Synergistic global change impacts on belowground biodiversity and carbon stocks in mountain ecosystems

全球变化对山区生态系统地下生物多样性和碳储量的协同影响

• 批准号: NE/X017605/1
• 负责人: Arthur Broadbent
• 金额: $ 94.23万
• 依托单位: University of Stirling
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FX017605%2F1
• 关键词: Synergistic; global; change; impacts; belowground; Synergistic; global; change; impacts; belowground

Soil is one of the most complex and important resources on earth. It harbours vast biodiversity that underpins an array of ecosystem functions. Soil also stores more carbon (C) than the Earth's atmosphere and vegetation combined. However, soils are facing multiple challenges globally that threaten to cause soil biodiversity loss, reduce ecosystem functioning, and diminish the capacity of soils to store C. Understanding how soil biodiversity and soil C stocks will respond to the combined effects of global environmental changes remains extremely challenging. Much of our past understanding is based on studies of single factors that fail to incorporate the complexity of the system and interactions of its component parts. Currently we know little about synergistic effects. Synergistic effects arise when the impact of two or more factors acting together cannot be predicted from their individual impacts. These unforeseen effects can lead to sudden and catastrophic losses in biodiversity and soil C. Mountain ecosystems occur at all latitudes, are hotspots of biodiversity, and store significant amounts of soil C. However, they are very vulnerable to global environmental change. They are warming twice as fast as the global average, leading to upward shifts in vegetation, and increased extremes of drought and flooding. At the same time, agricultural and industrial pollution are overloading fragile mountain ecosystems with too much nitrogen (N), which can have negative effects on ecosystem processes. Synergistic effects are a particularly pressing knowledge gap in mountain ecosystems, where even fundamental data on soil microbial diversity, functioning, and soil C stocks are lacking.During this fellowship, I will address the knowledge gap on belowground biodiversity in mountain soils and how this critically underpins C-cycling processes. I will determine how soil biodiversity and functioning respond to multiple drivers of global change, establish if there are synergistic effects, and what the consequences of these synergistic effects are for soil C stocks in mountain ecosystems worldwide. To do this, I will use three powerful experimental approaches. 1) I will create a globally distributed experiment using both new and existing collaborations to assess how climate, N-deposition rates, and shifts in vegetation control soil C stocks in mountain ecosystems. Participants will send me soil collected from areas with different vegetation types in various mountain ranges and I will measure soil C stocks on all samples. I will use open-access global databases and 3D models to acquire climatic and N-deposition data for each specific location.2) I will set up experimental manipulations in arctic and alpine mountain ranges to explicitly test how warming, N-addition, and vegetation shifts affect soil biodiversity and C-cycling rates under real-world conditions. This will provide much needed knowledge of the ecological mechanisms by which soil biodiversity loss is connected to C losses from soil following environmental change. I will measure the bacterial, fungal, and invertebrate diversity, along with a suite of C-cycle processes in the soil. 3) I will test whether a legacy of multiple environmental changes amplifies the effects of drought and flooding on greenhouse gas emissions from mountain soils. To do this, I will conduct carefully designed controlled environment experiments using soil collected from the field experiments. My findings will initiate a paradigm shift away from single factor global change studies, towards a focus on synergistic effects between global change factors. I will also generate important insights on how soil biodiversity contributes to the functioning of mountain ecosystems under different global change scenarios. This new knowledge could be used to inform land managers and policy makers on how best to preserve soil biodiversity and improve natural C storage in mountain ecosystems in the UK and abroad.

土壤是地球上最复杂，最重要的资源之一。它拥有庞大的生物多样性，这些生物多样性是生态系统功能的基础。土壤还储存的碳（C）多于地球的大气和植被的合并。但是，在全球范围内，土壤正面临着多个挑战，威胁到导致土壤生物多样性丧失，减少生态系统功能，并降低土壤存储C的能力C。了解土壤生物多样性和土壤C库存将如何应对全球环境变化的综合影响仍然极具挑战性。我们过去的大部分理解都是基于对无法纳入系统复杂性及其组件部分相互作用的单个因素的研究。目前，我们对协同效应一无所知。当两个或多个因素一起起作用的影响无法从其个体影响中预测到两个或多个因素的影响时，就会产生协同效应。这些不可预见的作用会导致生物多样性和土壤的突然造成的灾难性损失。山地生态系统在所有纬度都发生，是生物多样性的热点，并存储了大量的土壤。但是，它们非常容易受到全球环境变化的影响。他们的变暖是全球平均水平的两倍，导致植被的上升变化，干旱和洪水的极端变化。同时，农业和工业污染使脆弱的山地生态系统过多，氮（N）过多，这可能会对生态系统过程产生负面影响。协同效应是山区生态系统中特别紧迫的知识差距，即使缺乏有关土壤微生物多样性，功能和土壤C种群的基本数据。在此研究金的情况下，我将解决山地土壤中地下生物多样性的知识差距，以及如何进行C-Cyc-Cyc-cycling Processes的核心基础。我将确定土壤生物多样性和功能如何响应全球变化的多个驱动因素，确定是否存在协同作用，以及这些协同影响的后果对全球山区生态系统中的土壤C种群的影响是什么。为此，我将使用三种强大的实验方法。 1）我将使用新的和现有的合作创建一个全球分布的实验，以评估山地生态系统中的气候，N沉积率和植被控制土壤C种的变化。参与者会向我寄来，从各种山脉的植被类型的地区收集的土壤，我将在所有样品上测量土壤C种。我将使用开放访问全球数据库和3D模型来获取每个特定位置的气候和N沉积数据。2）我将在北极和高山山范围内设置实验操作，以明确测试如何在现实情况下影响土壤生物多样性和c cy速度的变暖，N-补习和植被的影响。这将提供有关土壤生物多样性丧失与环境变化后土壤损失相关的生态机制的急需了解。我将测量细菌，真菌和无脊椎动物的多样性，以及土壤中的C-Cycle过程。 3）我将测试多种环境变化的遗产是否会扩大干旱和洪水对山区土壤温室气体排放的影响。为此，我将使用从现场实验中收集的土壤进行精心设计的受控环境实验。我的发现将启动范式从单个因素全球变化研究转移到全球变化因素之间的协同效应。我还将对土壤生物多样性如何在不同的全球变化情景下如何贡献山地生态系统的功能产生重要见解。这些新知识可用于向土地管理者和政策制定者告知如何最好地保护土壤生物多样性并改善英国和国外山区生态系统的天然C储存。