Descrizione del progetto
Comprendere la risposta del bacino del Congo ai cambiamenti climatici
La foresta pluviale africana funge da serbatoio permanente di carbonio e svolge un ruolo cruciale per le economie locali e per quelle straniere. Tuttavia, sono state sollevate preoccupazioni riguardo alla resilienza alla siccità delle specie arboree tropicali della regione, a causa di una tendenza all’inaridimento a lungo termine osservata attraverso i dati del telerilevamento e le misurazioni degli isotopi stabili degli anelli degli alberi. Il progetto COBADIM, finanziato dall’UE, si propone di comprendere meglio il modo in cui le specie arboree tropicali africane rispondono ai cambiamenti climatici nel bacino centrale del Congo. Il progetto farà ricorso a una combinazione di ricerche ecofisiologiche e dendrocronologiche, insieme a un approccio basato su modelli, per integrare vari flussi di dati ed elaborare un modello meccanicistico dell’ecosistema, noto come MuSICA. L’approccio di ricerca di COBADIM fornirà stime sulla vulnerabilità delle specie arboree alle condizioni di siccità.
Obiettivo
The African rainforest, is the second largest on Earth, covers ~630 million ha and stores up to 66 Pg of carbon and is presently a persistent carbon sink. In addition, African rainforest support the forestry sector which contributes 3-6% of the gross domestic product across the Congo Basin with most foreign export directed to Europe. As such, African rainforest currently represents both a local and foreign economic driver and provides important ecosystem services through the negative feedback on the global carbon cycle. Both remote sensing data and tree ring stable isotope measurements have shown that these forests are currently being subjected to a long-term drying trend, raising fears over the drought resilience of tropical tree species and the persistence and magnitude of this important terrestrial carbon sink. Here, we combine eco-physiological and dendrochronological research with a model based approach to increase our understanding of the response of African tropical tree species under changing climatological conditions across the central Congo Basin. We will integrate several data streams including inventory data on soil properties and associated leaf traits, wood traits, phenology, retrospective dendrochronology and wood core stable isotope and calcium tracer time series, in order to constrain a data-informed mechanistic ecosystem model (MuSICA). Using a novel tracer experiment we will corroborate the use of a calcium [Ca] tracer in tropical tree species for rapid dating and eco-physiological research into drought resistance. Accurate model predictions, based upon Ca tracer measurements made during this action, will provide estimates of the vulnerability of tree species to future drought conditions. Our results will have important policy implications as the demise of important tree species could have significant effects on ecosystem services, e.g. affecting the carbon balance, as well as a direct economic impact on sustainable local and EU timber trade.
Campo scientifico
Programma(i)
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Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinatore
75007 Paris
Francia