ECOFOR: Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in degraded and recovering Amazonia...
| Grant number: | 16/13232-5 |
| Support type: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctorate |
| Effective date (Start): | November 01, 2016 |
| Effective date (End): | May 31, 2019 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology |
| Principal Investigator: | Alessandra Tomaselli Fidelis |
| Grantee: | Soizig Anne Le Stradic |
| Home Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil |
| Associated research grant: | 15/06743-0 - How does fire season affect Cerrado vegetation?, AP.JP |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 18/03755-6 - Impact of fire history on root architectural and morphological functional parameters in campo sujo communities, BE.EP.PD |
Abstract Misperceptions and lack of knowledge about the tropical Old-Growth Grasslands (OGGs) contribute to their destruction, especially due to projects promoting their conversion for agriculture or tree plantations according current carbon compensation policies. First objective of this project is to assess distribution and diversity of root Functional Parameters (FP), including architectural and morphological FP, and Underground Storage Organ (USO) diversity, at the community level, between different OGGs occurring along a productivity gradient and along different fire regimes, and in the context of the resource economic spectrum. The second objective aims to better understand biomass allocation in OGGs and to examine how root functional structure can impact on ecosystem functioning, specifically soil carbon inputs and its consequence for carbon stock in the selected OGGs. We selected three different OGGs from South America, occurring along a productivity gradient: the campos rupestres, the campos sujos, and the campos úmidos. Experimental protocol will include vegetation survey, aboveground biomass assessment, and underground storage organs analysis, analysis of root architecture and morphological FP and soil analysis using the sequential coring method. Fifteen sites will be selected and five plots per site will be randomly defined. Soil core samples will be carried out each 10 cm depth from the surface to the maximum soil depth (or up to 2m for deeper soils) for soil analysis and root trait measures. This project is designed for 2 years, aims to publish at least 4 scientific papers and intents also to contribute to provide data to global root databases. (AU) | |