MixForChange is organized in six Work packages. The empirical research is conducted in WP1 to WP4. WP5 and WP6 will focus on syntheses, capacity building and communication.

WP1 - climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration in mixed plantations

Objectives:

• To evaluate the potential of mixed plantations in sequestrating carbon in trees, litter and soil and thus mitigating climate change under contrasting management and environmental conditions; and to identify the best performing mixture types for total carbon sequestration on per biome basis.
• To evaluate how functional traits and stand structural attributes predict productivity and carbon sequestration in forest plantations, and how they can be used to anticipate potential synergies and trade-offs between carbon sequestration in trees and soil.

WP2 - Climate change adaptation through drought resilience in mixed plantations

Objectives:

• To quantify how tree diversity, species identity, and management mediate the responses of growth, tree mortality and water use efficiency (WUE) to drought.
• To quantify how competition for water during droughts is alleviated by tree diversity and to highlight the mechanisms involved.
• To improve trait-based functional models for assessing tree diversity effects on drought vulnerability and provide simulation at regional scale.

WP3 - Effects of biotic interactions on carbon sequestration and drought resilience in mixed plantations

Objectives :

• To quantify the interacting effects of tree diversity and drought on leaf traits and herbivory and to explore consequences for carbon cycling.
• To explore the effects of tree mixtures on mycorrhizal community composition (and vice versa) and production, to identify mycorrhizal species with a positive impact on carbon/nutrient cycling and drought resilience, and to link it to root biomass and production.

WP4 - Stakeholder perceptions of mixed plantations and adaptation to climate change

Objectives :

• To characterize attitudes and perceptions of landowners and stakeholders towards mixed plantations for productive and protective purposes and to understand better their expectations and concerns.
• To explore how key agents of change (mixed plantation promoters) are influenced by climate and biodiversity policies (and potential synergies or conflicts between them) about their decisions toward forest management and mixed plantations.

WP5 - Syntheses of mitigation and adaptation potential of mixed plantations

Objectives :

• To identify the species mixtures that optimize both climate change mitigation and adaptation and to assess the environmental- and management-dependency of this selection of ‘best mixtures’.
• To match the ‘best mixtures’ with stakeholders’ expectations and constraints for productive and protective plantations.
• To develop science-based guidelines to design mixed forest plantations in the context of climate change.

WP6 - Capacity building and communication

Objectives:

• To communicate successes of the project to decision-makers
• To transmit the knowledge gained from the project to likely adopters