Objective ESPACE-grass is a programme of coordinated experiments andmathematical modelling at sites across Europe which aims toestablish the impacts of future climatic change and associatedstresses on major components of European grassland vegetation,both managed and natural.This project will consist of a series of experiments, at fivedifferent locations throughout Europe, which will investigate thegrowth and physiological responses of grasses and legumes(components of natural and managed grasslands) grown at ambient(340 ppm) and elevated (520 ppm and 680 ppm) CO2concentrations.Four of the centres (TCD - Ireland; ITE - Bangor, U.K.; IGER -Hurley, U.K. and CESIA - Florence, Italy) will use a standarddesign of open-top chambers (OTCs) to expose vegetation toelevated CO2. These centres have been chosen to give ageographical spread with associated climatic differences. Thiswill enable the interactions between climate and elevated CO2tobe investigated. In addition, two centres (GSF - Munich, Germanyand ITE - Bangor, U.K.) will use more closely controlledenvironments while exposing similar plants to elevated CO2levels. These experiments will provide independent andreproducible references to the open-top chamber experiments. Thegrass or legume species used at each centre will be determined bythe expertise and existing interests at the centre althoughryegrass (Lolium perenne) will be used in addition as areference.Further experiments will be carried out in order to quantifythe competitive interactions between species in response tochanges in atmospheric CO2 concentrations under both cuttingand grazing, to determine the interactions between ambienttemperature and elevated CO2 levels, to determine theeffectsof changes in plant and soil water relations (brought about byaltered rainfall and evapotranspiration) on the growth of grassesand legumes, to investigate the interactions of growth atelevated CO2 levels with soil nutrient supply, particularlynitrogen, to investigate the relative sensitivity of nativelowland and upland grasses to elevated CO2 levels andtemperatureincreases, and to investigate the interactions between effectsof elevated CO2 and the anthropogenically imposed stresses ofincreasing UVB radiation and ozone.In order to integrate the information on plant responses toelevated CO2 and stress obtained at each centre the HurleyPasture Model, developed by J.H.M. Thornley, will be expandedand developed to incorporate responses to increasing CO2,temperature and other stresses. Mathematical modelling will alsobe used to study how the local dynamics of multispeciescommunities will be altered by elevated CO2 and otherenvironmental changes. These models of gap colonisation willdescribe changes in the relative abundance of species within ahabitat and will predict the extent to which range expansion orretraction of particular species is expected. Fields of science medical and health sciencesbasic medicinephysiologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesclimatologyclimatic changesagricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseedslegumesnatural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model Programme(s) FP3-ENV 1C - Specific research and technological development programme (EEC) in the field of the environment, 1990-1994 Topic(s) 0103 - Climate change impacts Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator THE PROVOST, FELLOWS AND SCHOLARS OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN HEREINAFTER TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Address College green 2 Dublin Ireland See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (4) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Accademia Economico Agraria dei Georgofili Italy EU contribution € 0,00 Address 8,via giovanni caproni 8 50122 Firenze See on map GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit GmbH Germany EU contribution € 0,00 Address Ingolstädter landstraße 1 85758 Oberschleissheim See on map Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address North wyke research station EX20 2SB Okehampton See on map NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address Deiniol road LL57 2UW Bangor See on map