Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Multifunctional Landscapes
Climate Regulation
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Plant-soil interactions and climate regulation
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This work package led by Richard Bardgett at University of
Manchester focusses on how changes in plant functional
diversity influence belowground communities and
processing of soil C and N that underpin the ecosystem
services of climate regulation (C sequestration and
greenhouse gas GHG emissions) and forage production.
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The following hypotheses will be tested:
H1. Change in grassland plant functional diversity is a driver of shifts in soil microbial communities
and the biogeochemical processes that underpin ecosystem service delivery (plant production,
soil C sequestration and N retention, and GHG emissions.
H2. Plant functional diversity effects on soil biological properties and related ecosystem services can be predicted at the plot and landscape scale using community-level traits.
H3. Plant functional diversity promotes the resilience of soil biological properties and ecosystem services that they underpin during environmental stress.
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Experiments will involve a landscape-scale study examining relationships between plant functional diversity, soil microbial communities and ecosystem services along the gradient of management intensity. Replicated plots will be sampled along the gradient from ancient semi-natural grassland, through restoring grassland, to intensive agriculture at peak aboveground biomass.
The work package also involves a field-scale study manipulating plant functional diversity through: a) sequential sowing of key plant species and functional groups into intact species-poor grassland to create high diversity communities; and b) selective removal of key species and functional groups from species-rich grassland to simulate species loss. The experiment will also involve a drought treatment to assess the resilience of plant functional diversity-ecosystem service relationships.
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The project builds on previous work exploring linkages between plant functional diversity, soil biological properties and carbon sequestration (De Deyn, Cornelison & Bardgett, 2008, Ecology Letters 11, 516-531)
Latest Updates
Green House Gas Measurement
Measure in species poor pasture on Salisbury Plain. We measured the vegetation, looking at the species communities, and gas fluxes including methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide.
Vegetation Inventory
Wessex BESS's fied team was bussy conducting vegetation inventory. Preliminary results suggest that while species richness increases dramatically as the system becomes more natural, the effects on carbon lockdown and nutrient cycling are less simple; broadly, more carbon and nutrients are lost and cycled when grasslands are allowed to lie fallow but have had some fertiliser inputs.