Pod A Conference Room
Micro Working Group

All day

 

Our campus is closed to the public for this event.

Global warming, habitat loss, extreme events and unsustainable water management pose increasing threats on dryland ecosystems. Drylands cover more than 40% of emerged lands and host a third of the world population (Maestre et al. 2016; Reynolds et al. 2007). Empirical evidence from global drylands surveys suggests the existence of thresholds in aridity levels that are associated to systemic changes in structural and functional ecosystem properties (Berdugo et al. 2020, 2022). This means that upcoming changes in climate and land use could translate into abrupt ecosystem shifts indrylands as those thresholds are passed.

Recently, the soil microbiome has been identified as a key ingredient in the functioning of dryland ecosystems (Berdugo et al. 2022). Yet, the complex interplay between aridity levels, plant diversity and facilitation and soil variables hinders our capacity to understand the mechanisms underlying dryland degradation. In our micro working group, we will develop a mathematical framework for dryland ecosystems that will include not only facilitation and competition between plants, but also their feedback with water and the state of the soil microbiome. The main objective will be to understand how these three compartments (vegetation, water and soil) are related to the observations of abrupt shifts in global dryland surveys.

Organizers

Sonia KéfiSonia KéfiExternal Professor
Ricard SoléRicard SoléExternal Professor

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