Project Detail

Ecological and Evolutionary Responses of Plants to Climate Change: Growth Analysis across Ecosystems and Evolutionary Linkages

Name:	Ecological and Evolutionary Responses of Plants to Climate Change: Growth Analysis across Ecosystems and Evolutionary Linkages
Researchers:	Doležal Jiří (researcher)
Provider:	GAČR
Number:	GA17-19376S
Realization from:	2017
Realization to:	2019
Summary:	The proposed project will identify patterns and mechanisms of growth responses to climate change in terrestrial plants for which spatially explicit long-term data exist, and link them toecophysiology, evolutionary and environmental constraints, using global dataset with the growth and age records available for over 5000 species. We will supplement existing data by the field research in our experimental tropical and temperate sites. Tree-rings, dendrometers, densitometry and anatomy will be used to quantify annual and intra-annual variation in radial growth and carbon allocation. We will explore how individual climate-growth responses are modulated by plant interactions and external disturbances. Finally, we will focus on the role of carbohydrate reserves, water use efficiency and leaf thermoregulation in buffering the impact of climate fluctuations. The project will provide new insight into the evolution of plant adaptations and determinants of growth responses to warming and droughts, thereby enlarging our possibilities for forecasting ecosystem responses to climate change.