CAREER: Microclimate Amelioration Underlying Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning Research

California State L A University Auxiliary Services Inc., Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117- 2). Many species are currently threatened with extinction. This extinction crisis has important implications for how ecosystems function. In particular, loss of species may lead to loss of biological buffers that have been in place for thousands of years. The loss of these buffers could make systems more vulnerable to stressors such as drought. Understanding how biodiversity helps buffer our ecosystems from environmental stressors is an essential next step to predicting the consequences of future extinctions. This understanding will also help us understand how ecosystems can possibly retain function with fewer species. This project examines how different species of plants can modify the microclimate around them, such as decreased temperatures, increased humidity and increased soil moisture. The modification of microclimate may be one important mechanism allowing many species to coexist, which is a key to biodiversity. This project also provides research opportunities and education to graduate students and undergraduate students. This project tests the role of microclimate modification effects in determining relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem function. The approach is to design a series of biodiversity microclimate humidification experiments both in a greenhouse setting and in a network of sites across Los Angeles County, California. Several species of grasses native to California are used in the experiments because they are very sensitive to changing moisture conditions. This project examines microclimate modification effects in three important ways: (1) using a biodiversity experiment to examine the strength of microclimate amelioration and whether it can explain positive biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships under natural drought conditions, (2) using careful physiological measurements to assess whether microclimate amelioration is driven by plant functional traits (e.g. rooting depth or water use efficiency), whole community structure (e.g. canopy complexity and boundary layer conditions), or merely creating a physical shade barrier, and (3) examining the role of microclimate amelioration in higher plant diversity communities in an urban arid ecosystem. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.