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Long-term effects of CO2-increase and climate change on European forest

Objective

To investigate the long-term growth and development of
European forests under influence of climate change, with respect
to fluxes of water and carbon between the vegetation and the
atmosphere, and with respect to possibilities for accommodation
to changes in site conditions.


Changes in carbon and water balances are evaluated within a
time-frame of 10-50 years, using climate scenario's associated
with expected global climate change. Acclimation to changing
site conditions depends on functional relationships between tree
and stand components, and on the extent that functional
acclimation can adjust for the changes in driving forces such as
water availability and temperature. From this, the changes in
regional-scale role of forests in water, carbon and energy
balances are assessed, thereby accounting for regional
differences within Europe.

The methodology focuses on the application and extension of
existing forest models to conditions representative for a range
of sites throughout Europe, under present-day and future climate
scenario's.

To simulate the effects of increasing CO2 and
temperature, submodels of direct effects of CO2 on tree
physiology based on experimental results, are included. For the
analysis of functional relationship between biomass components of
a tree, a comparative analysis of biomass data from a range of
sites throughout Europe is carried out, supported by a model
analysis based on functional balance within the tree. The
focus is on effects of climate change on water and carbon
relations, using nutrient status and nutrient relationships as
boundary conditions.

Data collected as part of previous and
ongoing experimental work and in recent field monitoring work are
used for calibration and testing of the models. The outcome of
the various tasks within the project will be summarized in order
to assist in integration and synthesis of monitoring and network
data.

The simulation models will be used to scale up from the
level of the physiological process to the level of the ecosystem,
and from the level of the ecosystem to vegetation-atmosphere
interactions as represented in Global Climate Models and remote
sensing techniques.

Fields of science

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Call for proposal

Data not available

Funding Scheme

CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
Address
Droevendaalsesteenweg 3 a
6700 AA Wageningen
Netherlands

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EU contribution
€ 0,00

Participants (13)

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Last update: 14 June 1995

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/EV5V0468

European Union, 2023