Effekte der Diversität auf Merkmale des Lebenszyklus und der Populationsstruktur von Pflanzen als Grundlage für die Strukturierung und Stabilität von Artengemeinschaften

• Antragstellerinnen / Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Markus Fischer; Privatdozentin Dr. Christiane Roscher
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Ökologie und Biodiversität der Pflanzen und Ökosysteme
• Förderung: Förderung von 2013 bis 2017
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 163658437

Plant community assembly results from the population dynamics of individual species. This subproject addresses effects of community diversity and composition on population dynamics of the 60 experimental grassland species, with special regard to plant life-history traits characterizing the persistence (demographic “storage” mechanisms) and vital rates of populations and diversity-mediated genetic differentiation of plant populations.The following main objectives will be addressed: (1) Plant individual or rhizome age of plant species and their relationship to growth-related variables (plant height, aboveground biomass) will be determined with anatomical and morphological methods; seed banks and seed survival will be quantified in the 10-year old monocultures and communities of the main experiment to evaluate how plant diversity affects the age structure of grassland populations and storage mechanisms. (2) Density, plant life-stage structure, seed set, seed quality and recruitment from seeds will be studied in the monocultures, the main and the trait-based experiment; and small-scale spatial dynamics of populations will be recorded on permanent subplots in the trait-based experiment to explore the effects of plant diversity on vital rates of populations. (3) Seed material of a subset of forb species varying in life-cycle characteristics and their mating systems collected in the plots of the main experiment will be used for common garden experiments manipulating light availability; this information will be used to explore whether observed effects of plant diversity on functional trait variation are rather due to genetic differentiation or phenotypic plasticity. The obtained information on population dynamics and their relationships to plant community diversity and composition as analyzed in this subproject is fundamental for an understanding of community assembly and thus is not only relevant in its own right but will also support further synthesis on interactions with other trophic levels and resource availability in the synthesis project Z2.

• DFG-Verfahren: Forschungsgruppen
• Teilprojekt zu: FOR 1451: Exploring mechanisms underlying the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
• Internationaler Bezug: Niederlande, Schweiz
• Partnerorganisation: Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
• Beteiligte Person: Professor Dr. Hans de Kroon