Geographic variation in the impacts of land use changes on ecosystem stability
Biomass production by trees, which is critical for services provided by forest ecosystems, is increasingly threatened by climate change, land use and insect herbivory. Combined with the accelerating loss of biodiversity, this loss of ecosystem services has accentuated the need to clarify the role of biodiversity in maintaining stability of ecological communities. We will explore geographical variation in the impacts of land use on the stability of the interactions between plants, plant-feeding insects and insect-feeding birds, test whether mechanisms underlying the stability of these functions are consistent across the globe, and identify the factors that affect ecosystem stability and the regions where natural and managed ecosystems are most vulnerable to ongoing environmental changes. The results will be used to develop management strategies for conservation of biodiversity and for mitigation of the impacts of biodiversity loss on the provision of ecosystem services.
Funding
The project is funded under the ERANet-LAC (Network of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean Countries on Joint Innovation and Research Activities) second international joint call. Coordinator: Mikhail V. Kozlov.
Partners
University of Turku, Finland
Funding provided by the Academy of Finland
Contact person: Mikhail V. Kozlov (mikoz[at]utu.fi)
Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, Peru
Funding provided by the National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CONCYTEC)
Contact person: Norma Salinas (nsalinasr[at]pucp.pe)
Universidad Nacional de Río Negro, Argentina
Funding provided by the Ministry for Science, Technology and Productive Innovation (MINCyT)
Contact person: Lucas Garibaldi (lgaribaldi[at]unrn.edu.ar)
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain
Funding provided by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO)
Contact person: Luis Cayuela (luis.cayuela[at]urjc.es)
Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, France
Self-funded partner
Contact person: Bastien Castagneyrol (bastien.castagneyrol[at]inra.fr)
Milestones
05 January 2017: The consortium agreement is signed by all partners
17 January 2017: The webpage of the project is created
21-22 February 2017: The kick-off consortium meeting (Lima, Peru)
22 March 2017: Data collection manual approved by all partners
4 May 2018: Revised version of Data collection manual distributed among partners
1 October 2019: The concluding consortium meeting (Curitiba, Brazil)
4 October 2019: Start of data exchange through GILES_data folder on Dropbox
Deliverables
Presentations of the project results at scientific meetings
XXV congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (Curitiba, Brazil, 1 October 2019): Norma Salinas (Peru), Hervé Jactel (France), Juan Antonio Hernández-Agüero (Spain), Mikhail Kozlov and Vitali Zverev (Finland), Marcos Nacif (Argentina).