EU – BiodivERsa
In Europe, extensively managed or restored grasslands are key elements of managed and natural landscapes, and meet such multifunctional objectives by contributing to biodiversity conservation, as well as to sustainable agricultural production and provision of other ecosystem services. This project is part of a large, multi-disciplinary EU-BiodivERsA funded project called VITAL. The project is led by Sandra Lavorel, Grenoble, and involves partners in France, Austria, Germany and the UK. The overall goal of VITAL is to develop a conceptual model of relationships between plant and microbial functional diversity in mountain grasslands, and the delivery of multiple ecosystem services. Our role is test how management induced linkages between plant functional composition influence the diversity of soil microbial communities, and the processes of nitrogen and carbon cycling that underpins ecosystem service delivery in grasslands.
soilandecosystemecologylab 