Integrated impact of climate and environmental changes to the productivity, biodiversity and sustainability of agro-ecosystems

Abstract

Agro-ecosystems along with elevated concentration of green-house gases and ongoing global warming are also affected by other climate change related factors such as droughts, heat and cold waves. Simultaneously they experience impact of different environmental stressors – ground level ozone, eutrophication and others. To investigate interaction of these factors and their integrated impact is one of the most actual and complicated tasks for environmental and agricultural science. It is very important that integrated impact of these factors already started to pose threat not only to separate compounds of agro-ecosystems but to their sustainability in general. According to the project not only impact of climatic and environmental changes to different species are investigated but also their biological interaction – crop-weed competition, symbiotic and allelopathic relations. Changes in efficiency of fertilizers and chemical and non-chemical weed control measures under warming climate as well as changes in the rate of soil mineralization, humification and carbon sequestration are also investigated. To acquire new knowledge on long-term consequences of climate change impact to agro-ecosystems, the main regularities and mechanisms of their response is an important aim of this project. On the basis of obtained knowledge it is foreseen to present long term projections of productivity of agro-ecosystems and recommendations for the optimization of measures for their long lasting sustainability.