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KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima

Functional palaeoecology: Trait gradients across ecological disturbance events

Awarded: NOK 59,999

The EcoRe3 PAGES working group is developing methods to measure resistance, recovery and resilience to ecological disturbances in the palaeo-record, and to understand the biotic and abiotic controls that result in ecological resilience across biomes. One key biotic component which can mediate the response to disturbance, and therefore determine a system's resilience, are functional traits. Traits linked to systems that result in fast recovery rates are likely to be different to those responsible for high resistance, but whether general patterns can be observed with regards to (i) the types of traits associated with resistance/ recovery; and (ii) the variations in trait space that determine a system's response remains unclear. By focusing on general functional traits, rather than individual species, it is anticipated that greater predictive power will emerge in response to environmental disturbance and environmental change. This workshop aims to develop methods to interrogate the fossil record of disturbances in from the perspective of functional traits. Using ecological theory related to metabolic scaling, we make predictions about which traits are related to an ecosystem's resistance and which to its recovery dynamics. Specific climate and fire related disturbance events in the past will then be selected to test these predictions using fossil data.

Funding scheme:

KLIMAFORSK-Stort program klima