Management; Swiss Jura; Altitudinal gradient; Drought; Grasslands; Plant traits; Fodder
Meisser Marco, Vitra Amarante, Deléglise Claire, Dubois Sébastien, Probo Massimiliano, Mosimann Eric, Buttler Alexandre, Mariotte Pierre (2019), Nutrient limitations induced by drought affect forage N and P differently in two permanent grasslands, in
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 280, 85-94.
Vitra Amarante, Deléglise Claire, Meisser Marco, Risch Anita C, Signarbieux Constant, Lamacque Lia, Delzon Sylvain, Buttler Alexandre, Mariotte Pierre (2019), Responses of plant leaf economic and hydraulic traits mediate the effects of early- and late-season drought on grassland productivity, in
AoB PLANTS, 11(3), plz023.
Buttler Alexandre, Mariotte Pierre, Meisser Marco, Guillaume Thomas, Signarbieux Constant, Vitra Amarante, Preux Sara, Mercier Géraldine, Quezada Juan, Bragazza Luca, Gavazov Konstantin (2019), Drought-induced decline of productivity in the dominant grassland species Lolium perenne L. depends on soil type and prevailing climatic conditions, in
Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 132, 47-57.
Schenkel Denis, Deveau Aurélie, Niimi Jun, Mariotte Pierre, Vitra Amarante, Meisser Marco, Buttler Alexandre, Splivallo Richard (2018), Linking soil's volatilome to microbes and plant roots highlights the importance of microbes as emitters of belowground volatile signals, in
Environmental Microbiology, 21(9), 3313-3327.
Meisser Marco, Vitra Amarante, Stévenin Luc, Mosimann Eric, Mariotte Pierre, Buttler Alexandre (2018), Impacts de la sécheresse sur le fonctionnement des systèmes herbagers - Auswirkungen von Trockenperioden auf die Futterproduktion von Graslandsystemen, in
Recherche Agronomique Suisse, 9(3), 82-91.
Meisser Marco, Deléglise Claire, Signarbieux Constant, Vitra Amarante, Mosimann Eric, Buttler Alexandre (2017),
Impacts of spring and summer droughts on yield and forage quality of three grasslands, 26th EGF General Meeting on “The Multiple Roles of Grassland in the European Bioeconomy” Grassland S, volume 21, 900 pages: 792-795.
Lens F. Picon-Cochard C. Delmas C.E.L. Signarbieux C. Buttler A. Cochard H. Jansen S (2016), Herbaceous angiosperms are not more vulnerable to drought-induced embolism than angiosperm trees, in
Plant Physiology , 172, 661-667.
Deléglise Claire, Meisser Marco, Spiegelberger Thomas, Mosimann Eric, Jeangros Bernard, Buttler Alexandre (2015), Drought-induced shifts in plants traits, yields and nutritive value under realistic grazing and mowing managements in a mountain grassland, in
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment , 213, 94-104.
Grassland ecosystems are challenged to meet the growing demand for ecosystem services and providing human goods. Grasslands are at the core of the Jura agriculture and justify financial support of the government, whose agricultural policy supports forage autonomy of herbivore herds. The expected increase in extreme climatic events will cause significant constraints on grassland systems that are particularly sensitive to drought. As a result, farmers must adapt grassland management, as well as their breeding objectives. Identifying potential interactive effects of different factors, such as altitude and management, with different water availability scenarios is therefore a major challenge to anticipate the performance of grasslands and the reliability of production at a regional scale under future climate variability. The current project will focus on the response of pastures to simulated spring and summer droughts along an altitudinal gradient and according to two management schemes. The objective of the project is twofold: i) provide agronomical references and management clues for forage production under altered precipitation regimes to anticipate potential yield losses and to adapt to future climate extremes, ii) identify ecological mechanisms that drive grassland responses to understand grassland resistance and resilience to drought events and predict their evolution under future climate. To achieve both applied and fundamental goals, agronomical monitoring will be combined with ecological approaches. A plant functional approach will be implemented to address changes in species and functional compositions of grasslands in response to altered environmental conditions. Moreover, relevant and innovative ecophysiological measurements will be developed to assess drought resistance mechanisms at the plant species level. Through the development of knowledge, the proposed project will significantly add in our understanding of the response of grassland communities to future climate variability, and will contribute to ecological theories. Further, the proposed project includes an effective integration of fundamental ecological principles into an agronomic issue, and will lead to the development of references directly relevant to agriculture.