Project Details
Projekt
Coordination Funds
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Alexandra-Maria Klein
Subject Area
Ecology and Biodiversity of Animals and Ecosystems, Organismic Interactions
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 452861007
Biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) research demonstrated the importance of biodiverse communities for promoting ecosystem functions such as biomass production, carbon sequestration, herbivory and predation. Likewise, plant diversity increases ecosystem stability but little is known on how tree diversity structures complex trophic interaction networks associated with plants. To understand how tree diversity is linked to biomass production, element cycling and species conservation, the DFG has initiated, with the Research Unit FOR 891, the largest forest biodiversity experiment worldwide located in subtropical China and thereby established the BEF-China research platform.Our proposed multi-disciplinary Research Unit MultiTroph will use the unique opportunity of the BEF-China Experiment to identify mechanisms underlying the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem functions across multi-trophic levels. We aim to quantify species interactions of different trophic and functional groups of consumers with trees along an experimental tree diversity gradient to ultimately connect the different interaction types to large food webs. The studied interactions focus on functional redundancy and complementarity identified via specific interaction modules including key trophic levels. Our guiding principle is the expectation that quantitative trophic interaction networks will help to identify niche overlaps within interactions in generalised/redundant communities with overlapping niches in tree species-rich habitats. This will be compared to specialised/complementary communities with separated niches in species-poor habitats. Applicants are experts from different research fields including soil sciences, botany, ecological networks, animal ecology and nature conservation and we will intensify our long-standing collaborations in China. We aim to apply novel methods in collaboration with Chinese partners such as DNA barcoding/meta-barcoding or stable isotopes to identify realised food niches of various arthropods to better understand specific links of trophic interactions across multiple functional groups. Additionally, selected chemical elements and their stoichiometry between the soil, plants, herbivores and predators will be studied to understand how soil processes are interacting with tree diversity and how these plant-soil interactions structure trophic food webs. MultiTroph comprises two central projects (coordination, data management and synthesis) and six thematic subprojects with a focus on deadwood decomposition, herbivory (including pollen-collecting bees), seed predation, and predation by ants and wasps. Deadwood decomposition and element flows from soil to the plants to higher trophic levels are central parts to go beyond individual trophic links.We are convinced that our proposed Research Unit will critically extend existing forest biodiversity data to achieve a holistic understanding of multi-trophic food webs in forest ecosystems.
DFG Programme
Research Units
