BEF-CERRADO

Tropical grassy biomes (TGB), the world’s ancient savannas and grasslands, support outstanding biodiversity, and provide key ecosystem processes. Our goal is to understand the functional mechanisms promoting the restoration of native herbaceous TGB communities that are fire-resilient, self-sustaining, invasion-resistant, and able to provide crucial ecosystem processes. We choose the Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) as a model to answer our research questions as it hosts a vast biodiversity, offers many ecosystem services and is currently highly threatened. We will set up a Biodiversity-and-Ecosystem-Functioning field experiment to understand how the manipulation of both functional diversity and species richness of herbaceous plants allow the establishment of a continuous herbaceous ground cover. We aim at better understanding how functional diversity and species richness modulate restored ecosystem functioning. Current restoration of Cerrado herbaceous communities rely on direct seeding of fast-growing, acquisitive species, whereas we will develop methods that allow establishing a range of species, including species with conservative strategies, characteristics of pristine TGB. Yr1: collect seeds and propagules from 4 functional groups; set up field experiment. Yr2-4: monitor vegetation (establishment, plant functional traits, invasive species, flammability) and ecosystem processes (erosion control, productivity, carbon and water cycles). Test, in mesocosms, if the response of the functional groups to invasive species is modified by extreme weather events. Yr3: set prescribed fires. Yr4: monitor recovery. We expect to find a positive correlation between the complementarity of functional traits and restoration effectiveness. This project will contribute to deepening TGB ecological knowledge and to informing guidelines for effective TGB restoration. Partnerships with stakeholders and local traditional Kalunga communities should improve these guidelines.