Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Research Seminar

Seminar abstract: Global change drivers impact on ecosystem services and functioning at different scales. Furthermore, the impact of global change drivers on ecosystem functions is modulated by the interaction with other global change drivers acting simultaneously. Forest ecosystems cover 26 % of the land surface, store 50% of total terrestrial biomass and are responsible for major provisioning of multiple ecosystem services (e.g. wood production, climate regulation, water and nutrient cycling). These ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to the impact of global change, given their long history of human exploitation. In particular, forests in water-limited regions are more likely to suffer from the impact of global change, especially from climate change. I will show the effects of three different global change drivers -climate change, changes in habitat use and increase atmospheric CO2- on two water-limited forest ecosystems: a Mediterranean-continental forest and a native Australian eucalypt forest of the Cumberland plain. I will discuss the impact of these drivers, and their interactions, from the population to the leaf level.

The seminar will be followed by drinks and nibbles available in the foyer of L9 – all are welcome! No RSVP is required.