EXTREME · Do extreme climatic events facilitate plant invasions?
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2016-04-01 → 2018-05-25
- EU contribution
- €177,599
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Do extreme climatic events facilitate plant invasions?
EXTREME aimed to explore how climate change affects plant invasions, specifically focusing on the role of increased climatic variability and extreme events. Extreme events are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency with ongoing global warming. Recent studies have shown that global warming influences the probability of species invasions, enabling alien species to expand into regions in which they previously could not survive and reproduce. However, we have little understanding to what extend increased climatic variability and extreme events may promote species invasions. The overall objective of EXTREME was to increase this understanding. We focused on drylands which are predicted to be highly sensitive to future climate change, especially to changes in rainfall events. Drylands are also among the systems where the impact of invasions is predicted to rapidly increase over the coming century. They occupy 40% of the global land area and harbour nearly 2 billion people in the poorest regions of the world. Understanding how biological invasions in these systems will be facilitated by increased climatic variability and extreme events will be essential for our ability to mitigate future impacts on ecosystems as well as on people’s livelihoods.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Extreme climate events (ECEs) are projected to increase in magnitude and frequency as global warming intensifies the global water cycle. Global warming is also changing species distribution patterns by affecting native plant communities and by enabling alien species to expand beyond their native range. We increasingly realize that climate change and biological invasions act together, leading to even more dramatic outcomes. However, how ECEs will affect the incidence and strength of biological invasions remains poorly understood. Therefore, the overall objective of EXTREME is to develop a mechanistic understanding of how increased climatic variability and ECEs affect alien plant invasions. I will relate the incidence of species invasiveness with climate variability and the occurrence of ECEs, using drylands as study system. A novel approach to develop further understanding is the inclusion of genomic features in explaining the response to ECEs. A modelling approach will be combined with a common-garden experiment to study the effect of drought and heavy rainfall on the performance of native and alien plant species in a model dryland system in South Africa. EXTREME will allow me to diversify my individual competence by acquiring new skills (statistical and climate modelling and GIS) and competencies (academic leadership, proposal writing, project management). EXTREME will strongly benefit my inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary expertise and strengthen my international network, which is also beneficial for the host. A two-way transfer of knowledge is guaranteed since EXTREME combines my expertise in invasion and evolutionary ecology with the host’s expertise in the effect of climate variability and extremes. Therefore, EXTREME is not only expected to catalyse my career development, but will contribute to Europe’s knowledge-based economy and society by providing invaluable knowledge on climate change and invasive species that is of the highest priority in the EU.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY · WageningenCoordinatorNetherlands
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union