Predicting winners & losers from climate change
June 2015
Professor Yvonne Buckley (School of Natural Sciences) has been granted €458,000 over the next two years from Science Foundation Ireland to investigate "Plant population strategy and response to the environment” as part of their ERC Development grant scheme.
She will assess how the environment affects the distribution and population persistence of up to 1000 species worldwide, including species which underpin our pasture based and forestry industries. Prof. Buckley will identify combinations of species traits and environments that predict population performance. This will enable prediction of which species will be “winners” and “losers” from changes in the environment.
These predictions will enable management actions to be identified to maintain ecosystem services from agri-environment industries, such as provision of food, building materials and carbon sequestration.