Monitoring the contribution of European grasslands to the conservation of soil biodiversity and ecosystem function under multiple global change stressors

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Nico Eisenhauer, since 4/2024
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems ; Ecology of Land Use ; Organismic Interactions, Chemical Ecology and Microbiomes of Plant Systems
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 532431683

Unlike for plant and animals, the capacity of European protected areas to conserve soil biodiversity and ecosystem services under multiple global change stressors is virtually unknown. Natural and agricultural grasslands play fundamental roles for biodiversity conservation and sustainable food production. The different types of grasslands (protected areas, semi-natural grasslands and croplands) provide multiple ecosystem functions, but there are also important trade-offs (e.g., food production vs. soil carbon sequestration). It is also still poorly understood which grassland system buffers better against perturbation and climate change. This lack of knowledge is especially concerning in the current context of anthropogenic climate warming, and in response to other multiple co-occurring stressors threatening the conservation of soil biodiversity and function, such as drought, pesticides and over-fertilization. GRASS4FUN aims to compare the soil biodiversity, ecological networks and ecosystem services supported by grasslands across a land-use intensification gradient, and in response to landscape features, looking at their conservation status (temporal dynamic) and resistance to multiple global change stressors. In order to do this, we will combine existing European surveys with the monitoring of soil biodiversity and function in 300 grasslands (protected grasslands, semi-natural grasslands and croplands) across a pan-European gradient, and will further model the future of soil biodiversity, ecosystem services and fundamental trade-offs among the three land-use types under multiple global change scenarios and at the European scale. Greenhouse experiments will subsequently be performed to test the responses of soil biodiversity and function to multiple global stresses including drought, pesticide use, nitrogen pollution and heavy metals. We specifically also test whether landscape attributes (e.g., landscape heterogeneity) impact above and belowground biodiversity and its ability to buffer against global change stresses. GRASS4FUN will be performed hand-by-hand with multiple stakeholders to facilitate transfer to stakeholders, policy makers and society with the fundamental goal of providing ground-breaking knowledge to make ecosystems more resilience to global stresses and protect European biodiversity, including organisms living in soils.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, USA
• Partner Organisation: Agence Nationale de la Recherche / The French National Research Agency; Agencia Estatal de Investigación; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT); Ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit; Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
• Cooperation Partners: Dr. Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo; Pablo Garcia Palacios; Professor Dr. Marcel van der Heijden; Dr. Marie Simonin; Professor Dr. José Paulo Sousa; Professorin Dr. Franciska de Vries
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Carlos Guerra, until 4/2024