Understanding and predicting ecosystem responses to global change is increasingly urgent, as terrestrial ecosystems are exposed to more frequent and intense climatic extremes such as droughts, heatwaves, floods, wildfires, and/or permafrost thaw. These stressors profoundly affect vegetation dynamics and impact soil functioning through the disruption of tightly coupled carbon, water, and nutrient cycles, with consequences for ecosystem resilience, recovery trajectories, and feedbacks to the climate system.
This session focuses on ecosystem responses to global change and extreme events, emphasizing the tight coupling between biogeochemical and water cycles and their effect on vegetation. Plant physiological responses to stress, such as changes in photosynthesis, transpiration, carbon allocation, and nutrient uptake, directly alter ecosystem-scale carbon, water, and nutrient fluxes and interact with soil processes by shaping soil moisture regimes, microbial activity, and the decomposition and stabilization of organic matter. Conversely, biogeochemical changes triggered by extremes include altered nutrient availability, mineral transformations, soil chemistry changes, and can have strong feedbacks on vegetation functions, recovery, and competitive interactions. Studying these interconnected processes is essential to improve mechanistic understanding of ecosystem resistance, resilience, and legacy effects following stress and disturbance in order to develop sustainable management interventions.
We welcome contributions across multiple spatial and temporal scales using laboratory experiments, field observations, remote sensing, modelling, novel analytical techniques, data synthesis, and/or presenting innovative management strategies. The session aims to foster interdisciplinary discussion at the interface of vegetation functioning, soil processes, and biogeochemical cycling, to advance understanding of ecosystem responses in a rapidly changing world.
Jordi Martínez-Vilalta