In-Depth Study on the impacts of climate change threats on ecosystems

The Special Request 2 In-Depth Study on the impacts of climate change threats on ecosystems (SR2 hereinafter) addresses climate change impacts on forests, grasslands and wetlands in the Carpathians, including options for adaptation.

The main objective is to deliver the consistent knowledge about expected effects of climate change on Carpathian ecosystems, and to provide the assessment of ecosystems` vulnerability. The main attention is paid to forests, while grasslands and wetlands are addressed marginally. The study addresses several tasks

1. climate change impact on pests and pathogens,
2. assessment of adaptive capacity of forest management,
3. assessment of climate change impact on shift of forest tree species,
4. evaluation of anticipated grasslands species shift, climate change effect on grasslands productivity and wetlands vulnerability.

In addition, there are two synthetic tasks focused on

• the evaluation of protective functions of montane and alpine forests,
• the assessment of integrated forest vulnerability.