Climate challenges and opportunities in northern and southern Europe - role of management and exploitation of plant traits in the adaptation of grasslands

摘要

Climate change and its effects on grasslands, varies across Europe, with the Mediterranean and Nordic regions at the extreme ends. While productivity in the Mediterranean region will become even more limited by drought than today, productivity in theNordic region may benefit from climate change, although there are several uncertainties regarding the possibility to utilize a longer thermal growing season, such as the interactions with Nordic light conditions and the effects of excessive precipitation. In both regions, climate change will lead to modifications of the annual productivity cycles, which will require adaptations in harvest and grazing regimes. The identity of species and mixtures with optimal performance is likely to shift somewhat in response to altered climate and management systems. Grasslands containing legumes can potentially utilize the fertilizing effect of elevated CO_2 better than many other crops or ecosystems, because the maintenance of sink strength by recurrent defoliation,and N provided by N fixation, limits photosynthetic acclimation to elevated COz Breeding efforts of grassland species should be directed both towards improving plant strategies to cope with abiotic stresses, and towards adaptation to new seasonal patterns and managements, while taking care of possible trade-offs with productivity.