Buttler Alexandre

Interactive effects of altitude and management on resistance and resilience of permanent grasslands to drought: combining agronomic, functional and ecophysiological approaches (GrassAlt)
Impact de la sécheresse sur les prairies permanentes (GrassAlt)


Project Number: CH-6423
Project Type: Research_Project
Project Duration: 01/01/2015 - 12/31/2018 project completed
Funding Source: SNSF ,
Leading Institution: WSL
Project Leader: Prof. Alexandre Buttler
Head of Ecological systems laboratory EPFL-ENAC and WSL
Laboratoire ECOS (EPFL and WSL)
WSL - Site de Lausanne
WSL
GR B2 417
Bâtiment GR, Station 2
1015 Lausanne
Phone: +41 (0) 21 693 39 39 ; +41 (0) 79 277 37 00
FAX: +41 (0) 21 693 39 13
e-Mail: alexandre.buttler(at)epfl.ch
http://ecos.epfl.ch
Metadata: http://www.parcs.ch/pjv/mmd_fullentry.php?docu_id=36205

related to this project.
for which the project has a relevance.

Disciplines:
ecology
forestry
agricultural sciences

Keywords:
Management; Swiss Jura; Altitudinal gradient; Drought; Grasslands; Plant traits; Fodder

Abstract:
Grassland ecosystems are challenged to meet the growing demand for ecosystem services and providing human goods. Grasslands are at the core of the Jura agriculture and justify financial support of the government, whose agricultural policy supports forage autonomy of herbivore herds. The expected increase in extreme climatic events will cause significant constraints on grassland systems that are particularly sensitive to drought. As a result, farmers must adapt grassland management, as well as their breeding objectives. Identifying potential interactive effects of different factors, such as altitude and management, with different water availability scenarios is therefore a major challenge to anticipate the performance of grasslands and the reliability of production at a regional scale under future climate variability. The current project will focus on the response of pastures to simulated spring and summer droughts along an altitudinal gradient and according to two management schemes. The objective of the project is twofold: i) provide agronomical references and management clues for forage production under altered precipitation regimes to anticipate potential yield losses and to adapt to future climate extremes, ii) identify ecological mechanisms that drive grassland responses to understand grassland resistance and resilience to drought events and predict their evolution under future climate. To achieve both applied and fundamental goals, agronomical monitoring will be combined with ecological approaches. A plant functional approach will be implemented to address changes in species and functional compositions of grasslands in response to altered environmental conditions. Moreover, relevant and innovative ecophysiological measurements will be developed to assess drought resistance mechanisms at the plant species level. Through the development of knowledge, the proposed project will significantly add in our understanding of the response of grassland communities to future climate variability, and will contribute to ecological theories. Further, the proposed project includes an effective integration of fundamental ecological principles into an agronomic issue, and will lead to the development of references directly relevant to agriculture.

URL: http://p3.snf.ch/Project-156282

Publications:

Meisser M., Vitra A., Stévenin L., Mosimann E., Mariotte P., Buttler A. (2018). Impacts de la sécheresse sur le fonctionnement des systèmes herbagers. Recherche Agronomique Suisse 9(3), 82–91.



Last update: 4/17/18
Source of data: ProClim- Research InfoSystem (1993-2024)
Update the data of project: CH-6423

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