Name of programme: GA ČR
Project number: 26-20790N
Investigator for FLD: Ing. Daniel Kozák, Ph.D.
Contact person: Ing. Laura Dobor, Ph.D., dobor@fld.czu.cz
Implementation period: 01/2026 – 12/2029
This project aims to identify patterns and drivers of drought impacts on carbon-water cycling in European forests, focusing on water-use efficiency (WUE) across various tree species and environmental conditions. Climate change and extreme events affect WUE by altering biophysical processes, potentially compromising the future carbon sequestration capacity of forest ecosystems. While process-based ecosystem models are essential tools for estimating carbon-water cycling, their ability to simulate drought effects is limited.
Using multiyear flux data from eddy covariance sites, this project will:
- identify patterns and drivers, like drought timing and severity, that affect WUE dynamics,
- evaluate the Biome-BGCMuSo model's simulation of carbon and water fluxes, and
- improve model accuracy for drought effects on WUE.
Project also aims to project WUE dynamics under climate change scenarios and attribute changes to climatic drivers. The findings will contribute to the development of more accurate models to project forest carbon sequestration under climate change.