The resilience of temperate forest ecosystems in the face of climate change: evolution of water resources and biogeochemical functioning of soils for the lowland and mountain forests of Bourgogne Franche-Comté

Started in November 2020

Funding: doctoral grant

Supervisors: Thierry Castel and Philippe Amiotte Suchet

Abstract

A consequence of climate change and the variability that goes with it, in a warming context, is the tendency for forests to accumulate climatic debts. These debts may drastically affect the resilience and the sustainability of such ecosystems in a changing environment. How will key water and carbon cycles be affected? What trends and changes will these cycles go through and how resilient are they when faced with forest management practices? The forests of the Burgundy Franche-Comté region offer an array of ecosystems and climatic conditions that could be studied so as to address these questions. High resolution regional climate simulations will support the accurate charaterization of the current and projected pedoclimatic conditions. In addition, models of forest water balance and hydrology, will be fed by these climate data towards the computation of blue and green water partition indexes for three tree species (beech, Douglas fir and spruce). Measurements of soil carbon fluxes will be jointly conducted over the beech forest study-site. The analysis will firstly assess all the changes and trends related to blue and green water partition-based metrics. Changes in the carbon cycle throughout the 21st Century will also be investigated, by using a parametrized simple soil carbon flux model for beech forests. It is expected that the meaning of trends and changes in water balance and carbon flux-based metrics may highlight and better account for the resilient and sustainable capabilities of these forests facing the projected climate changes.

Keywords

regional climate, soil respiration, soil water balance, water cycle, modelling, carbon cycle

extrait:

lien_externe:

titre:

La résilience des écosystèmes forestiers tempérés face au changement climatique : évolution des ressources hydriques et fonctionnement biogéochimiques des sols pour des forêts de plaine et de montagne de Bourgogne Franche-Comté

date_de_debut_these:

novembre 2020

nom:

Blanchet

date_de_debut_these_numerique:

202012

kc_data:

a:8:{i:0;s:0:"";s:4:"mode";s:0:"";s:3:"css";s:0:"";s:9:"max_width";s:0:"";s:7:"classes";s:0:"";s:9:"thumbnail";s:0:"";s:9:"collapsed";s:0:"";s:9:"optimized";s:0:"";}

kc_raw_content:

The resilience of temperate forest ecosystems in the face of climate change: evolution of water resources and biogeochemical functioning of soils for the lowland and mountain forests of Bourgogne Franche-Comté

 

Started in November 2020

Funding: doctoral grant

Supervisors: Thierry Castel and Philippe Amiotte Suchet

 

Abstract

A consequence of climate change and the variability that goes with it, in a warming context, is the tendency for forests to accumulate climatic debts. These debts may drastically affect the resilience and the sustainability of such ecosystems in a changing environment. How will key water and carbon cycles be affected? What trends and changes will these cycles go through and how resilient are they when faced with forest management practices? The forests of the Burgundy Franche-Comté region offer an array of ecosystems and climatic conditions that could be studied so as to address these questions. High resolution regional climate simulations will support the accurate charaterization of the current and projected pedoclimatic conditions. In addition, models of forest water balance and hydrology, will be fed by these climate data towards the computation of blue and green water partition indexes for three tree species (beech, Douglas fir and spruce). Measurements of soil carbon fluxes will be jointly conducted over the beech forest study-site. The analysis will firstly assess all the changes and trends related to blue and green water partition-based metrics. Changes in the carbon cycle throughout the 21st Century will also be investigated, by using a parametrized simple soil carbon flux model for beech forests. It is expected that the meaning of trends and changes in water balance and carbon flux-based metrics may highlight and better account for the resilient and sustainable capabilities of these forests facing the projected climate changes.

 

Keywords

regional climate, soil respiration, soil water balance, water cycle, modelling, carbon cycle