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FATE
Future ArcTic Ecosystems (FATE): drivers of diversity and future scenarios from ethno-ecology, contemporary ecology and ancient DNA
The Arctic is currently experiencing dramatic ecosystem changes due to climate warming and increased anthropogenic pressure, influencing biodiversity and ecosystem services. Understanding the relative impacts of climate, herbivory and human management on ecosystems, is of paramount importance for their long-term sustainability as well as for the well-being of communities across the circumpolar North. Well-informed ecosystem management and species conservation are however precluded by the scarcity of long-term (millennia) data sets spanning ancient and contemporary climatic and land use events. FATE will therefore conduct a comprehensive inter- and trans-disciplinary study using sedimentary ancient DNA, current ecological observations and anthropological investigations of indigenous peoples’ knowledge and interpretations.
Main objectives are :
1.Determine local biodiversity changes and vegetation shifts over large spatial (circumarctic) and temporal (Last Glacial Maximum until today) scale;
2.Identify drivers of recent and historic biodiversity changes and integrate them in climatic niche models to forecast future biodiversity changes;
3.Chronicle indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) of biodiversity changes and their drivers;
4.Build exploratory and predictive scenarios to link potential ecosystem shifts to changes in biodiversity and ecosystem services relevant for local communities in the Arctic.