The Resilience of Ecosystem Services provided by Intact and Sustainably managed Terrestrial ecosystems (RESIST) project aims to develop a modeling framework that integrates biophysical feedbacks and socioeconomic drivers affecting the environment.
The project confronts urgent global challenges related to biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the sustainable management of human land-use systems against the backdrop of climate change. The novelty of its approach lies in its utilization of applied systems analysis to incorporate both scientific and socioeconomic perspectives on sustainable ecosystem management.
To this end, IIASA researchers from the Advancing Systems Analysis Program, Biodiversity and Natural Resources Program, and Energy, Climate, and Environment Program, seek to identify sustainable ecosystem management strategies through active stakeholder engagement. They do this by addressing complex science-policy questions regarding natural ecosystem conservation and land management for economic goods.
In particular, the project guides IIASA member organizations in managing ongoing crises such as projected climate change and biodiversity loss. To achieve this, IIASA researchers have designed case studies in collaboration with scholars from participating member organizations. To date, there have been case studies in India, and Israel, as well as a joint collaboration between Brazil and the UK.
In 2023, several studies were published as part of RESIST, including a study on the Amazon Forest and plant vulnerability to drought. Researchers working on RESIST also participated in numerous international conferences, including the Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting and the European Geosciences Union General Assembly.
Further info:
Joshi, J., Hofhansl, F. , Singh, S., Stocker, B., Brännström, Å., Franklin, O. , Blanco, C.C., Aleixo, I., Lapola, D.M., Prentice, I.C., & Dieckmann, U. (2023). Competition for light can drive adverse species-composition shifts in the Amazon Forest under elevated CO2. BioRxiv 10.1101/2023.07.03.547575. (Submitted)
Franklin, O. , Fransson, P., Hofhansl, F. , Jansen, S., & Joshi, J. (2023). Optimal balancing of xylem efficiency and safety explains plant vulnerability to drought. Ecology Letters 26 1485-1496. 10.1111/ele.14270.
Stefaniak, E., Tissue, D., Dewar, R., Hofhansl, F. , Joshi, J., & Medlyn, B. (2023). Optimality Theory informed Carbon Storage Allocation under drought. In: 2nd Workshop Carbon Allocation in Plants - Advances in carbon allocation and acquisition, 20-21 NOVEMBER 2023, Versailles, France.
Joshi, J., Hofhansl, F. , Singh, S., Stocker, B., Vignal, T., Brännström, Å., Franklin, O. , Blanco, C., Aleixo, I., Lapola, D., Prentice, I., & Dieckmann, U. (2023). Predicting the adaptive responses of biodiverse plant communities using functional trait evolution. In: Ecological Society of American 2023 Annual Meeting, 6-11 August 2023, Portland.
Lichstein, J.W., Longo, M., Bereswill, S., Blanco, C.C., Bonal, D., Chave, J., Christoffersen, B.O'D, de Paula, M.D., Derroire, G., Fisher, R.A., Hickler, T., Higgins, S., Hiltner, U., Hofhansl, F. , Hogan, J.A., Huth, A., Joshi, J., Knapp, N., Langan, L., Lapola, D., Marechaux, I., Martinez Cano, I., Ongole, S., Rau, E-P., Restrepo-Coupe, N., Sakschewski, B., Saleska, S., Scheiter, S., Stahl, C., Thonicke, K., & Wirth, C. (2023). A model intercomparison project to study the role of plant functional diversity in the response of tropical forests to drought. In: Ecological Society of American 2023 Annual Meeting, 6-11 August 2023, Portland.
Joshi, J., Hofhansl, F. , Singh, S., Stocker, B., Brännström, Å., Vignal, T., Casagrande Blanco, C., Aleixo, I., Lapola, D., Prentice, I.C., & Dieckmann, U. (2023). Roles of diversity and adaptation in the eco-evolutionary responses of biodiverse plant communities to climate change. In: EGU General Assembly 2023, 23-28 April 2023, Vienna.
Hofhansl, F. , Barrantes, O.V., Chacón-Madrigal, E., Hietz, P., Weissenhofer, A., Prommer, J., Wanek, W., & Fuchslueger, L. (2023). Do fine root morphological and functional adaptations support regrowth success in a tropical forest restoration experiment? In: EGU General Assembly 2023, 23-28 April 2023, Vienna.