DRIeR

Drought impacts, processes and resilience: making the invisible visible

01.01.2016 bis 31.12.2020

https://www.wassernetzwerk-bw.de/24.php

With concurrent climate change, the frequency of extreme events will increase. However, the effect of extreme drought has so far been underestimated, and we know little about how drought may affect the functioning of semi-natural ecosystems. In addition, it is not clear how land management may affect the resistance of resilience of ecosystems to drought. Here, we apply a combined experimental and modeling approach to studying both resistance and resilience of grasslands and forests in South-West Germany to drought. Field experiments design to run for at least 5 years manipulate rainfall, natural drought and management and models are developed that will be coupled to hydrological models developed by our collaborators in the overall DRIER-project. Our goal is to develop indices of drought vulnerability under different management regimes, and to encourage the management of green water (in plants and soil) within region-wide water governance.