Temporal dynamics of tree diversity effects on growth, mortality and biomass production (BIOTREE project)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Michael Scherer-Lorenzen
• Subject Area: Ecology and Biodiversity of Plants and Ecosystems ; Forestry
• Term: from 2020 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 439223434

Biodiversity is increasingly recognized as a key component of ecosystems that directly influences many ecological processes and functions. The largest fraction of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research still comes from fast-growing and small-statured model systems such as grasslands. However, more recently scientists have started to study the effects of changing tree diversity in complex woody systems. In doing so, several tree diversity experiments have been established within the last 20 years, forming now a global network of such experiments. Here, I propose to analyse the significance of tree diversity for growth, mortality and biomass production in some of the oldest tree diversity experiments (BIOTREE), located in Thuringia, Germany. The BIOTREE project encompasses four different experiments at three sites, where new tree stands differing in tree diversity have been planted adopting different designs. In two experiments, gradients of tree species richness have been established. In a third experiment, differences in functional diversity have been created while keeping the number of species per plot constant. In a fourth experiment, species evenness and planting density have been manipulated. In total, more than 200,000 trees have been planted. I suggest to extend existing time series of tree growth and mortality assessments with a new measurement campaign 16 years after planting. The central aim is to investigate and quantify temporal scale dependencies of tree diversity effects on tree growth, mortality and biomass production. In addition, drone-based tree height measurements will be tested for the use in dense tree stands. This project will provide first long-term data on the tree diversity-productivity relationship, thus contributing to forest biodiversity-ecosystem functioning research.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants