FeedBaCks is a project to create an ecosystem feedback model to show what effects biodiversity has on the climate. Terrestrial ecosystems cycle energy, water, chemical elements, and trace gases, and through this influence the climate. To mitigate the effects of global climate and biodiversity change, an improved understanding of the links between these two aspects is essential.
Read more about the project here
IN THE COMIC >
In Forest of Forgotten Futures, Asa and Leo use the FeedBaCks model to monitor the Arctic ecosystem, including the biodiversity in the area and the food resources needed by the native people.
Many research projects have studied the effects of climate variation and climate change on biodiversity and related Nature’s contributions to people. However, little is known about the effects of biodiversity on climate and to what degree this feedback can be used to mitigate climate change. Biodiversity effects on climate are manifold but are still widely understudied. This is partly due to the fact that climate or Earth System Models (ESM) only use a very simple parametrization scheme of biodiversity due to computational limitations. ESMs only differentiate between very broad vegetation classes, such as broadleaved and needle-leaved forest or simplified plant functional types. Such simple classifications of the functional diversity do not well represent the processes relevant for addressing biodiversity feedbacks to the atmosphere.
