Grassland ecology, biodiversity and conservation

Grasslands cover large areas globally and provide valuable ecosystem services. Our research on grassland ecology explores the mechanisms that underlie the structure and function of semi-natural pasture habitats, and much of our research is oriented towards the conservation and management of these habitats and their biodiversity. Within Europe, there has been a progressive loss of semi-natural pastures over the last centuries and the remaining areas of extensively grazed grassland are of central importance for many threatened, rare and declining species. Current research projects can be broadly summarized by the following key words: species diversity, gene diversity, landscape structure and history, grazing, disturbance, succession, dispersal, conservation of grassland biodiversity, plant-soil interactions, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, carbon cycling, soil nutrients, ecosystem functioning, functional diversity.

Projects:

Landscape, species and genes: diversity and history in fragmented grasslands ("The Jordtorp project") - Honor C. Prentice, Martin T. Sykes, Karin Hall, Peter Poschlod, Triin Reitalu, Oliver Purschke, Barbara Schmid, Thomas Möckel, Jonas Dalmayne

Soil disturbance as restoration measure in grasslands - Anja Ödman, Tim Schnoor, Hans Henrik Bruun, Pål Axel Olsson

Winter ecology of grasslands and the effects of global warming - Johanna Birgander, Johannes Rousk, Pål Axel Olsson

Function of the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis - Pål Axel Olsson, Edith Hammer, Johanna Birgander, Ylva Lekberg

 

Last modified28 Oct 2011

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