Grassland-based ruminant production systems are integral to sustainable food production in Europe, converting plant materials indigestible to humans into nutritious food, while providing a range of environmental and cultural benefits. Climate change poses significant challenges for such systems, their productivity and the wider benefits they supply. In this context, grassland models have an important role in predicting and understanding the impacts of climate change on grassland systems, and assessing the efficacy of potential adaptation and mitigation strategies. In order to identify the key challenges for European grassland modelling under climate change, modellers and researchers from across Europe were consulted via workshop and questionnaire. Participants identified fifteen challenges and considered the current state of modelling and priorities for future research in relation to each. A review of literature was undertaken to corroborate and enrich the information provided during the horizon scanning activities. Challenges were in four categories relating to: 1) the direct and indirect effects of climate change on the sward 2) climate change effects on grassland systems outputs 3) mediation of climate change impacts by site, system and management and 4) cross-cutting methodological issues. While research priorities differed between challenges, an underlying theme was the need for accessible, shared inventories of models, approaches and data, as a resource for stakeholders and to stimulate new research. Developing grassland models to effectively support efforts to tackle climate change impacts, while increasing productivity and enhancing ecosystem services, will require engagement with stakeholders and policy-makers, as well as modellers and experimental researchers across many disciplines. The challenges and priorities identified are intended to be a resource 1) for grassland modellers and experimental researchers, to stimulate the development of new research directions and collaborative opportunities, and 2) for policy-makers involved in shaping the research agenda for European grassland modelling under climate change.
Measurements of phosphate in the soil moisture at different depths show that in grassland the soil layer 0-5 cm reacted to differences in phosphate surpluses in clay and peat soil but not in sandy soil. Higher surpluses led to higher concentrations. On arable land, an effect of imposed phosphate treatments was only observed for one of the clay soils; higher phosphate surpluses led to higher concentrations in the soil at 35 cm depth. In the case of another clay soil and a sandy soil, no effects were found at this depth despite large differences in phosphate surpluses. The changes in the phosphate status and leaching of phosphorus after implementation of phosphate equilibrium fertilisation are slow and the phosphate status after implementation of equilibrium fertilisation in the soil has not reached yet an equilibrium between different soil fractions fractions.
Dit rapport is gratis te downloaden op https://doi.org/10.18174/463803 of op www.wur.nl/livestock-research (onder Wageningen Livestock Research publicaties).
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