Simulating ecosystem adaptation in response to a changing climate by capturing belowground plant functional traits in an eco-evolutionary vegetation model (Plant-FATE)

Hofhansl, F. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0073-0946, Maxwell, T., Franklin, O. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0376-4140, Stefaniak, E., & Joshi, J. (2024). Simulating ecosystem adaptation in response to a changing climate by capturing belowground plant functional traits in an eco-evolutionary vegetation model (Plant-FATE). In: The future of sustainable land use across ecosystems, landscapes and biomes, 9th — 13th September 2024, Freising, Germany.

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Abstract

In the face of ongoing global crises, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, we urgently need to understand the dynamic and complex adaptive responses of global forest ecosystems. To do so, we need to develop modelling frameworks that account for multiple temporal and organizational scales, and therefore capture functional adaptations of individuals, species, and ecosystems in response to the environment. Here we present Plant-FATE (Plant Functional Acclimation and Trait Evolution) an eco-evolutionary vegetation model that embodies functional diversity by representing plant life-history strategies in trait space, and adaptations by accounting for short-term physiological acclimation, mid-term demographic shifts, and long-term trait evolution. Tested with data obtained from an hyperdiverse site in the Amazon Forest, our model captures plant functional characteristics and therefore correctly predicts emergent ecosystem properties, such as the size distribution and community-composition of the local species pool. As a next step, we are extending the physiological module of Plant-FATE by implementing an optimality-based representation of belowground plant traits that captures the observed trade-offs between water/nutrient uptake and the requisite investment into fine root biomass. At the community level, this means that changes in soil fertility or water content, e.g. during drought, can alter belowground strategies of plants competing for limiting resources. By incorporating a dynamic representation of belowground plant functional traits and capturing the eco-evolutionary niches of plant species coexisting across natural environmental gradients, we are able to represent ecosystem adaptation and community shifts in response to a changing climate and therefore will be able to simulate the functional response of forest ecosystems under future scenarios.

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