GRK 2530:  Biota-mediated effects on Carbon cycling in Estuaries (BiCEst)

• Subject Area: Plant Sciences ; Microbiology, Virology and Immunology ; Zoology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 407270017

Biota play a major role in Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Biotic interactions indirectly affect carbon (C) cycling by mediating organic matter (OM) production, transport and degradation. These indirect effects of biota (lEB) on C cycling have rarely been investigated. In estuaries, important lEB include plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere of marshes, microphytobenthos-microbe interactions at the sediment surface of intertidal flats, and phytoplankton-microbe interactions at OM aggregates in the pelagial, as well as their interactions with other biota. Estuaries are productive transitional environments between land and sea, in which significant amounts of terrestrial and marine OM are transported and processed, and which play an important role in the global C cycle. The mission of the Research Training Group „Biota-mediated effects on Carbon cycling in Estuaries“ (BiCEst) is to provide Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers an outstanding platform for their career development and to systematically analyze the role of lEB on estuarine C cycling. By a combination of ecological, biochemical, and molecular approaches, key processes of the C cycle will be analyded in the rhizosphere of marshes, at the sediment surface of intertidal flats, and on OM aggregates in estuarine channels. Interactions of these processes with estuarine food webs and resulting C fluxes between marshes, intertidal flats and estuarine channels will also be addressed Processes will first be analyzed along physico-chemical gradients of the Elbe Estuary under present day conditions. Controlled field and mesocosm experiments will be used to quantify effects of global change (especially warming and sea-level rise) on lEB on estuarine C cycling. The gained process understanding is used to parameterize lEB on estuarine C cycling in Ecosystem Models and will pave the ground for a more realistic representation of biotas’ effects on C cycling in Earth System Models. BiCEst links multiple research areas from Biology and Geosciences with a structured qualification and supervision programme. The expertise of Universitat

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Universität Hamburg
• Participating Institution: Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB); im Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Kai Jensen
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Kathrin Dausmann; Professor Dr. Hans-Peter Grossart; Professor Dr. Dieter Hanelt; Professor Dr. Jens Hartmann, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Inga Hense; Professor Dr. Lars Kutzbach; Professorin Dr. Ina Christin Meier; Professor Dr. Christian Möllmann; Professor Dr. Myron Peck, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Philipp Porada; Professorin Dr. Elisa Schaum, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Wolfgang Streit