technological tools"" in the 15th European Ecological Federation (EEF) Congress in 2019 (Lisboa, Portugal).
6. The fellow has disseminated the scope of the MSCA actions and transferred the objectives and results of the project to the general public in the European Researchers' Night 2019 and in “Science on demand 2019” (outreach activity organized by the host, Rey Juan Carlos University).
7. Data generated during the project are/will be accessible at the public repository Figshare."
This project has contributed to the progress beyond the state of the art and to originality and innovation to European Science in three different ways. First, INDECRUST has provided /will provide a set of quantitative indicators to monitor changes in environmental conditions and their impacts on other ecosystem components, such as the soil system. Second, these indicators are based on biocrust functional traits, which are directly linked to ecosystem functioning, complementing existing research on organisms-based indicators that have traditionally relied on taxonomic diversity measures (e.g. the number and distribution of species) as metrics of change. In the third place, the indicators proposed in INDECRUST will establish the link between changes in climate and atmospheric pollution, and quantitative measures of functional traits (i.e. stable isotope composition, nutrient content and pH), which not only respond to those changes but, at the same time, anticipate their effects on ecosystem properties and functioning (e.g. soil multifunctionality, microbial activity, litter decomposition), improving our understanding of complex ecological feedbacks. Moreover, INDECRUST provided a suite of indicators obtained from a single sample (i.e. tissue) which is easy to be collected, processed and analysed with already developed standard protocols. The knowledge generated in this project will feed monitoring activities, biodiversity conservation and management strategies in a global change scenario.