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ARS Home » Plains Area » Mandan, North Dakota » Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298265

Title: Building climate resilience into perennial agroecosystems for adaptation to climate change

Author
item Sanderson, Matt

Submitted to: ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/2013
Publication Date: 11/4/2013
Citation: Sanderson, M.A. 2013. Building climate resilience into perennial agroecosystems for adaptation to climate change. Crop Science Society of America Abstracts. Paper No. 248-4.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Adapting to future climate changes will require resilient agricultural systems. Resiliency can be thought of as the ability of an ecosystem to bounce back and persist after a disturbance or shock. Stressors or perturbations may be more severe in the future because of human-induced climate change. One of the suggested ecological approaches for building resiliency into perennial grassland systems includes adaptively managing species diversity to cope with or even to take advantage of variability in land and climate. A challenge in applying diversity concepts in practice is a lack of information on desired attributes of plant species needed to inform decisions on establishing, maintaining, and managing complex forage plant communities. This presentation will address critical knowledge gaps regarding management of highly diverse plant communities in forage and grazing lands as a strategy to enhance resilience in the face of climate change.