CAROLINA

Impact of land use change on climate resilience of semi-natural grasslands (CAROLINA)

Loss of grasslands is indicated as one of the primary causes of terrestrial biodiversity impoverishment in the Mediterranean Basin. In Italy this process is realized through the abandonment of traditional agro-pastoral activities with consequent drastic decline of semi-natural grasslands. The success of agro-pastoral impact on the grasslands’ biodiversity and functioning is linked to the tight relationship between the presence of grazing animals, soil edaphic conditions, light availability and C and N cycling. It could be hypothesized that grazing through diversification of ecological niches makes the system also more climate-resilient. However, little is known on management-climate interactions.

CAROLINA project aims to explore the potentiality of the grassland’s extensive management executed at different climate conditions in terms of provision of key ecosystem services, such as biodiversity conservation and C sequestration capacity, and to assess the impact on ecosystem resilience to climate change induced by land-use variation. CAROLINA focuses  on semi-natural grasslands subjected to extensive grazing and surrounded territories located in Mountain and Mediterranean climatic zones of Italy.