Abstract
Climate change and biodiversity loss are two of humanity’s greatest current challenges. We increasingly realize that the two are intimately linked. Climate change threatens biodiversity, while biodiversity may increase ecosystem resilience to climate change. I aim to improve our understanding of these interlinkages using Afromontane grasslands as a prime model system. Afromontane grasslands are a global biodiversity hotspot and are ancient, old-growth, ecosystems, which we know surprisingly little about. In fact, we often fail to recognize them as ancient ecosystems that have co-evolved with fire and herbivory as key processes maintaining endemic biodiversity. Many Afromontane grassland species feature unique fire-adapted traits, such as large underground storage organs that may importantly contribute to carbon storage. Land-use and land cover changes (LULCC), such as rangeland intensification and large-scale afforestation, and climate warming, severely threaten the biodiversity and carbon storage potential of these grasslands. To be able to maintain and restore these functions, we need to improve our understanding of the interlinkages between biodiversity, fire and carbon storage under climate warming and LULCC. This proposal will generate this urgently needed knowledge using a combination of experimental and observational studies along strong climatic and land-use gradients. I will test the hypothesis that biodiversity and fire are the main drivers of soil carbon storage in Afromontane grasslands and that climate warming and LULCC influence these linkages. This project will generate fundamental ecological knowledge that can guide initiatives to preserve and restore biodiverse and climate-resilient grasslands, which is fundamentally important in the coming UN decade on ecosystem restoration. Ongoing communication with this IUCN Climate Change Specialist Group will ensure effective communication of the research outcomes to the policy arena. Over the past 20 years, I have worked extensively in African grasslands and built many long-term collaborations, which will aid the successful implementation of this proposal.
Netherlands