ENAC Seminar Series by Dr. Ch. Grossiord, Dr. A. Bjorkman & Prof. J. Alexander
Event details
| Date | 09.01.2019 |
| Hour | 09:00 › 12:15 |
| Speaker | Dr. Ch. Grossiord, Dr. A. Bjorkman & Prof. J. Alexander |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
9:00 – 10:00 – Dr. Charlotte Grossiord
Ambizione Fellow, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Terrestrial ecosystems in a changing climate
Great concern has emerged in recent years over large-scale climate-induced reductions in plant growth and survival. In particular, the increased frequency of droughts occurring at warmer temperatures (also called hotter droughts or global-change-type droughts) has been linked to massive plant mortality in ecosystems around the globe. Yet, our predictions on how a warming and drying climate will affect plant communities are still challenged by important lacks in mechanistic understanding of species community dynamics. Particularly recognized processes that could influence plant responses to climate change, but that are often not accounted for, are how plants acclimate to long-term shifts in climate, and how the interactions among species could influence plant responses to extreme events. In this talk, I will be presenting recent findings from 1) an experimental manipulation of precipitation and temperature in a semiarid woodland highlighting the acclimation potential of plants to warming and drought, and 2) a global study in European forests demonstrating that species diversity has strong potential to help us understand how and why forest ecosystems respond to drought.
10:15 – 11:15 – Dr. Anne Bjorkman
Postdoctoral Scholar, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Germany
Recent species and functional diversity dynamics across the tundra biome
The rate of climate warming in the Arctic is double that of any other region on earth. This rapid temperature change has the potential to drive substantial shifts in the composition and functioning of tundra ecosystems. In this talk I will discuss our current understanding of these changes and their consequences, focusing in particular on plant phenology, biodiversity, and functional composition. I will discuss and compare results from long-term monitoring and experimental studies at dozens of sites spread across the tundra biome, and explore the implications of these findings for predicting future changes in tundra ecosystem function, including potential feedbacks to global carbon cycling and climate change.
11:15 – 12:15 – Prof. Jake Alexander
Assistant Professor, University of Lausanne
Reshuffling the ecological deck: the consequences of novel interactions for plant communities and distributions
Species' distributions are being reshuffled across the globe at an unprecedented rate, occurring through the spread of non-native species and range shifts of native species responding to climate and other environmental changes. This redistribution of species’ ranges is changing the structure and composition of ecological communities, for example causing species to interact that were previously isolated from one another. Biological invasions show us that the impacts of these “novel interactions” can sometimes be dramatic. However, the impacts of novel interactions following climate change are poorly understood. In our lab, we study the ecological consequences of species’ redistribution, and in particular seek a mechanistic understanding of impacts of novel interactions and our ability to predict these impacts, rooted in community ecology theory. We work primarily in montane plant communities, where experimental manipulations conducted across elevation gradients allow us to disentangle impacts of changing biotic interactions following climate change induced range shifts. I will highlight some of our research that asks whether we can predict the outcome of changing plant-plant interactions, how evolution might influence these outcomes, and how changing plant-soil interactions influence plant species’ coexistence and ecosystem processes. This work shows how an integration of community ecology and macroecological perspectives will be essential to arrive at a more mechanistic understanding of community structure and species’ ranges, and how these respond to environmental changes.
Ambizione Fellow, Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Terrestrial ecosystems in a changing climate
Great concern has emerged in recent years over large-scale climate-induced reductions in plant growth and survival. In particular, the increased frequency of droughts occurring at warmer temperatures (also called hotter droughts or global-change-type droughts) has been linked to massive plant mortality in ecosystems around the globe. Yet, our predictions on how a warming and drying climate will affect plant communities are still challenged by important lacks in mechanistic understanding of species community dynamics. Particularly recognized processes that could influence plant responses to climate change, but that are often not accounted for, are how plants acclimate to long-term shifts in climate, and how the interactions among species could influence plant responses to extreme events. In this talk, I will be presenting recent findings from 1) an experimental manipulation of precipitation and temperature in a semiarid woodland highlighting the acclimation potential of plants to warming and drought, and 2) a global study in European forests demonstrating that species diversity has strong potential to help us understand how and why forest ecosystems respond to drought.
10:15 – 11:15 – Dr. Anne Bjorkman
Postdoctoral Scholar, Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Germany
Recent species and functional diversity dynamics across the tundra biome
The rate of climate warming in the Arctic is double that of any other region on earth. This rapid temperature change has the potential to drive substantial shifts in the composition and functioning of tundra ecosystems. In this talk I will discuss our current understanding of these changes and their consequences, focusing in particular on plant phenology, biodiversity, and functional composition. I will discuss and compare results from long-term monitoring and experimental studies at dozens of sites spread across the tundra biome, and explore the implications of these findings for predicting future changes in tundra ecosystem function, including potential feedbacks to global carbon cycling and climate change.
11:15 – 12:15 – Prof. Jake Alexander
Assistant Professor, University of Lausanne
Reshuffling the ecological deck: the consequences of novel interactions for plant communities and distributions
Species' distributions are being reshuffled across the globe at an unprecedented rate, occurring through the spread of non-native species and range shifts of native species responding to climate and other environmental changes. This redistribution of species’ ranges is changing the structure and composition of ecological communities, for example causing species to interact that were previously isolated from one another. Biological invasions show us that the impacts of these “novel interactions” can sometimes be dramatic. However, the impacts of novel interactions following climate change are poorly understood. In our lab, we study the ecological consequences of species’ redistribution, and in particular seek a mechanistic understanding of impacts of novel interactions and our ability to predict these impacts, rooted in community ecology theory. We work primarily in montane plant communities, where experimental manipulations conducted across elevation gradients allow us to disentangle impacts of changing biotic interactions following climate change induced range shifts. I will highlight some of our research that asks whether we can predict the outcome of changing plant-plant interactions, how evolution might influence these outcomes, and how changing plant-soil interactions influence plant species’ coexistence and ecosystem processes. This work shows how an integration of community ecology and macroecological perspectives will be essential to arrive at a more mechanistic understanding of community structure and species’ ranges, and how these respond to environmental changes.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- ENAC
Contact
- Cristina Perez