CliWaC

The Einstein Research Unit Climate and Water under Change (CliWaC) is a transdisciplinary research initiative of the Berlin University Alliance to address water-related risks under climate change. CliWaC will bring together social and natural science as well as practical expertise from stakeholders to support the governance of mitigation and adaptation measures in response to climate change.

In an innovative methodological way, CliWaC will bring together social and natural science as well as practical expertise from stakeholders in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary project to support the governance of mitigation and adaptation measures in response to climate change.

In WP B1 we will quantify feedbacks between water availability and intensively or extensively managed ecosystems (including forestial (our focus), agricultural, and urban areas). We will determine the effects of atmospheric conditions in space and time (from WP A1) and resulting changes in groundwater levels (from WP B3) both (i) on the state of ecosystems and (ii) on the provision of ecosystem services

(i) State of ecosystems: This includes above- and below-ground biodiversity, effects on erosion risk and on the presence and impact of allergenic plants. The analysis will include direct impacts on ecosystems as well as indirect effects on locational factors influencing vegetation e.g. by land degradation or phenology shifts.

(ii) Provision of ecosystem services: This aims at drought-related changes in production systems, in soil formation, in nutrient cycling and soil organic matter, and in the recreational value. Different temporal and spatial scales of change, such as shortterm drought impacts on yields and longer-term drought impacts on forests and urban green infrastructure will be explicitly addressed.

Inversely, we will determine the effects of alternative land use options and their water demands on soil water fluxes and groundwater recharge, and thus on the conditions of other ecosystems and their components.