DIAGRASS · Differential adaptation capacity of dryland grasses to directional changes in water availability (DIAGRASS).

Differential adaptation capacity of dryland grasses to directional changes in water availability (DIAGRASS).

The contemporary global change is occurring at an unprecedentedly rapid pace, challenging organisms to maintain their fitness under novel biotic and abiotic conditions. For example, extreme rainfall and drought events are projected to increase in frequency and magnitude with different prevalence between continents and regions. Understanding the impacts of this intensification of the water cycle on grassland ecosystems will be critical for evaluating their future capacity to provide services and for developing sustainable management policies. This will be especially important in dryland regions, where water availability is the main driver of many ecological processes. The target species in the first phase of the project was Bouteloua eriopoda, considered a key forage species for both domesticated and wild animals in the Southwest States of USA. B. eriopoda is distributed in ten Southwest States of USA, and in rangelands where it is dominant, a net annual financial return of around $2/ha has been estimated. Also, its spread by stolons makes it one of the best erosion control plants in its distribution area. It is known that this species has a very negative response to the interaction between drought and grazing. Thus, understanding how will be the responses of this species to extreme events in drylands can improve predictions of vegetation dynamics and the future economic viability of most ranches located in its natural range. In the second phase of the project, Brachypodium hybridum was the target species. It offers a main direct economic and environmental benefit when it is used as a protective plant cover against erosion in human-managed lands and is an interesting species for ecological studies of typical Mediterranean plants and polyploid speciation. B. hybridum is also a close relative of B. distachyon, which is emerging as a genetic model for the study of key genes regulating economically important traits of temperate crop and forage grasses. Thus, the main objective of DIAGRASS is to evaluate the adaptation capacity and ecological memory (i.e., responses to current stress modulated by antecedent conditions) of dryland grass species, as well as basic ecosystem functions, to changes in water availability.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз