Research project How forests buffer climate extremes - the interplay between canopy and soil water

Forests buffer understories against increasingly frequent heat and drought. This climate buffering capacity is highly dependent on the local water balance, as moist sites cool the understory more efficiently. Water scarcity can reduce buffering, which is rarely considered in predictions of forest functioning and biodiversity. Climate change and forest management combined put forest buffering under pressure. Forest microclimate buffering is an overlooked ecosystem function at threat that needs investigation and systematic long-term monitoring. I aim to quantify the interactive effects of canopy cover and soil moisture on forest buffering and understory biodiversity and develop tools and strategies to secure forest buffering in a changing climate. 

In this project, we will investigate temporal and spatial variations in forest buffering with a focus on canopy-soil moisture interactions. While using also existing forest microclimate datasets from forests of different biomes, we are also initiating the first national microclimate monitoring network in Sweden. Temperature and soil moisture loggers will be installed in three research areas using the SITES network (fieldsites.se): Asa, Grimsö and Svartberget.

Additionally, we use transplant experiments to test the minimum requirements of microclimate-sensitive understory species. With the results of this project we will be able to map forest buffering capacity and stability, identify vulnerability hotspots and potential refugia and give advice on how and where to maintain or restore sufficient levels of forest buffering to support forest biodiversity.