The influence of climate change on soil hydrology and vegetation will become enormously important, particularly in agricultural regions. Interactions between local climate, vegetation and soil are sometimes still insufficiently investigated and understood (Baumgarten et al. 2014). APCC (2014) therefore highlights the need to develop hydrological models that take into account climate-induced changes in soil, vegetation and land use.
To quantify the effects of climate factors on climate-induced changes in the soil water balance as well as the root distribution and water uptake of plant roots (transpiration), data from weighable lysimeters in the ClimGrass experiment at the HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein are used. In this multifactorial outdoor experiment, future climatic conditions in the form of increased temperature and increased CO 2 concentration in a grassland ecosystem are simulated at an alpine location.
Goals of the research project:
- Investigation of the influence of increased temperature and CO 2 concentration on the soil water balance
- Quantification of root water uptake by inverse modeling
- Analysis of the effects of climate change on soil hydrology and the associated productivity
