News
Vortrag von Anke Jentsch im MODUS-Oberseminar: „Effects of extreme weather events on ecosystems – Insights from experimental ecology and disturbance theory“
Mittwoch, den 10. November 2021
Am Mittwoch, dem 10. November 2021, um 12:15 Uhr im S 102, Gebäudeteil FAN.A spricht
Frau Prof. Dr. Anke Jentsch
Professorin für Störungsökologie
Bayreuther Zentrum für Ökologie und Umweltforschung (BayCEER)
Universität Bayreuth
im Rahmen des
Forschungszentrums für Modellierung und Simulation (MODUS).
über das Thema
„Effects of extreme weather events on ecosystems – Insights from experimental ecology and disturbance theory“.
Weitere Einzelheiten erfahren Sie im eLearning-Kurs (Vortragsankündigungen, Diskussionen, ...) des MODUS-Forschungszentrums.
ABSTRACT:
Future climate change predicts higher frequency and intensity of extreme weather events with long term changes in ecosystem functioning. Thus, currently emerging climate impact research includes effects of drought, heavy rainfall, winter warm spells, late frost or heat waves on plant community dynamics and ecosystem functions.
First, I will report on the effects of extreme weather events from our climate and biodiversity manipulation experiments in European mesic grasslands and from downslope translocation experiments in the European Alps. High elevation ecosystems will experience increasing periods of above-average warmth, whereas low elevation grasslands will experience precipitation changes. This causes uncertainties in predicting plant community response. We measured response parameters representing five categories of ecosystem functioning: Primary production, water regulation, carbon fixation, nutrient cycling, and community response across trophic levels.
Second, I would like to share with you my new theory of pulse dynamics and disturbance in ecology. I propose four postulates:
- ‘Resource Dynamics’ characterizes the magnitude, rate, and duration of resource change caused by pulse events, including the continuing changes in resources that are the result of abiotic and biotic processes;
- ‘Energy Flux’ characterizes the energy flow that controls the variation in the rates of resource assimilation across ecosystems;
- ‘Patch Dynamics’ characterizes the distribution of resource patches over space and time, and the resulting patterns of biotic diversity, ecosystem structure, and cross-scale feedbacks of pulses processes; and
- ‘Biotic Trait Diversity’ characterizes the evolutionary responses to pulse dynamics and, in turn, the way trait diversity affects ecosystem dynamics during and after pulse events.
We apply the four postulates to biomass-altering disturbances and derive seven generalizations that predict disturbance magnitude, resource trajectory, rate of resource change, disturbance probability, biotic trait diversification at evolutionary scales, biotic diversity at ecological scales, and functional resilience. Ultimately, we aim at better understanding community dynamics, comprising resistance, recovery, resilience and adaptation to disturbance and extreme weather events.