Effects of PREcipitation Change On Terrestrial (EPRECOT) ecosystems – a workshop and networking activity.

May 2006, Elisnore, Denmark 

  

       Climatic change will lead to changes in amounts and timing of precipitation. Consequently terrestrial ecosystems will face changes in water availability, prolonged drought periods, and increased flooding leading to interactions with other global change factors and causing significant effects on ecosystem functioning and increased risk of desertification. Research activities into precipitation change have so far been very fragmented and with little coordination, and the overall consequences of precipitation change for terrestrial ecosystems and the society are still largely unknown. In order to bring together international research groups and experiences from precipitation related research, TERACC and the European Commissions' Sixth Framework Programme co-sponsored a workshop Effects of PREcipitation Change On Terrestrial ecosystems (EPRECOT).  The ultimate goal of the workshop was to facilitate future international research collaboration within the field between European researchers and researchers from the US and developing countries.

 

The workshop achieved this by evaluating current knowledge on (i) the direct and indirect responses of terrestrial ecosystems to changes in the quantity and timing of precipitation, and (ii) how changes in water mediate ecosystem response to warming and elevated CO₂. The workshop included 4 main activities:

    1)        present day “state of the art” and knowledge will be summarized and synthesized based on past and present ecosystem scale research projects.

2)      future key research areas will be pinpointed by the use of ecosystem-models to generate hypotheses about the expected consequences of precipitation changes.

3)      gaps in knowledge and new research activities will be proposed through plenary discussions and a series of working group discussions.

4)      the results will be disseminated and distributed in a synthesis report, 2 scientific papers and a web-page summary.

 

The workshop integrated experimental and modeling approaches on the effects of precipitation changes on ecosystems across local, regional, and global scales. Interactions with other global change factors were highlighted through a modeling experiment, and novel research and modeling opportunities that have yet to be explored in past and ongoing studies were identified. The workshop emphasized the following areas:

• Changes in the quantity (increases and decreases) and timing of precipitation.

• Interactions with elevated CO₂ and warming.

• The relative importance of these vectors of global change in different climatic and vegetation zones.

• Ecosystem-scale responses (soil processes, plant growth, C-cycling, biodiversity etc.) with specific focus on natural ecosystems.

•  Feedbacks to the climate system

• Contrasting responses in arid, semi-arid and moist environments.

 

Meeting Publications

 

Heisler, Jana L. and Weltzin, Jake F.  2006.  Variability matters:  towards a perspective on the influence of precipitation on terrestrial ecosystems.  New Phytologist  172:189-192.

 

EPRECOT brochure

 

 

For more information contact:  Claus Beier  

claus.beier@risoe.dk