Abstract
The COST Action FP0903 “Climate Change and Forest Mitigation and Adaptation in a Polluted Environment (MAFor)” involved 29 countries and created a platform for information exchange with experts from different fields, with the following main objectives: 1) to increase understanding of the state and potential of forest mitigation and adaptation to climate change in a polluted environment and 2) to reconcile process-oriented research, long-term monitoring and applied modelling at comprehensive forest research sites. In particular, MAFor translated the existing European knowledge on climate and air pollution dynamics into prospects for forest research and monitoring, with focus on the carbon, ozone, nitrogen and water budgets. The aim of this paper is to summarize scientific activities and achievements of MAFor: the creation of a meta-database for highlighting the available data and integrating the information from European forest research/monitoring networks; the development of a new concept of forest sites for research and monitoring (Supersites); the identification of the main knowledge gaps; and the definition of priorities for forest adaptation to climate change in a polluted environment. The action also increased European capacity building in this sector by organizing five conferences, granting 64 short-term scientific missions, organizing four training schools and publishing more than 100 papers.
Highlights
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technological Research, allowing the co-ordination of nationally funded research on a European level
The aim of this paper is to summarize scientific activities and achievements of MAFor: the creation of a meta-database for highlighting the available data and integrating the information from European forest research/monitoring networks; the development of a new concept of forest sites for research and monitoring (Supersites); the identification of the main knowledge gaps; and the definition of priorities for forest adaptation to climate change in a polluted environment
working groups (WGs) 1) Availability and evaluation of monitoring data: The main assumption was that large amounts of data already made available by existing monitoring programmes and large-scale international projects working at the forest site level in Europe can be better exploited
Summary
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technological Research, allowing the co-ordination of nationally funded research on a European level. A meta-database was developed with the main goal to highlight available data and integrate the information from European forest research/monitoring networks This database is freely available at the MAFor webpage (http://cost-fp0903.ipp.cnr.it/working-groups/wg1.html). A critical analysis of the meta-database made it possible to identify current knowledge gaps and showed that: in many regions ground-level ozone is under-investigated, it is one of the pollutants of greatest concern to forests (Serengil et al, 2011); in addition to CO2, long-term flux measurements of other greenhouse gases (GHGs) should be carried out; there is still a need of improving links between monitoring of atmospheric changes and impacts on forests because these two fundamental activities are typically carried out separately in independent ERNs; and research-oriented manipulative experiments in the forests are missing (Danielewska et al, 2013a). The MAFor meta-database is a substantial achievement in this direction
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