Abstract
Boreal and arctic terrestrial ecosystems have become central to the climate change debate, notably because future warming is expected to be disproportionate as compared to world averages. Likewise, greenhouse gas release from terrestrial ecosystems expose d to climate warming is expected to be the largest in the arctic. Artic agriculture, in the form of cultivated grasslands, is a unique and economically relevant feature of Northern Norway (e.g. Finnmark Province). In Eastern Finnmark, these agro-ecosyste ms are under the additional stressor of heavy metal and sulphur pollution generated by metal smelters of NW Russia. Warming and its interaction with heavy metal dynamics will influence meadow productivity and species composition, and greenhouse gas emissi ons, as mediated by responses of soil microbial communities. Adaptation and mitigation measured will be needed. Biochar application, which immobilizes heavy metal, is a promising adaptation method to promote positive growth response in arctic meadows expo sed to a warming climate. In the MeadoWarm project we will conduct an ecosystem warming experiment combined to biochar adaptation treatments in the heavy-metal polluted meadows of Eastern Finnmark. In summary, the general objective of the presented projec t is twofold: 1) to determine the response of arctic agricultural ecosystems under environmental stress to increased temperatures, both in terms of plant growth, soil organisms and GHG emissions, and 2) to determine if biochar application can serve as a p ositive adaptation (plant growth) and mitigation (GHG emission) strategy for these ecosystems under warming conditions.
Norway