Effects of biodiversity on soil C dynamics, tree response to extreme events and water use efficiency in forest ecosystems

Forests provide fundamental services to the humanity, contribute to climate regulation, water provision and represent one of the most important biodiversity reservoir on the Earth. Climate change due to anthropogenic greenhouse gases emission is altering forest ecosystem functioning and services through significant changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme events (i.e. drought, floods, fires, heatwaves). This work focuses on the role of tree species richness and functional diversity in supporting ecosystem services (i.e. carbon sequestration) and in mitigating the possible negative effects of extreme events, by increasing stand resistance and/or resilience. Moreover, we also quantified the long-term effects of atmospheric CO2 increase on growth and water use efficiency in old-growth forests in the Balkans.