We are very pleased to announce that next year MIREN will be heavily involved in two large international projects that have been recommended for funding through BiodivERsA (https://www.biodiversa.org).
The first project is called RangeX ("Mechanisms underlying the success and impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of range-expanding species under climate change”; https://www.mountaininvasions.org/rangex), and emerged from the MIREN workshop held at the Furkapass in Switzerland in 2019. RangeX will examine processes and impacts of plants that are expanding their ranges following climate warming, and aims to use this knowledge to inform policy regarding range-expanding plant species in mountain regions. It will combine replicated experiments in MIREN regions, observations of biotic interactions above and below-ground across elevation gradients, and analyses of MIREN survey data to derive insights into the mechanisms of plant range expansions in mountains, and provide information relevant for management and policy related to range expansions of both native and nonnative species. The project consortium consists of Anne Bjorkman (University of Gothenburg, Sweden), Ralph Clark (University of the Free State, South Africa), Sylvia Haider (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany), Olga Hilmo (Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre, Norway), Toke Høye (Aarhus University, Denmark), Paul Kardol (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden), Jonathan Lenoir (CNRS, France), Aníbal Pauchard (Universidad de Concepcioìn, Chile), Vigdis Vandvik (University of Bergen, Norway) and Jake Alexander (ETH Zürich, Switzerland), and will involve many others from across the MIREN network.
The second BiodivERsA project is ASICS (https://www.coldregioninvasives.com/the-asics-project), which will combine MIREN data with other data from a range of taxa to study the redistribution of biodiversity in cold environments (Arctic, Antarctic, alpine) globally. More information on this project will follow soon!
We are really excited to get started with these projects in 2021! RangeX is already recruiting four postdoc and one doctoral researchers to begin in April 2021. All information on that can be found in this PDF or on the dedicated website of RangeX.