Reaction of Different Provenances of Grassland Species to Extreme Weather Events
O 4.1 in Klimaforschung
15.04.2010, 13:30-13:45, H13
Reaction of Different Provenances of Grassland Species to Extreme Weather Events Climate Change will alter worldwide growth conditions and event regimes considerably. It is important to know how key species will react to these changes in order to secure the productivity of ecosystems. Especially the identification of provenances of key species that are well adapted to future conditions is one promising approach in this context. The selective use of plant provenances is a potential tool for climate adaptation as it accounts for the intraspecific variability. Provenance trials are long known in forestry. However, there are hardly any studies on the reaction of provenances of grassland species to climatic extreme events. One aim of the EVENT III- Experiment, therefore, is to identify ecotypes/provenances of four grassland species adapted to projected future mean climate conditions and extreme weather events. Provenances were systematically selected by identifying regions within the distribution range of the species with current climatic conditions similar to the projected ones for Bayreuth and provenances from these regions were acquired. We hypothesize that provenance impacts the reaction of grassland species to artificially induced extreme weather events like drought, warming or a combination of both. First results, derived with linear mixed effect models, show that both provenance and extreme event significantly influence biomass production. Additionally a significantly different drought tolerance (significant combined effect of provenance and drought) could be detected for A. elatius. A moderate warming of 1.5° did not trigger any effects on biomass production.
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