CREAF

Climate change is altering the regimes of key disturbances such as drought, wildfires and pests. This has important consequences for the dynamics and functioning of ecosystems, and therefore to their resilience in front of changing climates. We need a better understanding on how species performance (demographic processes of recruitment, growth and mortality) varies in space and time determining the response of species, populations and communities, responses that govern forest and shrubland resilience to global change.

Objectius

The general objective of the project RESIBIO is to study the role of the species climatic niche in the resilience of woody communities in front of three major disturbances assocaited to climate change: extreme drought, wildfires and insect pests.

Accions

The project will asssess the response to disturbance of different types of forests and shrublands in a gradient encompassing from semi-arid, meso-mediterranean and medio-european (from the south Iberian Peninsula to central Europe) and at a global scale. The concept of species climatic niche is ideally suited to assess the response of species and population to climate change. Within the niche framework, the project will standardize and quatify the differences among species in their requirements and demographic performance, from local to biogeographical contexts, under the influence of three key disturbances an their interaction such as extreme drought, wildfires and insect pests. The mechanistic understanding of post-disturbance resilience gained from the project will provide new insights at the empirical, theoretical and methodological level, that will be applied to infer ecosystem vulnerability under future changing climates. 

Proyecto PID2020-115264RB-I00 financiado por MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033